We were initially thrilled when we checked into our oceanfront balcony room on Friday, May 10. The bellmen were very helpful, the front desk staff were efficient and polite. Our room was lovely. That night, however, we sat out on our balcony in the evening after dinner. The following morning, we woke up covered in bites – on our arms, feet, legs. At first, they seemed minimal, but as the day went on, more appeared and they began to swell (and eventually blister). We weren’t sure whether it was from the patio or inside the room, as we didn’t notice them until the morning (we are world travelers and have NEVER encountered such a situation). This was a truly terrible welcome, particularly as we were visiting the hotel to celebrate our anniversary. We spoke with a person at the front desk around 5pm on Saturday, May 11 who told us they’d send security up to our room to check it out. A gentleman came up, looked at our bites, and told us he would bring up his manager. We sat in our room waiting in our wet swim clothes for the head of security. He came up, refused to examine the room or the balcony. He was quite rude and dismissive. He said there was no way to tell whether the bugs were in our room or on the patio, but told us the hotel could move us to a similar or upgraded room. We asked if it would be possible to just spray the patio and he told us no. We reluctantly agreed to move rooms (to err on the side of caution) and he told us the front desk would be in contact with us. No one called us. We waited and waited and heard nothing. At that point, we really needed to shower and clean up so that we could make our dinner reservation. We called down to the front desk a couple of times but the phone handset kept dying. Eventually the doorbell rang. It was a bellman, the head of security, and an assistant manager with a luggage cart telling us they’d take us to our new room. No one told us they were coming; we hadn’t even packed. We were promised that we were being moved to the exact same room type as what we had. That was completely untrue. We were downgraded to an *accessible* room. We lost our soaking tub, we lost bathroom storage, and the closet was half the size of what was in our original room. This was adding insult to injury. Is this how the Ritz retains clients? We expressed our immense displeasure to Theo, the manager. He said there was a miscommunication somewhere, because it is policy to inform guests of any change from a regular to accessible room. Why wasn’t he involved personally at the first mention of our situation? We were treated terribly by the confused, inattentive, and incompetent staff at this hotel. He offered to move us to another non-accessible room, but at this point we were tired of unpacking and packing, and simply wanted to get on with our vacation. Theo comped us buffet breakfasts for the remainder of our stay, along with some Bonvoy points. While we appreciated the attempt to smooth things over, the damage was done. My wife was covered in blistering bites, so bad that on Sunday night, she was worried she wouldn’t even be able to put on shoes for dinner (please see included photos). And after this bug scare, on top of it all, we were downgraded for our anniversary stay when there were clearly comparable (or better) rooms available. We’ve been coming to South Beach for 15 years now, we’ve stayed everywhere from the historic hotels on Ocean Drive, to the Fontainebleau, and everywhere in between. Never have we had an issue with bugs and never have we been treated so poorly. First of all, the Ritz-Carlton needs to heed our warning and SPRAY your patios. There is no excuse for this infestation. No one should have to experience this on vacation, particularly at what is supposed to be a five-star hotel. Matteo at DiLido Beach Club was wonderful, kind, and attentive. Adrian at the beach provided fantastic service, too. It’s a shame these two aren’t running the hotel because the rest of the staff is severely in need of basic customer service training. We expected so much more from the Ritz-Carlton. Stay anywhere in South Beach but here.

The highlight of this property was the service at the restaurant, and the quality of the food. It's reasonably priced small plates, which is surprising for a hotel restaurant, especially the Ritz. The pool is nice, one highlight is nobody seemed to mind if you went for a quick dip late a night, which was a pretty cool touch. It's not a party hotel, but you never know who you'll run into. Yes the property is dated, but perhaps the history and location makes up for this. The general service was solid, just ask for what you need. The only doc on this property would be value. I couldn't see myself paying the standard rate for a busy night. If you can find a deal or use points, its better value. If price isn't as much of an issue for you, it's great. I'm not sure how it compares to the value of Edition or W but it's never as pricey as them so depends. If you want history go Ritz, if you want modern Chic go for Edition/W.

Alicia, AJ and Jesus are is amazing! They are so welcoming and helpful. Everyday on the beach was the best because of them!

Went to the beach and the beach crew was amazing!!! Michael, Caleb and Jeffrey were so helpful and attentive. Will definitely come back because of them. Thank you for making my beach experience so wonderful!

Stayed at this hotel years ago for a business trip and LOVED it so was excited to book for leisure in April 2024. On the positive side, the hotel is ideally situated with lots within walking distance. Additionally, this hotel has an elevated pool (unlike many other hotels) so you're able to see the ocean from the pool area which is lovely. In fact, everything about the pool experience, including service, is top-notch and THE only redeeming thing I can say about our stay. Sadly, nearly every other aspect of the stay was incredibly disappointing. At over $600 per night under the Ritz Carlton brand name, I have some minimum expectations: I expect there is no "bad" room location (our room overlooked some kind of ventilation system). I expect hotel staff will be attentive and kind (from the check-in to check-out staff - except for the pool team - was aloof, bordering on rude and when I raised concerns they were clearly annoyed - with me). I expect a clean room (daily, we had to remind housekeeping to come and when they did finally clean we had to request, repeatedly, for a more complete job such as vacuuming up sand and not just making a bed and replacing towels). I expect re-stocking without harassment (not a day went by that we didn't have to ask for more coffee). I expect the hotel manager (or someone on her behalf) to respond when I reach out (we are now a week+ out from our stay and still no response). A caution to guests utilizing the hotel beach club: I worked with the "beach manager" to secure two chairs and an umbrella and tipped him $15 using Zelle thinking that was well over 20% of the approx $50 per day resort fee. Perhaps I should have tipped more. After several hours, I left for 10 minutes to wash my hands before ordering lunch. I left my book and sunblock on the chairs. When I returned, the umbrella was removed. I spent 30 minutes chasing an attendant (beach was so severely understaffed that someone from the W Hotel was pitching in that day) to replace the umbrella. The beach manager did not stop by to even apologize for the error. Kept the tip, though. On the second day, similarly, my partner and I ordered lunch, then got up to walk on the beach leaving belongs, again, behind on the chair. In less than 30 minutes our seats had been given away to other guests and our belongs left nearby in the sand. We cancelled the lunch and went to an off-site beach club. The hotel charged us for the lunch anyway. When I raised what happened on the beach to staff - requesting the resort fee and lunch cancelled be credited we got immense attitude as if I was the one in the wrong! I would have expected eagerness to correct and an apology. Not a 5-star experience to say the least. We travel to Miami Beach 4x per year at a minimum. I am a Bonvoy member. So I really wanted to love this hotel. But it is not a 5-star hotel and most definitely not worth the premium price point. Frankly, this location is a disgrace to the Ritz-Carlton name and has shaded my image of the brand overall. In the future, we'll stay at the Faena when seeking a luxury stay on Miami Beach.