The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island

Stayed at the Ritz with my partner for a baby moon and booked a sunrise maternity photo shoot on the beach with Donna. The photos turned out amazing and she made the entire experience so easy and enjoyable! Highly recommend!

This property should not be called a ritz. Neither the amenities, service, quality, or rooms were up to that designation. We stayed here a year ago and it was quite nice. Perhaps there was a change in management but the hotel is truly mediocre. I would place it as very mid range Marriott or Hilton. A few examples: The rooms are dated and tired and must be redone, given how much we paid per night this is shocking. There are dozens of small things that add up to absolutely not being a luxury or Ritz experience: no slippers in the rooms, only paper cups in the rooms for coffee; there is no coffee service in the lobby for guests in the morning!!!; the breakfast at the hotel restaurant was horrid, somehow both took forever and also came out cold and congealed with the order wrong, it was so bad they comped our food; room service took ages and was barely mediocre. The workers here are very kind and nice, but clearly not managed well. The whole enterprise seems mismanaged; and it is false advertising to call this place a Ritz and then have this experience.

Looking forward to what we were told was great personal welcoming service that was standard at the Ritz-Carlton chain, I had probably the worst check-in experience of my life despite staying in thousands of hotel rooms. My check-in begin initially and then halfway through the process for some reason the first lady left and unfortunately turned me over to Kara M. I do not know why they make the change. Kara never explained anything and she certainly never smiled and seemed to be unhappy that I was there. Because the reservation was made by the group I was with they had listed my wife's name wrong. So they wanted my wife's ID to update her name. When I provided the TSA approved ID that comes as the Apple digital ID which I had just used myself with the other check in person who approved it without any question. Kara became fairly indignant and said we don't accept that here. I said you can see where I just used this and it's TSA approved and I just walked through TSA at the airport this morning with it. Of course her supreme highness would not accept anything but what she wanted. After that she hardly talked to me, never smiled and from that time on I never went back to the front desk for fear she would be there. I had some questions but I went to the nice ladies at the concierge's desk. Kara just gave me the room keys and a map with no explanation of the hotel. When I did ask about the fact that I was on the club level and if there was a way I could get club lounge access she went through an explanation about how we were on a group rate and that would not be possible. I had called a week earlier and talked with somebody else at the front desk and got a similar response. So you can imagine my surprise when I get up to the club level and see a big sign saying club lounge CLOSED from November 30 to December 19. How can two employees at the front desk have no idea that the club lounge is closed? The simple response to my questions would be to say the club lounge was closed. I was totally astounded that these people work here and have no clue what's going on at the hotel. When we got in our room my wife was checking the pillow as she's allergic to feather pillows and making sure they had changed them out. We found one of the pillowcases to be blood stained. I called down to the front desk and they sent housekeeping up who unfortunately brought up a feather pillow which we had in our profile to not use. We then explained we needed a pillowcase so she came back later with the pillowcase. And guess what? She gave us the pillowcase for us to put it on ourself. I guess it never occurred to her that maybe she should do that. So this is the Ritz-Carlton standard of care. The carpet on the hall is old and worn. It needs to be replaced. The soap and shampoo dispensers are hard to use and certainly are not any better than what I would find at a Fairfield Inn. The indoor pool has been removed and now is the gym which actually has fairly new equipment and was very functional. The ladies at the concierge desk were always helpful. The wait staff at the Tidewater Grill were always nice and I just wish they were the ones who did the check ins for the hotel. Ritz-Carlton is never a place that someone with Marriott titanium status would want to waste their time staying. I thought maybe my wife and I were being overly harsh but talking with the driver who transported us back to the airport he said his guests often had positive things to say about the Omni Hotel nearby but he often heard negative comments about the Ritz. The nice gentleman at checkout asked me how was our stay and I told him very disappointing. He seemed oblivious and didn't respond. And then later he said hope you come again. And I said we'll never come here again. And again he didn't respond and seemed to be oblivious. Oblivious may be the best word for the level of service and concern at this hotel.

Beautiful hotel in a great location. We enjoyed a quick overnight get-a-way in a sixth floor suite with a magnificent ocean view. The concierge provided a listing of resort activities and a walk on the beach was just fine. We ordered room service-excellent-and a movie. In the morning a second quick walk and a soak in the tub. The room was fully appointed with all the luxury amenities. Service is exceptional.

I recently stayed at this hotel for a work conference and overall had a pleasant experience. The property itself is beautiful—the grounds are well-kept, relaxing, and give the place a charming atmosphere. The service was definitely a highlight; staff were consistently friendly, attentive, and eager to help... a special Shout-out to Michelle and Heather at the lobby bar for going above and beyond to provide good- friendly service. Where the hotel fell a bit short was the food. While it wasn’t bad, it didn’t quite match the quality of the rest of the experience and certainly didn’t feel five-star. The options were somewhat limited and the flavors didn’t stand out. In summary, it’s a lovely place with excellent service and gorgeous surroundings, but the dining could use improvement to truly reach a five-star standard.