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Rosewood Puebla & St. Regis Mexico City

Rosewood Puebla & St. Regis Mexico City

Old Mar 17, 2018, 6:24 am
  #1  
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Rosewood Puebla & St. Regis Mexico City

Hello everyone!
This board was supportive and responsive and crucial in helping my family plan a last minute trip under some bad personal circs.

Because of your help (esp katesy) we're off to Puebla and Mexico City tomorrow morning.
I noted that posters commented that there is not a lot on the St. Regis.
Please let me know if I can help with any questions on either property.

By the way, booking rates and processes were great with both properties. And as some have mentioned, rates are comparatively low as compared to these chains in other locations. We're getting adjoining rooms in the Puebla for less than $800/night total and doing cash/points in the St.R for $180 +10K pts/nightly, per room, also adjoining rooms. Annoyed I didn't book Puebla through virtuoso bc we're not getting the amenities but the front desk has been great and super flexible with last minute changes.

Lots of gratitude, FT.
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Last edited by bobjunior; Mar 17, 2018 at 6:25 am Reason: addition
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Old Mar 17, 2018, 8:20 am
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Originally Posted by bobjunior
Annoyed I didn't book Puebla through virtuoso bc we're not getting the amenities but the front desk has been great and super flexible with last minute changes..
Agree that Rosewood Puebla is a good value property. We enjoyed our stay there a lot, it was the highlight of our 2 weeks in Mexico. FWIW, my Virtuoso agency is also a Rosewood Elite agency, so the following benefits applied to my booking:

ROSEWOOD ELITE BENEFITS
  • Complimentary breakfast for two guests daily.
  • Personalized welcome amenity.
  • VIP Recognition and personalized welcome by hotel staff and managing director.
  • Upgrade upon arrival, subject to availability.
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Old Mar 17, 2018, 8:34 am
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Have a fantastic time! We are considering the Rosewood Puebla when we next visit Mexico City, and I already love the StR there. You got a fab rate!

Are you trying any fine dining in MC while youre there?
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Old Mar 17, 2018, 10:43 am
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Originally Posted by bhrubin
Are you trying any fine dining in MC while youre there?
Thanks! I'll report back on the Puebla.

We'd love to try some special spots. I'm sure I can sort a sitter at the StR.
Any recommendations? I'll do some research. I am leaving tomorrow am and bought the airfare 12 hours ago so we're a bit unprepared.
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Old Mar 17, 2018, 10:49 am
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Originally Posted by bobjunior


Thanks! I'll report back on the Puebla.

We'd love to try some special spots. I'm sure I can sort a sitter at the StR.
Any recommendations? I'll do some research. I am leaving tomorrow am and bought the airfare 12 hours ago so we're a bit unprepared.
If youre a foodie, any of these will do you well. Ask the StR concierge team to help and theyll do you well, too.

Best Restaurants in Mexico City | Food & Wine
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Old Mar 17, 2018, 11:02 am
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Originally Posted by vienna-resident
Agree that Rosewood Puebla is a good value property. We enjoyed our stay there a lot, it was the highlight of our 2 weeks in Mexico. FWIW, my Virtuoso agency is also a Rosewood Elite agency, so the following benefits applied to my booking:

ROSEWOOD ELITE BENEFITS
  • Complimentary breakfast for two guests daily.
  • Personalized welcome amenity.
  • VIP Recognition and personalized welcome by hotel staff and managing director.
  • Upgrade upon arrival, subject to availability.
Wonderful to hear it! We plan to be quite lazy and eat a lot.

Am I right that it is too late to get these amenities applied to our room? The booking process is complete.
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Old Mar 17, 2018, 3:40 pm
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Originally Posted by bobjunior
Am I right that it is too late to get these amenities applied to our room? The booking process is complete.
Once you check in it's a bit of stretch.....and if the hotel has already taken care of you so professionally I'd personally say let them continue. Some agents here probably would disagree, but to each their own. and to be clear the rosewood elite offer blends with the Virtuoso offer of 50 minute massage for up to two people per room, once during stay. So your upgrade priority is suppose to be "enhanced". The pros and cons of these things have been debated extensively on this forum.
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 8:26 am
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A bit of a trip report (please tell me if I should post this elsewhere or modify it somehow)

Rosewood Puebla

We had a three-night stay in connecting rooms at the Rosewood. A premium king with a standard double attached. The setup was great and spacious for our family of four. We've been to other Rosewoods, a couple of Amans, St. R, etc. Eventually, I think this place gets 5 stars.

Location: The hotel is located walking distance from the central and historic parts of Puebla. Uber is also an easy and astonishingly affordable option. Throughout our trip we used it to get around Puebla and Mexico City. (Local rides were on average $3 or less so we added cash tips.)

The hotel is visually stunning. The exterior is simple and unassuming. The rooms and common areas are gorgeous. Beautiful details, wonderful art, and lovely interior design. There's a large sitting area on the lobby-level with beautiful books, a fireplace and access to a well-manicured garden and fountain. The pool is located on the roof where the views are fantastic, particularly early in the morning when visibility is clear. All of these exterior spaces are very tastefully done. Generally, the aesthetic is both authentically Mexican with a fresh and modern touch.

The food at the hotel was delicious. The main restaurant serves Pueblan and Mexican cuisine. They offer a wonderful breakfast in a more formal restaurant and then later in the morning in a cafe/bistro-type environment. The value for the food is borderline shocking for a 5-star property. We once took a packed lunch from the cafe, which was great.

The staff at the hotel is lovely. Very warm and they want to help. Our room was kept impeccably clean. The gentleman at concierge was knowledgable and eager to help.

I enjoyed a great treatment in the spa. (I get massages often in NY and sometimes hesitate to do so while traveling because I'm just very happy with my therapist here.) I thought my talaverra stone massage was great and a lovely, relaxing experience.

Here are some downsides:
1. The rooms are not insulated form noise. Hallways are all stone (no carpeting) and the doors have spaces beneath them. We heard so much noise through our door. People walking around and talking sounded like it came from within your room, which feels odd when you're taking a bath. Granted, the hotel is not large and people were not frequently in the hallways. But the doors of the rooms should be replaced and rugs or some type of carpeting should be added to the halls.

2. While the staff is warm and wonderful, they're not yet trained at a 5-star level of service. For example, no one anticipated our arrival even though I emailed the front desk from an hour away. No one else arrived during our entire check-in, and they looked surprised when we arrived. Separately, I needed a $300 cash advance in pesos and was looked at like I was crazy. (I've never had a problem with this. And the hotel never sorted out the answer one way or another.)

3. In restaurants, the food was great and service was lovely/kind. But there were three times when we were the only family in the restaurant and waited very long for our food. It didn't really bother us, nor did we complain, but it was baffling to have fairly long waits in an empty restaurant. At one point, when we were alone in the main restaurant, we waited to be seated for about 5-7 minutes (not a big deal, but odd nonetheless). Then, we were seated at a glass table while it was sprayed down and set right in front of us.

As an aside, we were a bit confused at how empty the hotel and restaurants were. They were supposedly at capacity, or near it, during our stay. And at most we shared the restaurants with one other set of diners. (Many times none.) It would have been nice for the hotel to feel a bit more occupied, but that's certainly not a complaint.

All in all, I have to say we still loved this place. The value is great and the atmosphere and experience were wonderful. Puebla is just fantastic and we were all sad to leave. We departed feeling grateful to the staff and for the experience. Travel here and enjoy time in this lovely city. We'd go back and would've extended at least another day or two, but had to leave for Mexico City.

Some Puebla highlights (for our family of four, two boys aged 5, 7):
Cooking class and lunch at Meson Sacristia (Must do -- absolutely wonderful.)
Museo Amparo collection and its gorgeous, gorgeous roofdeck
The park and forts of the Cinco de Mayo battle
The house of the Serdan Bros where the Mexican Revolution began
Tacos al Pastor ("al arabe") at the VERY casual Las Ranas near the Zocalo. (This is straight up street food. Very simple and plain. Excellent tacos.)
Africam Safari - highlight for our boys. (This is a massive drive-through zoo that's meant to resemble the plains of Africa. Our boys loved it. It broke my heart a bit to see all these animals lying around while cars drive by them.)
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 10:57 am
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St. Regis Mexico City
This was an excellent stay, made so by the superior service.

The hotel is centrally located right on Reforma with easy access to prime sight seeing locations/museums, shopping districts and restaurants. It is walking distance from stunning Chapultepec park. (Mexico City's main historic square -- the Zocalo -- is a bit of schlep (25-30 mins), but you'd have to choose one side of town or the other and I'd easily choose this location. Make a trip or two to the Zocalo by uber, and be sure to see the Templo Mayor.)

Rooms, beds, and amenities are nice and on par with St. Regis standards. I wouldn't call them exceptional. In fact, if I'm looking for a complaint, I found the room decor underwhelming, perhaps slightly dated or needing some kind of refresh. But in no way did things feel old or run down. The rooms are well-maintained. (We did have a few logistical mishaps. A broken fan made noise all night had to be repaired twice by engineers during our stay. In our kids' double room, the automatic lights turned on by themselves in the middle of the night two nights in a row. As annoying as these matters were, they were handled immediately, with follow up, and by lovely maintenance professionals.)

The common areas are lovely, clean, bright and well designed. The decor is not necessarily Mexican-inspired, which I would have preferred. (Seems an obvious choice to me. The aesthetic felt anywhere from NY to Tokyo, but was modern, fresh and well executed.) There's a fantastic terrace off the main restaurant, though in the evening it's a smoking area. We mostly ate breakfast at the hotel, and one dinner -- each meal was good to great. Service was also fantastic.

The overall standout at the hotel is the service. Cesare, Paris and Israel were absolutely lovely at the concierge. Cesare is a wealth of information and assistance. Ivan, our butler was absolutely wonderful. He gave us a genuine welcome, treated our kids to some lovely amenities, and followed up with us several times regarding a couple of hiccups in our rooms. Another butler, Luis, was not "in charge" of our stay but regularly greeted us and treated our family to the warmest welcomes. One of our travelers lost their luggage at MEX. The front desk and concierge were very supportive in helping us get it back.

I'll add that not one member of the team asked us to submit reviews. We extended our stay in Mexico City for a few nights at the W (which is in a great location in Polanco, but does not compare to this property.) There I felt service was good, but 'looking' for that trip advisor review. I don't blame employees for it, as I'm sure it helps with job security, etc. And I try to post on TA when good reviews are deserved, but for whatever reason I am not thrilled when I'm asked to do so. (As an aside, if you're traveling with family, the W is located right near a fantastic playground in Lincoln Park. There's no pool at the W, but the one at the St. R is not all that large to begin with.)

As for the ST. R, stay at this hotel. The value for the service is off the charts. We used SPG cash/pts and the value was tremendous. Share some lovely conversation with the employees. We learned so much about the city and its wonderful people.

As for Mexico City, our whole family just loved it. I was so sad to leave. We didn't anticipate any safety issues/concerns, and were never presented with any.

Finally, ber makes traveling the city incredibly easy. In Mexico City, you have car level options so can easily summon a suburban or a small sedan within minutes. In Puebla, uber is limited to simple/small sedans but was still an excellent way to get around. (For the Africam safari (40 minutes from the Rosewood Puebla), you need a vehicle to go through. you can use the park bus, but we opted to just ask our uber driver to spend a few hours with us and take us through. It was a great solution where we maintained control over lunch/bathroom breaks etc.)

MC highlights:
Chapultepec Park
Anthropology Museum
Templo Mayor
San Angel, Coyoacan, Frida & Diego's House
Saturday Market in San Angel (beautiful neighbor, some fantastic shopping finds)
Aquarium, Soumayo and Jumex Museum which are all right next door to one another

Near the ST. R:
Get churros and hot chocolate at El Moro
Try the ramen and Japanese at Rokai
And El Califa is a great cafeteria style lunch spot. It's like wagamama if you want a great taco al pastor and need quick meal. You'll see all the business folks breaking for lunch.

In Roma, try a casual Italian spot named Marcelleria. Nothing special but we had a lovely lunch there.

Last edited by bobjunior; Mar 31, 2018 at 11:54 am Reason: spell checks, and additions
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 12:59 pm
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Thanks @bobjunior for the reviews! Sound like you really had a marvelous time overall. Makes me yearn to return.

Last edited by bhrubin; Apr 30, 2018 at 9:18 am
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Old Apr 30, 2018, 9:10 am
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How did you travel between Mexico City and Puebla?
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Old May 7, 2018, 7:37 pm
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Sorry for the delay.

I hired a car service. It was much less expensive than working through the hotel.
I found the company on trip advisor. The main contact is Hector (email below)[email protected] OR [email protected]

We used them three times and generally were satisfied. The cars were clean and the drivers very kind and hospitable. Cash payment is preferred (pesos or USD). For one ride I arranged in advance to pay credit and their machine was not working.
I was less impressed with their ability to provide tour guide type services (as advertised on Trip Advisor).

For the drive from MEX to Puebla I was happy to be in a suburban or SUV. That seems like a route some drivers are tearing through. That said I was with two young kids and frankly there wasn't any issue with reckless drivers.

From and within Mexico City, uber is fantastic. You have car class options (compact to suburban). They come immediately and are very reasonably priced. (Hector is probably better for airport pickups where someone can come in and help you with luggage etc.)

In Puebla, uber was great as well but there are no car size options so you'll almost always get a tiny compact picking you up.
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Last edited by bobjunior; May 7, 2018 at 7:38 pm Reason: formatting
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Old May 7, 2018, 9:52 pm
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
How did you travel between Mexico City and Puebla?
How long is that drive?
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Old May 8, 2018, 4:54 am
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2 hours. But could def take longer in traffic
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Old Feb 27, 2019, 2:30 pm
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I'm very appreciative of the report above about the Rosewood Puebla. We spent three nights at the hotel and loved it. We booked a suite on a pay 2 nights, get three nights package. Our agent is both a Rosewood and a Virtuoso agent. On comparing benefits, Virtuoso won.
Virtuoso Amenities for your stay
For 2019:
  • Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
  • Complimentary Continental Breakfast for two daily for duration of the stay
  • A complimentary 50 minute massage for up to two people per room, once during stay
  • Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability
  • Complimentary Wi-Fi
He negotiated the upgrade in advance to the Briseno Suite. Lovely. It's roughly the size of the first 3 bedroom house that we owned. It has a large living room and dining room, 1 1/2 baths, and a large bedroom. It has a wraparound balcony, albeit with no furniture and honestly not a great deal of space for furniture. It gives privacy and light throughout the entire suite.

We came from Mexico City with the transfer provided by Las Alcobas for $200. I got a quote from the company that bobjunior used and was quite surprised to find it higher, at $275. The transfer from the hotel to the Mexico City Airport is slightly less than $200.

I investigated everything in advance that bobjunior recommended. Thank you for the list. Here's what I did

Museo Amparo collection and its gorgeous, gorgeous roofdeck
The park and forts of the Cinco de Mayo battle
The house of the Serdan Bros where the Mexican Revolution began

And we added:
Puebla Cathedral
Library - across the street from cathedral, go to second floor
Church of San Domingo with its stunning gold Rosary Chapel
Museum of the Baroque - a must, opened in 2017, stunning
Pyramid in Cholula, broadest base in the world - bit of a disappointment as it's covered by grass with a cathedral on top. If they excavated it, the cathedral wouldn't be stable. There are tunnels into it
Temple of San Francisco Acatepec - stunning baroque church, a must

We love this hotel and are so glad it was discussed in this forum. There is beautiful public space from the ground level to the fifth floor swimming pool and bar. It has a sense of warmth and graciousness. Service has been attentive and well meant.

Food - well, I haven't found Puebla to be the amazing food center that articles report, especial after amazing food in Mexico City. We found the high end restaurant in the hotel one of the best places in Puebla to eat.
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