I've stayed here twice in the past 6 months for one night each, and I think my overall impression is "I guess this is fine for St. Louis."
Both times, my requests for Your24 were denied (once for 11am check-in, once for 6pm check-in/check-out -- quite modest IMO), and I'm hovering around 25 grants out of my last 30 Your24 requests overall (the other denials were tougher asks, like 6am check-in or 8pm check-in/check-out).
Both times, no noticeable upgrade (standard-seeming room, small balcony, low floor). First stay I received an amenity of what appeared to be a small "gooey butter cake"; second time I got a plate with two apples, a pear, 2 strawberries, and some grapes. (What adults eat grapes? Like, seriously?) No beverages with the welcome note/snack.
First stay, I ate the sushi at the bar and it was decent. Second stay, I used the 10% off voucher (received as an Amb, not sure if Plat/Tit get it too) for the Italian restaurant. The restaurant was beautiful but the service was slow (and I was one of two people in there at 9pm) and the food was uninspired. Probably the worst "fancy octopus dish" I've had in years.
First stay, no one was at the door to help me get my stuff in. Second stay, a doorman was there. But on the way out, I called down to ask if they could print a doc for me, the agent said yes and gave me her email address (I said thanks, emailed it, and said I'd pick it up when I checked out in 20 minutes). When I went downstairs 25 minutes later, there was a long line at the front desk (at 9 a.m., who knows why) so I asked the bellman if he could snag the doc for me. He looked super annoyed that I asked him (I said, there's a line, she said she'd print it, and I don't have time to spare -- not to mention my hands were full of work stuff, along with my luggage), but he went back there and of course no one had printed it. Total fail when I was in a time-crunch.
My corporate rate is low (under $300). So it's not a big premium to pay over some of the other joints in town. So I kind of view the experience in light of that, because the room was at least quiet and comfortable. But I was pretty intrigued by the "Central West End" neighborhood (I drove over there to get a haircut in the barbershop in the Chase hotel -- seems like I'd enjoy that hotel's bar but the hotel itself seems dumpy). Anyhow, there's an AC hotel in that neighborhood that I might try if I can get a non-adjoining room (seems like it has noise problems). Maybe the AC is a better value proposition for me.
I stayed at the Four Seasons for a night after my second stay at the Ritz, and the Four Seasons has a great hard product including a wonderful hot tub outside, but the service was laughably bad. The GM there at least called me to offer a free night next time I'm in town because of the repeated comical service issues that I wrote up in their survey (including my inability to share feedback while I was there because no one would ever answer the phone), so I'll give them another shot too at some point.
But overall my takeaway of St. Louis hotels is that they just aren't great, so I guess the Ritz is fine on a sub-$300 corp rate.