I rarely write reviews and even more rarely negati...

I rarely write reviews and even more rarely negative reviews, but in this case I feel compelled to share my views with other travelers who might be thinking of dropping a few thousands of dollars at this undeserving property. I have been a Marriott BonVoy Titanium member for 9 straight years and have travelled and stayed at numerous luxury hotels around the world including many St Regis hotels. This property in Bal Harbor ranks at the bottom. I would definitely not stay here again and would recommend you take your money or points elsewhere. I took my wife here for the year end holidays thinking we can escape the current situation with the pandemic and get pampered at the St Regis for 6 nights. I used half million points for the stay and I regret it so badly that I am considering shifting my future stays to non Marriott properties. This is a 5 star hotel and the room rate during the holidays was over $2000 a night. You expect to get what you pay for. Not so! Not here and not by a long shot. Here are just a a few of my observations:
-The hotel only serves breakfast in the small and extremely limited seating area adjacent to the lobby instead of one of its restaurants. No host to seat you. Its total chaos and guests are left wondering around waiting waiting for someone to leave. Tables sit dirty until the guest finds a server to clean it. The self serve coffee stations are a mess with trash and spills. The coffee runs out by 9. Because of the limited space the area is super crowded with guests eating, guests waiting in the buffet line, and guest waiting to be seated. The hotel appears oblivious to the principles of social distancing.
- when you're done with the breakfast ordeal, you want to head out and relax on the beach. good luck finding a chair. Guests are standing a waiting for a long time many are frustrated and fighting with the attendants who cant do much about the situation. The hotel does not observe its own policy of 30 min hold on chairs. most people will have chairs reserved and don't show up for hours
- if you're lucky to get a chair, now you expect to have a drink. Good luck with that too. service is extremely slow if not completely absent to the point that the guys that setup chairs will tell you to go get your own drink from the pool bar.
-check in process was friendly and St Regis like, but for some reason they only offered upgrades if you pay. That is not the Marriott BonVoy program which offers complimentary upgrades to Titanium member if upgraded room where available at check in. I confirmed that upgraded rooms where in fact available because I went online and can book these rooms for the same dates of my stay.
-The rooms are nice but are stripped down of every possible amenity you would expect to have in a five star St Regis. The hotel clearly uses COVID as an excuse for everything even when it makes absolutely no sense. No mini bar amenities, no slippers, no coffee. You can wipe your face with a towel but you can't wear a slipper because of COVID. The hotel is happy to ignore COVID restrictions and jam its hundreds of guests into the small 40 person capacity breakfast area but they will not provide amenities in the room.

Bottom line is hotel management was absent. The chaos and guest complaints at breakfast and the beach were loud and clear with other customers (not me!) yelling at attendants, yet nothing was done to fix these problems. The same challenges were faced day after day and when you're staying for 6 nights it starts to get very frustrating. I walked over to the front desk and asked to speak to a manager. The staff asked me to wait and someone would be with me shortly. I waited for 15 minutes and no body showed up, so I walked away. They knew my room number and they knew I was not happy, yet no one called to follow up. That is the absolute mark of poor service and a clear indication of poor management.