I joined my husband on a business trip here for three nights. Our room was on the first floor and we had a balcony with a fire place and a view of the ocean. A perfect place to sit and read a book have lunch or dinner and especially to watch the sunset. We ordered room service one night and sat outside beside the fire place everything was so good. The staff were excellent and gave me good advice as to how to spend my days. I had breakfast and dinner at Raya and the food was outstanding and again the great view of the ocean. It was suggested that I go to Laguna Beach one day and I had a great day, you could easily spend hours going into all the little shops and art galleries. From check in to check out the staff/service were amazing!

The Ritz Carlton was a very nice hotel. We didn't stay here but we did stop by the bar for a few drinks. The total price of the bill for one beer and one mid priced glass of glass of wine came to $33.40 but that's probably to be expected coming from the Ritz.

If you're going to stay here be prepared to shell out the money, but it's top-notch, very nice surroundings very nice interior unbeatable views from the deck highly recommended if you can afford it.

I stayed here three nights for a business conference. Provides a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean and beach below. I found the service to be very friendly and engaged, but a bit too clingy as mentioned by another reviewer. The hotel is not large, but navigating to my room took some time with many twists and turns down a narrow hallway. I counted 150 paces from the elevator on my floor to my room. I arrived three days after daylight savings time ended, but found that my clock radio had not yet been adjusted. That is not the type of overlooked detail that I would expect at a Ritz Carlton, but thankfully I relied on my cell phone for wake up. During the day, the sound of room renovations above my room was very loud. While one might expect renovations to be occurring at an older hotel, I would have expected to have been informed at the time of check-in, which I was not.

Stayed here for 3 nights last month. The hotel itself is beautiful and all the common spaces are large, inviting and very nice. The service was impeccable and extremely friendly. I had to have dinner by myself the first night. I ate in Raya and the server was very friendly and the food amazing! Took all his food suggestions and he was right. He even gave me a small taste of the soup of the day because it sounded so good, but I knew I couldn't eat a whole cup with what else I was ordering. Also ate breakfast twice in Raya - excellent huevos rancheros with amazing view of the surfers.
The female concierge (sorry I can't remember her name) was AMAZING!! Gave me all kinds of info. on local restaurants for breakfast and dinner. Detailed info. on how to get to shopping (while my husband was in meetings). She was fabulous!!
I sat out at the pool area which was very nice, great service and comfy chairs, but do wished it had faced the ocean.
Did have a spa treatment - facial. Very nice spa, though smaller then most (incl. other Ritz Carlton's) but great service and nice facial.
Our room was nice, and we had a fabulous view and a small balcony, but I thought the decorating was just a bit boring (only reason not giving it 5 stars). A little color, interesting art, or unique piece of furniture would have been nice. Bathroom was large and all marble with two sinks - very nice. Our 20 yo daughter stayed with us for two nights so we had a rollaway bed which fit nicely in the room and was no charge!! Also, our room was located right near the outdoor bar, so I was worried a bit about noise, but wasn't a problem. In fact, guitar player was playing great James Taylor, etc. so actually enjoyed the music a bit while my window was open.