The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota

Stunning! I happened to spend a night at the property as my first stop on a roadtrip to nowhere — I was upgraded from a club room to a Bay View Suite. The view from the suite couldn't be beat. And the Beach Club is paradise. Right from my booking, to the champagne on check-in, to the lounge, I was cared for, looked after, and pampered right through my stay. Front desk manager Micah deserves a special shout out for sending a lovely welcome gift to the suite, and for giving me an impromptu tour of the property when I went down to thank him. Even as a long time Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite member, service can sometimes be variable, the crew at the Ritz Sarasota definitely brought their A game. I will be back. :)

Terrible. I called specially to add my kids to the reservation. They told me ok and asked for one name, never said an additional word. Waited for my children to arrive and then turned them away. Then lied and said it was only allowed for 1 person, could have said that but didn’t and the. Didn’t even have my son’s name which I literally spelled out for them. Save for $2-3k for one night and go somewhere that respects their guests. If you don’t live there or stay every weekend they don’t give a c*** about you. Dismissive and liars, not a good combo. Save your money and go to the Westin

So lucky to be able to spend a few days at this beautiful resort during this (September ) the "off season". Resort was extremely quiet and it felt as if we had the resort to ourselves . The staff is wonderful (less formal than Naples) and cheerfully provides beach towels umbrellas and towels "with pleasure" and a smile . Wasn't sure how I would feel about needing to take shuttle to beach club but it was easy breezy . An ice cream boat stopped by the beach one day to the surprise and delight of everyone at the beach . Opted to eat at the hotel and were not disappointed. We loved the sunset and tapas at Rafa. HEADS UP: There will be a new hotel being rebuilt next to the beach club . Not sure if the construction will effect the peace and quiet on the beach ? .

We had a short 2 night stay for a mini early anniversary getaway. I was skeptical because of the mixed reviews but, we had an exceptional stay. They upgraded our room and it was clean and comfortable. Valet always had our car ready with waters every time we had to leave the property. The front staff were incredibly nice and even sent up a bottle of bubbly for us which was such a nice gesture. Their beach club was beautiful! It was a short 10 minutes away but they valet your car so it wasn’t a big deal that it was not on property. They had beach chairs and umbrellas which we utilized and the beach is so beautiful! We spent half a day here and we had the best time. They also have nice bathrooms and showers inside the beach club for you to use. We had lunch at Ridley Porch and their mahi mahi sandwich was delicious. We can’t wait to come back!

We stayed here in 2016, and the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota was fantastic then. This time we stayed across the street, at the Westin, but decided to have lunch in the restaurant. I realized that it was slow season, but we encountered a dark reception area, with nobody at all manning the reception area. The waitress at the restaurant had to be reminded three times to bring me a box of matches. Then the kitchen workers came out with my wife's main course and, instead of asking if they could take the plate away and then putting down the food, they said, "Could you move your plate out of the way so I can put this down?" My wife was shocked, and you would think that in a place like this you would have one "point of contact", the way it always used to be. The food was also mediocre. Outside, the pool area was rather shabby and "sad-looking". There were no workers outside anywhere. The whole experience was unexpectedly bad, left a sour taste in our mouth. Compared to the fantastic service and wonderful atmosphere at the Westin across the street, this was extremely disappointing.