The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach

Loved the experience especially the beach crew

Caleb, Bosco and Amstel I and Isaac provided amazing service on the Ritz Carlton Beach. The amount of patients they have with everyone else truly was incredible. Thank you. They are really wonderful. Thank you.

A quick three night get-away, our stay with Ritz-Carlton was our destination for our bucket-list visit to South Beach. Our first stay at a Ritz-Carlton, we entered with high expectations and in most ways they were exceeded. Making the experience was the Club staff - standard setters for concierge and “club level” service. The pool service on the other hand was disappointing and some aspects of the facilities are rather worn down. Booking/Coordination. Booking through the Bonvoy site, I am confident we received the best available rate. Although limited coordination prior to our arrival, we did receive a very nice e-mail of intro from the Club concierge to ensure a smooth arrival and stay. An unexpected touch. Check-in. Arriving by ride-share, our bags were taken and we were expertly escorted to the front desk for immediate and seamless check-in. A nice surprise was a personalized gift from the concierge staff in our room when we arrived. Room. Booking a Club Level room but subsequently updated to a Suite, I believe we saw one of their finer rooms and it was clean, well decorated and outfitted for a luxury stay. A mild note was the patio area (Lanai Suite), there was only one lounger and the condition of the couch was “tired” and dirty. Location was ideal for access to the pool and noise was manageable but with the proximity to the pool we did hear the music in our room. Overall however, very nice suite. Facilities. This is a very pretty hotel worthy of the “Ritz” name. Modern architecture and very clean. A negative is there are some places they could use renovation most notable the carpet in most public areas. Rough. Standard resort options with a single large pool and section of the public beach reserved for Ritz guests. We spent most of our resort time next to the pool. Plenty of loungers available with excellent staff to find the “right spot” with requested shade and placing covers and towels. Although there were plenty of unoccupied yet “reserved” seats I did not get the impression of the pre-dawn “chair grab” that happens at some of the finest resorts. Of disappointment was the pool service. The restaurant and serving staff are actually a sub-contract with “Chef José Andrés’ restaurant group” and our observation was understaffed and average performance at best. Most of the time we had to flag down or even walk to a servers, even being told, “not their section” and waiting another 5 minutes for the server assigned our section to get us a drink. This is a notable failure for a high level resort and was noted on all three pool-side experiences. Nice, professional folks, but understaffed. A shame. Dining. Two large restaurants we had limited experience because eating outside the resort. Having lunch by the pool on two occasions, the food and drink was good with many options, but as mentioned the service was spotty at best. We enjoyed our breakfast and some light snacks throughout the day at the Club Lounge. The food was nice and staff exemplary. Staff. The life-blood of any luxury property, the Ritz Carlton has terrific people. From the front-desk to the Club Lounge, they have the professionalism and skill required at such a resort. The front-desk staff is accessible via text which was nice and helpful a number of different occasions. A notable standout was Club Lounge team. Setting the standard for high-level, personalized care, the servers and highly trained concierge staff made our visit. The personal touches provided by Benjamin and his staff were some of the best we have experienced. Thank you Domenica, Luis, Alexander, Daniel, Blair, and those back in the kitchen. Y’all gave us a truly memorable experience! Tips. Americans visiting an American Property so American tipping culture. Most often started with a 20-22% service charge but provided a “tip-line” and frankly an expectation something be put on that line. Of course a personal decision but a planning factor for budget. I believe the practice of putting service charge on the bill only passes more expense to the consumer because tipping above that is expected. I digress…. Membership/Loyalty Program. A Bonvoy property, RItz Carlton offers 1k bonus points per stay, possible upgrade, stay, and points multiple but no breakfast or club access. The Club Lounge is for rooms booked with access to Club, not status. Well worth the extra charge for the room in our opinion because of the offering going well beyond the modern business lounge or club. The Ritz Carlton is a solid property worthy of its reputation. Some needed renovation on some of the tired parts of the property and a real addressing of staffing at the pool (sub-contract) would go a long way. The stellar staff makes up for these short-comings and we would certainly enjoy another visit just to see some of these folks again. Thanks!

Was housed in the Remote Wing, needed two sets of elevators, and a long inefficient walk each time, temperamental elevators, oldish systems, breakfast ok, systems antiquated. Got a welcome letter addressed to someone else .

pon arrival, we experienced a significant delay in receiving our room keys—about 2.5 hours past the posted 4 PM check-in time. During that time, communication from staff was limited, and I had to contact customer service via telephone to get the issue escalated. The lobby was extremely crowded due to a business conference, which made the wait even more uncomfortable. Hardly a seat to be found. Unfortunately, the room itself had ongoing noise issues. It appeared to be located near a mechanical or air conditioning unit, and there was loud vibrating noise both nights of our stay. We also heard frequent slamming from a stairwell door directly across the hallway from our door.. By the second night, I was calling the front desk at 3 AM because the noise disrupted sleep both nights of our stay. Common areas were also heavily impacted by conference traffic. We had hoped to enjoy a quiet drink at the bar in the evenings, but it was consistently crowded and loud. Not the vibe for a romantic night cap. This trip was meant to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, so the overall experience was disappointing—especially given the premium price point and expectations associated with a Ritz-Carlton stay. The hotel did offer one complimentary night and a pool daybed, which I appreciated. However, the overall stay still fell short. Management did follow up after my email, but the resolution felt limited considering the issues we experienced. The director basically said tough luck the room was still occupied we will charge you accordingly. Based on this visit, I would not recommend this location for couples or families seeking a relaxing luxury getaway. Added photo of our “ocean view” room. Note the size and proximity of the mechanical unit that vibrated our entire room.