My friend and I wanted a quick R&R so we chose the Ritz for one night with dinner at Salt and a visit to the spa. My room overlooked the lawn and the beach. It is a great beach for walking. I came home refreshed and relaxed and ready to face the world!

If you've never stayed at a Ritz Carlton before this one, you'll love it. The property is beautiful, the staff is dutiful and friendly, the food (both dining in one of the various restaurants and for catered events) is fantastic and the rooms are large (particularly the bathrooms) compared to most resorts at the top of the mid-range. However, compared to what I'm used to from Ritz, the service at this property fell short of expectations. The best way I can explain it is that I felt like the entire operation was staffed with new employees. Everyone I encountered clearly had potential -- they knew what they SHOULD do, had a great attitude, and were giving it their all... but just didn't have the hang of it like it was natural yet. It was the little things... the attention to extreme detail I'm always WOW-ed by at a Ritz... where they just didn't have the hang of it yet. So, overall, it was an excellent stay and I would come back again -- but not at Ritz prices.

The staff was up to par, but the hotel fell far short of my expectations of the Ritz. Being a platinum Marriott member, I got the room upgrade. So I expected it to be very high-end. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was a large piece of glass in the floor. This was a first for me at any hotel. Next there was multiple pieces of dark hair in the tub. Then there was a long piece of hair wrapped multiple times around the hot water knob at the sink. Yuk!

They installed hand-scraped hardwood floors as part of their recent renovation, but the installation was terrible. The boards didn't aline very well with the bathroom floor leaving space were I could see under the floor. My room was an adjoining room, which didn't provide any protection from listening to the domestic disturbance happening next door.

The food was good at Salt, but it didn't make up for everything else.

Because we went in December before the holidays, we got a super rate. The king room was small, but nicely appointed and clean, and they gave us a refrigerator as requested. Plus, we had a beautiful view of the ocean and outside patio area. We walked across the wooden bridge to the beach, gathered shells, enjoyed the squawking birds, and watched the waves roll in. The hotel was decorated to the nines for the holidays, but the regular 'wood and glass' furnishings are very tasteful, too. We found the hotel restaurants to be very pricey, as well as the automatic parking fee ( 5-star facility....). But the location is just a short drive to the harbor/historical downtown area, so we had dinner there, and spent our full second day there as well. The only downfall was the alarm went off early morning, but the hotel gave us a voucher for money off on our next visit. Very professional!