I’m not sure if there is a name more recognized and synonymous with service and elegance quite like the St. Regis brand of hotels. Although many may choose the Ritz, I think it’s mostly due to name recognition more than anything. I actually think the St. Regis will blow the Ritz out of the water when everything is taken into account in terms of service and cost.
The St. Regis Mumbai is nothing short of spectacular. From the hotel staff, to the food, to the amenities, the hotel delivers on every single aspect. They don’t just anticipate needs, they exceed them. The attention to detail is amazing. And they just want to make it right every single time. Impressive doesn’t even begin to describe the St. Regis Mumbai.
Location
The hotel is located in the northern part of Mumbai and is about a 30 minute drive fro the airport. Getting there is simple enough via Uber and it seemed to me like it was centrally located so that any destination was no more than 15-20 minutes (depending on traffic).
What’s also nice about the hotel is that it’s located right next to the high end shopping mall. Now normally that sort of thing doesn’t really matter to me but it actually came in handy on a few occasions. Sometimes I just wasn’t in the mood to go out and find street food and sometimes I just wanted to have a light snack that didn’t involve crossing 3 streets and praying not to get hit by a car. In that regard, it was really easy to just hop over and find something simple to eat.
Check In
I arrived at the hotel pretty late since the flight from Singapore to Mumbai is a late flight. By the time I arrived, it was pretty much 1am and I was beat. The staff quickly checked me in and escorted me to my room.
I had originally been upgraded to a Carline Astor suite (due to my Marriott status and suite upgrade certificates) but unfortunately when we got to the room, the battery in the door to activate the key card was malfunctioning. The bellman apologized profusely and called the front desk. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal and didn’t really think there was that much need to apologize (considering it wasn’t the poor bellman’s fault).
Then the front desk agent who checked me in appeared out of nowhere and escorted me to another room, again apologizing for the inconvenience. This was a bit much but I’m sure it’s in their training to apologize profusely if something doesn’t go as planned so I appreciated the effort.
The Room
The new room I was given as now on the 34th floor (out of 38 total floors) and I noticed I had basically an entire wing of the floor to myself. Well walking in, I didn’t realize at first that I had been upgraded to a one bedroom apartment from the original suite. Quite the upgrade.
Then the front desk agent asked if I’d like to meet my butler or if I’d just like to go to sleep. Well at this point, I was too excited so I agreed to meet my butler. Caesar came up in a few minutes and showed me all the switches to the room and told me about the amenities of the property. Well I ended up just picking his brain about how the scoring in cricket worked and he seemed genuinely excited to have a teach me.
The room itself had a powder room as soon as you walked in. Right next to that was a full on kitchen with cooking utensils, an electric stove, and full size fridge and even an dishwasher. And yes, the suite had it’s own dishes and utensils as well. Pretty amazing.
As you walked in, there was a dining table for 4 and then a huge living room area with seating, surround sound, and a tv.
Past that was the bedroom with a massive bed and a desk. Further in was the massive en suite bathroom with soaker tub and separate shower. Along the side was a massive walk in (or walk through) closet that felt a little silly for someone like me since I only had 4 shirts on me but the closet could easily hold 50 I imagine.
Amenities
Breakfast was served at the Seven Kitchens restaurant and it was a massive buffet that served everything from pastries to bacon, curries to stir fry, fresh fruit to sushi. It really had everything you could ever want in a buffet and then some. To be honest, if you wanted to eat everything, you’d have to wear some extra stretchy pants and strap a bucket to your butt because you’d be there for a while. Over the 5 breakfasts I had, I tried to try a little bit of everything but didn’t come close.
On more than a few occasions, multiple staff members came up to me to introduce themselves and see if I needed anything of if I had any comments. I don’t think it had anything to do with me or my status since they seemed to be asking a lot of the diners that. I thought it was a nice personal touch.
The hotel also multiple bars including the Kipling bar where you can have the St. Regis Mumbai’s version of the bloody mary….appropriately called the Mumbai Mary. Since it comes with vodka, you can just have the nonalcoholic version and not miss any of the taste.
One the 37th and 38th floor were other restaurants and even a nightclub. I didn’t go to any of them but I could hear the music from the nightclub at times in the elevator. Since I don’t’ really like eating at hotels, I’m afraid I really can’t comment on the food of these places but if it’s anything like the food at the Seven Kitchens, I can’t imagine you’d be disappointed.
On the 10th floor there is also a spa, gym and pool. The pool also had an outdoor bar area where you could lounge around and relax if you wanted. However, since the pool is on the 10th floor, don’t expect it to be massive. There were maybe 10 people there when I walked around and it felt pretty lively. Not crowded but it didn’t feel secluded.
Sabering
Sadly, I had a prior appointment that I had stupidly made on Friday when the sabering takes place that I missed it. Sabering is when the St. Regis opens a bottle of champagne with a saber. I believe they might do it on Wednesdays as well but you’ll want to call and ask since you won’t want to miss it. Friday was mentioned to me as the day it takes place but there might be another day as well.
So I asked in passing the head housekeeper about the sabering ritual. She said that if I wanted a private show, she could arrange for them to come up to my room and show me. I started laughing because I thought she was joking but she was completely serious. I declined the offer since I thought that would be a lot of overkill but that speaks to the level of service.
However, the next day when I got back to my room, there was a note along with all the ingredients needed for a Mumbai Mary waiting for me. The note read that since I had missed the sabering, the head housekeeper set up this demonstration to show me how a Mumbai Mary was made. I thought that was a really nice touch and I was blown away. She had taken it upon herself to set up this entire demonstration just because I had mentioned in passing about the sabering. Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m easily impressed but that absolutely surprised me at her thoughtfulness. Wow.
Final Thoughts
From the moment I checked in to the moment I checked out, I was basically taken by the hand and guided every step of the way. It didn’t feel like anything was too big of an ask and the entire staff wanted to help. It many ways, it was almost too easy to stay at the hotel. Some mornings I really had to push myself to leave the hotel because honestly, why would I want to leave? It seemed counterintuitive to leave the comforts of my room for the noise and chaos that waited me outside. The St. Regis Mumbai sets the bar for comfort and service and they set it astronomically high.