The St. Regis New York

I've had mixed experiences here in the past: if you read reviews, people love it sometimes, and others have nightmarish experiences - see the description someone just left about a wedding gone awry for example. I've experienced the front desk attitude, late check-ins, many a time in the past. However; this time was great. I did use points, and I booked the cheapest room, it's all the system would let me do. I did get a slight upgrade to a Grand Luxe room- but basically let's be honest, it's just a room with a slightly better bathroom. But overall this room was perfect for us. It's courtyard facing (definitely NOT) our preference, but a high floor, extremely comfortable, and service was outstanding: butler amazing, bed and shower terrific and top notch. We stay at Mandarin Orientals very, very often: but this place beats it when it comes to sleep quality hands down, comfort, and since you can use points, in value. We saved many thousands of dollars staying here. If you're a "fan" at Mandarin, your service is probably the best it'll ever be at a hotel. But St Regis has better beds, showers, comfort, and arguably location, and definitely value. The car and baggage handlers were even great, and offered cider when you come in from a cold day. One sort of bizarre issue: last visit, I nearly left a somewhat bad review after a front desk/bad room issue, and a guy Andy Pino called me- gave me his email, told me he'd get back to me when we come back, and offered to upgrade us to a suite. Very responsive he was a few months ago. Well now we book our trip, and strangely enough, Mr. Pino now ghosts me, doesn't respond to emails, and doesn't upgrade us to a suite. I was told he was the one who upgraded us to a nicer room (not suite) ? So if he did, that's awesome, Mr. Pino, we appreciate it. But not responding to emails and not following through on the suite wasn't particularly "5 star, bespoke" and all the things St. Regis stands for. It also doesn't work well in my business. Despite all that- 5 star visit, amazing experience.