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We recently discovered that after numerous delays, the St. Regis London hopes to have its doors open at some point in October, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on the cost of rooms and the cost of reward bookings. The news isn’t good.
Although the information we have suggests that the property is opening in October, it’s currently only taking reservations from 1 December and when I checked prices on the Marriott homepage this weekend I was hoping to find that during London’s quieter months (January and February), there may be a few reasonably priced reward nights on offer.
Boy was I wrong!
The cost of an award night on the first few night that the hotel is currently selling is 174,000 points and for the 81 nights on which awards booking are currently available, the cost never drops below 166,000 points/night.
To put that in a little context, the JW Marriott Grosvenor House and the London EDITION (a hotel which is often hugely overpriced) are currently charging between ~85,000 and 100,000 points/night in January and February.
Elsewhere during those months, the St. Regis Rome is mostly charging between 100,000 and 115,000 points/night, the St. Regis Florence is mostly charging between 94,000 and 120,000 points/night, the St. Regis Venice is mostly charging between 86,000 and 105,000 points/night, the St. Regis Budapest is mostly charging between 94,000 and 100,000 points/night, the St. Regis Istanbul is mostly charging between 55,000 and 70,000 points per night and the St. Regis Belgrade is mostly charging between 42,000 and 55,000 points per night.
That’s all of the other St. Regis properties in Europe that are open through the winter (the St. Regis resort in Mallorca is closed in January) and the new St. Regis London is considerably more expensive than any of them.
Sure, you could argue that when it comes to cities like Belgrade, Istanbul, and Budapest, the comparison to London isn’t a fair one and I’ll concede that. But Venice, Florence, and Rome aren’t exactly budget destinations and the St. Regis properties in those cities are well established, very well regarded, and have a proven track record.
The St. Regis in London can’t claim any of those and, importantly, by the time January and February come around, it may not have ironed out all of the issues that are bound to appear in the first few weeks and months of operations.
Charging 166,000+ points per night for a property that has recently opened its doors is crazy. Not even the St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort charged that much in the first few months of operations (when you adjust for inflation).
In fact, right now, there are nights in January and February when it’s cheaper to book an award night at the St. Regis Maldives than it is to book the same night at the St. Regis London, and that’s peak season in the Maldives.
During the quieter months, you can book an award night at the St. Regis Maldives from 118,000 points/night.
Is this an error?
It was a few weeks ago when I first noticed the ridiculous cost of award nights at the St. Regis London, but at the time, I assumed that the property was still figuring out its prices and that more sensible pricing would appear in the weeks ahead.
But nothing has changed since then and, presumably, these are the award prices that some people are already paying, so I don’t think this is a mistake.
This isn’t a room type issue
If you take a look a the St. Regis London site and, specifically, take a look at the rooms that the property claims it will be offering, this is what you’ll see.
Ignoring the fact that we still don’t have different images for the different room types, it looks like the entry-level rooms will be the Superior Courtyard and Superior City rooms, but when you attempt to make an award booking, the lowest room category sometimes shown is a Deluxe room.
Seeing this and being charitable, you may think that the property hasn’t yet released any of its entry-level rooms for award night bookings and that this is what’s inflating the points cost.
Unfortunately that’s not it, because there are nights on which the “Superior” rooms are available to be booked and they cost exactly the same number of points as the Deluxe room (which makes me wonder what a Deluxe room is).
The fact is that an entry-level room at the St. Regis London is currently costs no less than 166,000 points/night and for a room that’s just 31 sqm/334 sq ft in size, that’s a little ridiculous.
Cash rates don’t look any better
Right now, the cost of award nights at the St. Regis London are ridiculous, but the cash rates don’t tell a better story.
They start from £882/~$1,200 per night and that’s nearly as much as the Raffles London and the Corinthia are charging for the same nights, and it’s more than the Savoy and the Rosewood are charging for the same nights. It’s also noticeably considerably more than the rates the Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch is currently offering across its opening two months.
I’ve already been clear how I feel about expensive city-center properties and I know that some people disagree with that point of view, but I can’t be alone in thinking that whoever is setting the rates at the St. Regis London needs a bit of a reality check. Or am I?
Bottom line
As things stand, the cost of an award night for an entry-level room at the St. Regis London starts from 166,000 points and goes up to 174,000 points and cash rates for the same room start from £882/~$1,200 per night.
Given what other London hotels are charging on the same dates and given what other St. Regis properties in Europe are charging on the same dates, I’m struggling to understand how the St. Regis London thinks it can justify these prices. If anyone can tell me what I’m missing, I’d love to hear from you.
