The Ritz Carlton Sarasota was incredible from start to finish. The hotel is only about 15 minutes from the Sarasota airport and the valets were incredibly friendly and helpful. My husband and I each had a glass of champagne while checking in and we were happy to find that our room was ready despite it being close to 2 hours before check-in time. The check-in process took less than 5 minutes and we were then shown to our room with our luggage following close behind us. The room was the well appointed and clean, as you would expect with a Ritz-Carlton room.
We were eager to get to the beach club and to get some lunch so we decided to take the Ritz’s shuttle bus which departs the hotel hourly. The beach club is only about 10 minutes away and the shuttle takes you through St. Armand’s circle and through a very quiet section of Sarasota before arriving at a miniature version of the hotel on the beach. The beach club is incredible and does not get a lot of feedback in the other reviews but is really worth the trip. The club has lockers for the guests to use, a very nice pool, and a good beach location. The staff at the beach club was always happy to set up lounge chairs, get towels, take drink and food orders, and answer any other requests from the guests. The water at the beach was calm, warm, and fairly clear and the sand (while not the incredible white sand of Siesta Key) was still very nice. We ordered drinks and food to be delivered by both the pool and beach and always got incredible service. We also ate lunch one day at the Tiki Hut which has a slightly different menu and different drink options and was very fun. We found that there were drink specials here, $6-$7 for alcoholic mixed beverages. Michael, our bartender at the Tiki Hut was very nice and advised us of some things to do in town over the 4th of July holiday weekend.
Our entire trip went without incident and was really enjoyable and relaxing. The shuttle service to St. Armand’s circle was very nice and we took advantage of it occasionally, but for the most part, we drove our rental car to the beach club and a variety of other locations in town. Valet service was always good and calling 5 minutes before heading down ensured that your car would be waiting and the valets were always happy to provide restaurant recommendations or directions. The valet service was also very good at the beach club and they would address you by name after receiving word from the guard at the gate that you were on your way up the driveway.
We had booked the reconnect package which included breakfast daily, valet parking, and a $25 per day resort credit which was really a great deal and well worth it. The breakfast which was available at Vernona or through in room dining was always very good.
On our last night in Sarasota we ate dinner at Vernona and it was by far our best meal of the trip. We had dinner at a number of restaurants in Sarasota during which were all pretty good but they did not come close to our experience at Vernona. The evening started out with the Chef de Cuisine, Greg Howe, coming out to meet each table and each course was extremely good (although the Lemon Sole had a Rice Krispie crust, which was a little startling at first, everything was actually quite good).
Our entire experience at Sarasota was incredible and the staff went out of their way to ensure that every need was met. We will definitely come back to the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota. We left Sarasota to travel across Florida and finish our vacation at the Ritz-Carlton’s Key Biscayne property which was a very different experience and we welcome you to read our review of that property on TripAdvisor as well!
