Our favorite local staycation. Service, ambiance, atmosphere & coastal views are unparalleled. My wife’s favorite is the fire pit room. From Michael and all the amazing folks at valet, to the check in area with champagne, Kelly and Sureenan and the team at the cafe, they truly make you feel like family. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you

For a family stay (two adults, kids 19 & 16), we ended up being quite pleased with the Ritz Carlton - Laguna Niguel. When current rates are taken into account, though, I’d give it a B/B+. The setting is stupendous, the general hard product (common/public spaces, if not quite our room) is both grand and contemporary at once. I’d posit that - based on our experience during a very busy long weekend for the hotel - some of the hangups we had are strictly down to the hotel’s considerable size. It's big. CHECK IN Reception in general was one of the few problems we encountered. This is a very busy hotel. We checked in at @ 4:45pm on a Friday, and there was a line of 3-4 parties waiting at reception ahead of us. For a hotel of this scale and room count, the reception counter seems a bit small, with room for two check-in agents and their stations. A third agent worked the middle of the counter (no station) so that was appreciated, and the wait was hardly oppressive - the entrance lobby is beautiful and smells divine. A manager circulated, passing out flutes of champagne, and the entire check-in affair was not longer than 10 minutes. Still, and again at current rates, it’s a ding. Not just at check-in, either, as the few times we needed something from either reception/concierge during our four-day stay, there usually seemed to be a bit of a crowd at reception and a short wait…. ROOM We took a garden-view executive suite, in the ‘Dana' wing. No upgrades with either the Chase/Sapphire booking or Bonvoy Platinum Elite status, but we understood the hotel to be fully booked. As far as suites go these days, it was large. Two, full separate rooms. I'd guesstimate the suite at maybe 650-700 sq ft? Even with the sofa pulled out and a rolloway cot in the LR, there was still more than enough egress to walk around freely. MBR had a seriously comfortable king bed with some of the nicest, highest-quality linens i've recently experienced. Pillows were plenty firm, as ordered. Balcony was sizable too, and its french doors allowed something of an ‘indoor/outdoor’ element to the room. Master bathroom was gigantic, with bold zebra marble on virtually every surface that wasn’t a mirror. Not exactly my taste, but impressive nonetheless. Open-shower concept, which is never my favorite, but at least the bathroom’s big enough to handle it without too much mess. The LR was also quite big, with a large sofa pull-out, working desk, sofa and it’s own set of french doors out to the same (shared) balcony. 2nd bathroom was also done up in all marble - a more muted cardinal here - and was impressive on its own. Where the room let me down was in the way it failed to make the best use of the ample space available. Example: a suite of this size and cost should absolutely have a soaking tub. And the cruel irony is that the master bath is more than large enough to accomodate both a tub and a fully separate shower. Instead, it simply seems like a cavernous bathroom with a strange amount of open space. Similarly, the suite’s bedroom had its own amount of totally free, unutilized or non-sensically utilized space. One small-ish chair in one corner, a potted tree in the other, and a whole lot of space to walk around in. There's a nice big traditional closet, but no luggage rack. The doors between LR and MBR had windows - not a bad idea for light-flow but not a great idea for privacy..... Some other notes: Any ‘garden view’ room in this Dana wing will, in fact, be a ‘pool view’ room. This wasn’t a problem for us, as the pool isn’t a post-grad party scene or packed with screaming kids, but those wanting pure privacy and more quiet would do better with a true ‘ocean view’ selection on the front of the building. The first floor rooms/suites on that side have lovely patios with fireplaces. Unfortunately, all those suites were committed when we booked. Finally - and this is a big one for me in 2024, even at a Ramada Inn - no USB or even an electrical outlet anywhere near the MBR bed. An outlet behind the king-bed's headboard, and an alarm-clock/radio on one of the side tables (not the other!) that offered a single USB and electrical outlet. If there was one full inexcusable on this trip, that was it. SERVICE A highlight of our stay. If not always for efficiency, then for attitude. From valet to reception to housekeeping, everyone had a genuine-feeling smile and can-do attitude. Concierge got us a 7:30pm Saturday reservation at the hotel’s Indian restaurant, apparently very popular with locals, at about 5:30pm that same afternoon. (I had stupidly neglected to make a res anywhere or have a plan for that night). Staff was able to fetch us some Pepto from town when my wife had a bad upset stomach (medication-related, not from hotel food!) within 30 minutes. Housekeeping kept up with the mad schedule of everyone coming/going. Valet super efficient for a property of this size, next to zero wait time. F&B Another highlight. We tried 3 of the 4 dining options - all but the omakase jewel-box, that one looks for real, too - and they were all great. Raya and 180blu have spectacular views, excellent cocktails and tasty pan-Latin food. The afforementioned Kahaya dinner was rquite special as well, beautiful room and delicious northern Indian food. The main bar/cocktail lounge is another stunner, with dark gentlemanly woods and leathers framing that same commanding beach view through a (smaller) framed picture window. Really an elegant place to enjoy a drink. LOCATION The hotel’s true selling point, and boy does it deliver. Pictures online don’t do it justice. This has to be one of the greatest locations in CA for a clifftop resort, if not the entire US. OVERALL At current pricing, it’s hard to say i felt any value staying there, or even that we got our ‘money’s worth’. But at the same time, it’s also hard to say we didn’t truly enjoy it. It’s a place I’m glad i experienced once, but probably wouldn’t return to. Location, common spaces both indoor and out, friendly service and a surprising variety of good eating options are the plusses. Dings for an expensive room w real shortcomings, and a feeling of understaffing when at capacity (housekeeping, reception) are the minus's.

First of all, shout-outs to Addison, a hard-working staff poolside; and Naomi at the adventure center who was very helpful...A nice, relaxing stay was negated by an unauthorized charge on the room, which had to be addressed later than sooner and more than once over a span of several days. Unfortunately, unlike other hotels, one cannot view one's daily expenses online via the room television during the stay.

What a lovely hotel! The facilities were clean and well cared for. Our room was beautiful and even had a view of the ocean even though we were technically 'garden view'. I wish there had been more information about amenities provided for the resort fee e.g. the ability to have chairs and umbrella set up on the beach. We would certainly have taken advantage of that perk more than we did (found out about it on our last day there). And the staff were wonderful. All of the bellmen and the concierge took care of us like we were "A" list and went above and beyond. They drove us to restaurants, shops and the marina and we used Uber or the Trolley to get back. Our room was well taken care of every day with towels replenished, coffee refilled and sheets changed. It was a wonderful week! Thank you Ritz Carlton!

Our arrival at the Ritz began disappointingly: a driveway packed with cars and people. The valet parking attendant advised us that a group (the Roth Investment Conference) had bought out the hotel and the group was just now dispersing. We were told that we would not have access to the resort until noon. At first we thought we would have to leave the driveway and kill some time with tired children but a manager came to our rescue, apologized for the brief inconvenience and even took the time to walk us down to the beach. We didn't expect to be able to check in until later but the front desk texted us at 12:15pm that our room was ready and we were upgraded to spectacular ocean view. The rooms at the hotel, especially the bathrooms, are painfully dated, but service remained wonderful throughout the stay and the location is an 11 out of 10, on a stunning beach in a county full of great beaches. We will definitely return despite the rooms (but I hope they address this at some point!)