Introduction I had business in Dallas and decide to try the Ritz-Carlton over the less expensive W. In retrospect, I should have gone with the W.Since regular rooms were going for $600 AAA rate or so, I decided to book the deluxe king suite for $724. I was curious if I might enjoy better Marriott elite status recognition/treatment as I might at a St Regis. (Hint: I did not.)The hotel lobby was beautifully decorated for Christmas:There even was a little cafe/dessert shop reminiscent of Vienna:The hotel is on the first 7 floors of a tall tower building; the rest are residences, I believe. There are two other adjacent towers that also are residences, entered via their own entrance. Overalll, the public spaces looked pretty nice. The conference areas beyond the elevators never interested me... Check In Check in was friendly and quick, though the FDA didn't mention anything about my Ambassador elite status. Since I was curious what her screen would show as my status, I asked her as she gave me my room key packet; she indicated I was a Plat Premier. Platinum recognition here truly is non-existent. The FDA walked me to the elevators and made sure I called if I needed anything. Room My Deluxe Suite was quite spacious, even if it felt quite dated. It reminded me a bit of the dated decor/furnishings at the St Regis Houston. I thought it was a bit odd to have the coffee maker so close to the entrance and so far from the bedroom. There was a small closet and a powder bath on the right off the entry hallway. The door opening past the toilet area seemed a bit clumsy:The living room was quite spacious, if a bit drab with the color palette:The view was unimpressive:The bedroom was pretty spacious, too, though the smaller window left it a bit dark without the lighting:There were plenty of plugs by the bedside:The TV cabinet had an under mini bar and fridge, as well as a safe drawer: The small hallway between the bedroom and master bath had a spacious closet area and cabinet:The layout of the suite reminded me a LOT of the deluxe suite at the Ritz-Carlton Boston--just not renovated and not refurbished. It's obvious that the hotel is in need of a renovation. The air con was not impressive. I confirmed both before booking and a few days before my stay that the suite could cool to below 67 F. For a suite customer, let alone an Ambassador guest, you'd think they would have tested to be sure. No dice. The temperature barely got below 69 F. They did bring fans, but I wasn't pleased to be paying so much for substandard air con in one of the hotel's better suites. The engineers also admitted that the hotel usually doesn't get particularly cold, making the false promises of good air con more galling. The WiFi was even more tragic. It never got above 3-4 Mbps and usually was between 0.5 and 1.5 Mbps. Even the Dallas and Houston airport terminals get 5-6 Mbps. At least the shower pressure was mediocre. All in all, I wasn't at all impressed. Space is nice, but the rest is seriously lacking. Service Service could have rescued the hotel a bit, but it wasn't enough. My challenge with rigid standard operating procedure with Ritz-Carlton service continued here. I had some of the same challenge at the RC San Francisco. I did not have that issue at the RC Boston and certainly not at the RC Kyoto. So it's not necessarily endemic, but it is an obvious problem. It's NOT St. Regis. After I complained about the WiFi, the FD manager apologized, admitted they knew it was an issuek and offered me 4000 Marriott points. I was insulted and said so. That's something to offer at a Courtyard, not a Ritz Carlton. A guest relations manager called back and asked what I wanted: I told him that I thought $100 off the rate was appropriate for the WiFi failure and the air con broken promise. He indicated they would drop $125 from the nightly rate by way of apology. There was no real interest in trying to please or genuinely trying to make up for the shortcomings; there only was interest in trying to stop talking about the problems. That isn't luxury service to my mind. The bar service was quite good, even if the drinks were surprisingly poor. Room service took a while but was adequate. The Fearing's restaurant service was wonderful. Fearing's certainly is a highlight of the hotel.The valets were great, too. They were quick, friendly, and always trying to please/see if I might need anything. They didn't always get the door, but they usually did. All in all, though, the Ritz Carlton Dallas was a service disappointment. It just felt too formulaic, too going through the motions, too "Marriott" SOP for my tastes. It wasn't luxury service to me. Dining Dining was a highlight. I had dinner with a colleague at Fearing's my first night, and it was SUBLIME. Truly worthy of being one of the best in Texas, indeed.My steak with chicken fried lobster was spectacularly good. I'm sure I'm due for the inevitable heart attack any day now, but it was so worth it!Room service breakfast was pretty good, too.The biggest weakness with F/B was the poor drinks at the bar. But the server handled it perfectly, comping me my drink and bringing me a follow up on him, to boot. The Fearing's restaurant was top drawer. Room service was pretty good. All in all, F/B here is pretty good. Location The location was great for me. It was just a 30 min drive from the DFW airport. It was about 45 minutes to Ft Worth and about 15 minutes to my Dallas appointments. It also had numerous restaurants nearby. Overall The Ritz-Carlton Dallas is a pretty nice hotel--but it didn't deliver based on what rates it charges for the Dallas market. It felt like a convention hotel sometimes while waiting 5-10 minutes for an elevator, and the nice lobby often felt pretty busy. The poor air con and trafic Wifi really bothered me, even with the rate discount. The dated decor and furnishings didn't bother me too badly, but the lack of great service really wasn't there to make up for it. The hotel needs to be renovated, and the team needs to be trained in proper luxury service. Otherwise, the hotel really just felt like an old and tired JW Marriott with lackadaisical service. I am not likely to ever return. I will try the W on my next visit.