We arrived late on a Tuesday night and left early on a Friday morning. Yet we had to pay a full day resort fee for Tuesday and Friday as well as full day valet parking services. Before leaving, I asked to speak to a manager about these charges and was given an email address. I never received a return email. I went as far as writing the general manager, and called several times, all without success. For an expensive facility, I was dismayed by the ticky tack charges, and the lack of customer responsiveness.
Vince, Dennis, and Lazaro were awesome and very attentive! I love coming here because of the quality service and the welcoming environment! The view was amazing, wonderful place to unwind, and the food is great!
I am really torn writing this review, as we could just talk to the General Manager, and I do think most of the employees here are trying very hard. However, the GM should know about our complaints, and has our number, and she could have called us, so lets roll. This experience was so bad, that I feel I need to write something to prevent you from making the same mistake we did. Which is, staying here. We are super well traveled around the world, so we have a lot to compare this to, and my husband is a very loyal Marriott Bonvoy member. The entire thing is so JV its ridiculous. If you are someone who is used to five star, luxury accommodations, do not stay here. It’s a Marriot AT BEST. If you are someone who is considering splurging for a special event, do not stay here- you deserve better. Do not let these people punk you, they are not five stars and they do not deserve your hard-earned money or vacation time. Hotel: the complex that is shown as the Ritz Bal Harbor, is 90% not the Ritz Bal Harbor. The only available hotel rooms that are not condos, are on the back/side of the building, overlooking a very noisy highway, the Haulover boat inlet, public park. We could hear the highway traffic at night when we were trying to sleep, we heard boats ripping through in the morning, public park had music going with family BBQs…it made out balcony nearly useless. It is frankly, false advertising that the Ritz should be very ashamed of for doing. I added a photo of where the rooms are, compared to condos. And a beautiful “Ocean View” room, that has the impressive additional views of a lot of noisy, ugly, junk. They moved our room from the Haulover Tower to the Atlantic Tower the second day of our stay, but it was not much better. All the photos in their marketing show only beautiful ocean views...but check out the real deal. Pool: Also, there is one pool that is kind of beat up. You can see where I made a red X. You cannot use that upper deck pool, its only for condo residents. The Cabanas for rent by the pool are by noisy air handlers, with tons of people walking by so you have no privacy. Fake plastic ivy archway leading to pool, public beach quality bathrooms, crummy pool bar. Beach: I have never in my life been kicked off a beach at a luxury hotel. The beach attendants are lovely and hard working, as are the food servers, so I don’t fault them, but the hotel policy. The come around just before 5pm and tell you its time to leave because they have to put away chairs, towels, etc. It’s the BEST time at the beach, and they kick you out. All the guests walk off like lemmings at the same time, heading into the hotel. All disappointed and confused, rolling their eyes. We asked why they did that when there was so much sunlight left, people had been paying for food and drinks all day, and they said because of daylight savings time. Um. WHAT. So next week you will be kicked off at 6 I guess, according to the farmers almanac that the Ritz seems to use to tell time. Which is odd, because they have a huge, totally tacky free standing Piaget clock in the pool area that they could use to see if it was really getting too late. Or they could use the sun, the guest feedback, and general life experience to know that guests paying over $1500 a night, $150-250 for a cabana, $100+ on food and drinks, do not want to be ushered off the perfectly useable beach like school children. I saw an older couple come in and ask for chairs at 5 and they were refused service. They went to the beach and sat on the sand without towels etc. Horrible policy, not luxury, not five stars. Also, plastic all over the beach. Its depressing. Additionally, a random woman came and sat in our cabana chairs while we went on a quick walk down the beach. We came back and she was gabbing on her phone. If there are beach attendants, and we are paying for a cabana, they should have been on that immediately and not left it to us to awkwardly have to kick some stranger out of our rented space. Room: So old. Face plate fell off wall when turning on light. We were actually unable to access our room for 45 minutes and almost missed our dinner reservation because the key scanner was broken. So we sat in the vestibule waiting for Loss Prevention to let us in. This has literally never happened in all our years of travel. Turn down service came at 5:15 which is weirdly early. Usually they come when guests are at dinner, not when they will use the room to get ready for dinner. Also, look at the scratchy, mismatched, poorly folded towels. Door was broken and couldn’t fully close so shower water got everywhere. TV shorts out for a few seconds every now and then one time it just fully restarted randomly. Toilet paper holder would fall off wall. Robes are thin and old. If the other guest is waiting for the elevator (two rooms per floor) and are having a conversation, it is so loud it sounds like they are in your room. Exhale Spa: While they say this is a third party, they still are affiliated. The robes they give are falling apart. We had to ask for flip flops. When my husband was done with his massage and steam, he wanted to wear the robe and flip flops to his room rather than changing into his sweaty work out gear. They refused! He finally got them to agree to it if he PROMISED to bring it back down. Five star hotels would never tell a guest to bring a crappy robe back down. It would be handled by housekeeping. We spent over 700 dollars at the spa, I promise you we are not trying to take your gross overused robe. The spa itself is falling apart. The couches in the lounge area are literally torn apart and ripped. Its so incredibly unimpressive. Retail: You guessed it! NO retail shop. I was told it was being “reimagined” by a designer but we could shop at the store in Exhale. Some work out clothes, tacky Ritz Carlton hats, exhale hats…nothing actually nice that you expect from a lux hotel boutique. Concierge: A joke. Staying at the ONE Hotel last month they got us an 8 person dinner reservation at Carbone on a Saturday that same night. This woman uses OpenTable to get reservations. Thanks…I too can get a 6pm table for two via an app on my phone. Concierge services at luxury hotels should have the ability to fit guests in, or get them to the top of a waitlist. If they cant, maybe some creative ideas of other places to go? She also said she would call us back and when we never heard from her, she insisted she tried calling my husband’s cell phone. He showed the front desk his entire call log- no missed calls or messages. Even if she had the wrong cell number, we are literally guests and you know our room number. Most five star hotels print your itinerary and slip it under the door. Could she have left a message even on our room phone at least? The lying about not following up is insulting. Other random things they don’t offer: No car service. Most hotels that claim to be lux/5 star have a fleet of cars that are available (even for a charge- not an issue) for guests to use. They said they can call us a taxi, but Uber is best. Fine. Just so weird they don’t have a fleet, even if they charged, available for guest transport on a first come first served, or reserved, basis. Also no nice bar other than an 8 seater in the restaurant down the hall from the lobby. Again, most employees trying hard, polite, hoping to help guests. However, this place need to be honest with itself and be a Marriott. Just go live your best Marriott life, and don't play people. You're letting down your loyal customers who know better, and youre screwing those who dont know better. Both are pretty bad looks.…
AMAZING DAY! It was all I needed, thanks to the staff in special to Lazaro, he is the best!!! A 5 stars service!! I’m so happy and I’ll going to come back for sure! So quiet and relax! Perfect vacation days!!
I came to Florida on a business trip and decided to take advantage of the weather and the beach. Lazaro at the beach area was extremely helpful and accommodating. Went above and beyond to make my stay comfortable. The beach was quiet and clean. Perfect place to relax!
Building is under construction. Pool environment is terribly underwhelming from moldy stucco to scaffolding to 100 kids and top it off with poor service. The pool bar is more dull and dingy than a Courtyard. Lobby is bland, nothing sexy about this place. This is not worth $1500/night
We spent a week here during our kids winter break. Everything was impeccable. The view, the staff, the beach, the pool setting. The food is really good. And there’s lots of fun shops and restaurants nearby. It feels like your own private beach. Bike riding on the pier is also recommended. The staff at the beach is exceptional. They help arrange chairs and umbrellas and cabanas each morning. Dennis, especially, was super helpful with my girls each day. He would go out of his way to get us what we needed. Same goes for the rest of his staff at the beach. Dominique and Carlos and Sharon in the pool restaurant. Highly recommend.
I had the best beach day at the Ritz Carlton. My friend and I got a day bed and received the best service from Lazaro and Vinny. They were beyond helpful and made us feel right at home. Our time here was so much better because of their help. You’ve got to make this spot apart of your trip plan, you won’t regret it!
Laz, vinnie and Briana were wonderful as always. I come Here pretty often and they’re always so welcoming and sweet and gives us the best service ever. I love them and i love coming here. I definitely recommend coming here and ask for them at the beach when you do.
Call them and other hotels in the area like the St Regis. The St Regis heats its pool to 87 degrees. The Ritz is 72-76 degrees. It's unusable for kids on a windy day. I've got a lot more to say, perhaps in another review, but the main idea is that things are shabby or not functioning. They need an overhaul.
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