The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel

Be careful when checking in if you are using points and upgrades. Have everything written out for your approval prior to excepting a room involving any changes from your original booking. Without this documentation that should have been provided it cost me almost 4K on reservations that should have been points, upgrade certificate and a quoted Club Level discount. There management was condescending to my situation and didn’t listen to what actually happened. They only wanted their money. I wanted to meet with the original employee that I worked with and they wouldn’t consider it. He offered me the two bedroom upgrade and I asked how many points it would cost when combining my original two rooms and he said about 3K points. I showed him the account I wanted the points out of and he said not to worry the adjustments will be made at check out. You would think he would have said when I showed the account it was $3,000.00 not points. He did not nor provided me with anything showing me the difference to this room from my original two rooms. The Ritz was completely in the wrong. I would never recommend nor will I attempt another stay with them. Not something you would expect from such a prestigious hotel.

I am a Bonvoy Marriot Gold Elite member and regularly stay at Ritz hotels. The Ritz Laguna Niguel is not recommended due to extremely ridged and non-traveler friendly attitude of the hotel management. My flight to SNA was canceled due to mechanical issues and I called immediately to inform the front desk I would not make it. One of my sister companies was having a large and very expensive reception that evening with over 100 people at the Ritz. But the "fee" committee decided to stick us for another $1250 as a cancellation fee.

This is a beautiful Ritz property. The views are breathtaking as it's sits atop a cliff above the ocean. The beautiful scenery of the beach and hills can't be compared. It was a nice getaway for 2 days as I'm only about 45 min away. I do have one complaint about cleanliness in the room. I am going to bet someone with a child was in our room before as there was sticky reddish /pink substance all over the tray above the coffee bar. I cleaned it up myself. Then I also noticed a huge snotty dried booger on the wall just at the level a child would wipe it. As someone who keeps my house very clean I Don't see how housekeeping could have missed both these things. I've attached a few photos. Other than that staff was great and I had a great time!

We had a soon-expiring Bonvoy free night certificate and were happy to find an available one-night stay at this luxury resort. We found that we were able to squeeze a lot of enjoyment out of our one night--although it would obviously be more relaxing to be able to stay longer. We have stayed at most of the luxury beach-adjacent resorts in the Orange County area and all are nice, but we think this one may have the nicest setting of all. The Resort at Pelican Hill and the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach are both very nice properties, with available shuttles to beautiful beaches. But they sit higher on the bluffs, making it much more difficult to take a casual walk to the beach. The Ritz, while not on the beach itself, is only a short walk downhill through a paved pathway with gorgeous views. The resort still does run a golf-cart-type shuttle to/from the beach, so you can use that, or at least take it back uphill to the resort after having a nice walk along the beach. One note about our front desk experience reveals how the Ritz staff is empowered to make customers happy. We had booked a Resort View Guest Room using our certificate and a day or two prior to our visit, the Bonvoy app noted that I was booked in a "coastal view" room. When we checked in, Eric told me that we had been upgraded to a nice coastal view room and that our request for feather-free pillows and bedding had been noted and provided. But when we went to the room, the pillows and bedding had feathers/down, and the view was mostly of a large wall separating the resort from the next property over. We called down to Eric and asked if this was, indeed, the right room since the bedding had not been prepared for us after all; we also mentioned that while we could see the ocean from the balcony, we could not see the "coast" due to the prominent wall blocking the view. Eric asked for a few minutes to see what he could do. We explored the resort and then checked back in with Eric. He told us that he secured a room on the other side of the resort and would have a bellman help us with our (minimal) luggage for the move. This was great because the bellman filled us in on the resort's offerings and guided us through different buildings to the one furthest from the room we were initially given. The new room was de-feathered and had a superior view to the north/west. We were really pleased with the switch and thank Eric for ensuring we were happy, even though we were only using a certificate for the stay. (See photos of the view from our balcony, including a nice sunset.) Although we only had an hour or so to do so, we did hang out at one of the two pools. There were plenty of lounge chairs, towels, sunscreen dispensers, and shade. A waitress come over quickly to provide ice water for us and did not seem at all preturbed when we told her we were only staying for a few minutes and didn't need to order anything. It should be noted that this is not a great property for exploring the area by foot--other than walking to the beach. To get to non-resort restaurants and shops, you need a car or rely on rideshares. If you have a car, the valet service is very efficient (just text down a few minutes ahead of time for the valet guys to retrieve your car), although overnight parking is expensive. Overall, this is a classy, luxurious, well-staffed resort in an enviable setting with glorious beach views. We look forward to going back.

My husband and I traveled to the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel with our 2 year old and already can’t wait to return. This was by far our favorite vacation (ever!) The hotel is absolutely stunning with the most breathtaking views and walk to the beach. The staff is exactly as you would expect from the Ritz- above and beyond in every aspect. This hotel offers a true luxury experience for beach lovers, with a walk down to the ocean and exceptional service from every single hotel worker. We LOVED working with adventure photography- their onsite photography service that captures photos of our family and was so sweet and kind to work with- it’s not easy photographing a 2 year old and he was so connected and patient. We hope to return every single year, this is our new favorite hotel!!!!!!!