Full Review March 22-25 2020
As noted above we stayed on points, 200K points total, over Memorial Day weekend. I’ve stayed at this property several times in the past, with the last stay about three years ago.
I’m not going to mention any service issues in this review because it was clear that every single employee we encountered was doing their best in what is of course a challenging time. No one working at the resort had anything but a great attitude and folks repeatedly went above and beyond even when they were obviously harried from being severely overworked.
Which leads to my next comment - there are clearly some tough management choices taking place at this hotel right now. Why would you open the hotel, even supposedly with an occupancy cap, so obviously understaffed and be charging $800/night (the rate when I looked mid-week last week; the cash rate was about $600ish when I booked my points trip two weeks ago). Of course this is a difficult time and I know these are not easy choices, and I know that they need the money. It is not cheap to keep the lights on at the Ritz. But for folks that are less patient than I am, I’m guessing those guests may not return in some cases considering how severely strained the property was. If I had paid $600-$800 a night for a standard room I would have been very upset with what I received. Not to mention the resort fee, questionable in normal times, that “pays” for some things that are simply not available to any guest for any price during COVID-19.
All the above said, the big issue with this resort is actually the physical plant. The remodeled common areas look great - we didn’t try the sushi, but the overall experience at the new indoor lobby bar was super pleasant. But all the other areas of the resort, save the brand new pool restaurant, range from a bit tired to legitimately run-down.
The exterior is dying for a paint job. The roof needs repair in multiple places. The gym is small and tired for a hotel of this supposed caliber. Tattered pillows in the guest room. Brass doorknobs showing 25 years of wear. Tennis courts with mud in the middle of the clay and tattered shade netting. A pool area that is severely undersized for even the supposedly reduced COVID-19 guest load. I could go on but you get the picture.
Another major annoyance is that there is no adult pool - when you have a pool area that is so undersized and the pool chairs are pushed in so close to the children’s play area, you should have an adult pool. Instead, they make you use the spa pool to get any quiet since it is 18+ and the charge is $40/person/day. On top of the resort fee. On top of the room charge. And required valet charge. You get the picture.
Bright spots of our stay included an excellent meal at the new pool restaurant, Coquina, a very friendly tennis pro, excellent housekeeping, and two guys in (seriously, I am not making this up) full suits made of an orange and pineapple print material walking into the spa pool area and handing out chilled pineapple chunks, with one of the guys fully suited walking into the pool, soaked, to hand them to the swimming guests.
If I were Marriott corporate I’d give this property two years to make the required investment to bring it back to Ritz standards. If not, I’d pull the flag. You just can’t justify the rack rates here with the property in the condition it is in.
PS - if you decide to dine off property, both Bar Zin and Cucina South are just down the street and both are excellent for dinner.