JimStraz

My travel agent convinced me to stay at the Ritz. She has now booked me into a club level partial ocean view room at the Ritz Carlton South Beach at a rate of $829/night. Comes with full breakfast and a $75 spa credit. I am happy, but also apprehensive.

Happy because South Beach is soo expensive everywhere and nervous because I am only staying for one night and do not drink booze. I am also traveling solo and just hanging out at a nice hotel for my last night of a week long convention.

Can anyone give me any feedback on the Club Level presentations as far as the food? I have stayed at several RC Club Levels and they are all different. I am being ripped off? Philadelphia Club Level food was weak at best but the view was stellar! Still I do not need a repeat of that.

Any insight is appreciated. I have 6 days to change my mind and cancel! Can't wait to get to Miami!

Kagehitokiri

if all hotels are that expensive, i recommend looking at setai private rentals...

south florida is not well regarded in general. without context its obviously hard to judge rate (comparables?) but sure seems high.

previous thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...ch-resort.html

JimStraz

kagehitokiri, I know, I know. I am such a Ritz Carlton addict, its hard for me to say no to RC Club Level anywhere. I may just have to man up on this one and say NO. LOL But I do love it and want it all the time. I seriously realize that these hotels are not WORLD CLASS. Reviews everywhere expose the truth about South Beach. How do they get away with prices higher than NYC in most cases? What I am afraid of is paying less and getting what I paid for... a dump.

Thanks for your insight. I sort of think Setai is better value too. Not even as expensive as the Ritz - surprisingly. The Club Level and Ocean View are what did me in here...

Easy Victor

We stayed on the Club level over Xmas and enjoyed the club at lot. Not sure what you're "used" to, but we thought the food presentations were nice. Crab claws, Asian inspired dishes, great salads, and a hot dish that changed every night. My wife fell in love with their coffee machine!

It's not the French Laundry, nor is it Burger King.

The staff is very welcoming and accomodating.

It certainly is not a dump. But I have to tell you, although I didn't stay there I was not as impressed with the Setai as much as they were impressed with themselves.

I hope you enjoy your stay.

JimStraz

Thanks Easy Victor for your honesty about Setai. SoBe is notorious for being snobish. Thing is, I can get everything that is in South Beach in Los Angeles pretty much. No reason for me to be ostentatious - just want good food and a good comfy time.

I do love 5 Star food, but I certainly do not eat it everyday. I have actually been on Jenny Craig and lost 20 pounds. So anything is delectible after a diet. The Philly RC Club was truly anemic . I was not impressed with that hotel at all. Since then, I've been skepticle of all Ritz Carltons club levels.

Easy Victor

I didn't find the Ritz snobby or ostentatious. We felt comfortable and at home there. In fact, we would be going back this Xmas were it not for the questionable weather that Sobe has had. Two years in a row we've been fortunate with weather and I'm not going to tempt fate a third time!

Kagehitokiri

why not do club at RC palm beach? its a resort with fewer rooms and there are post renovation reports here.

ah, somewhat of a drive. same with RC naples, which has a BMW test drive thing going on >
http://www.luxist.com/2010/03/14/bmw...s-even-better/

key biscayne (and naples etc) are larger, but sobe is large to begin with.

kmklint

Why not RC Key Biscayne - Club level?

Its a short trip to SoBe from the hotel.

Earthman

Or the RC fort Lauderdale.

We did 2 nights at the Rc south beach last fall and it was a great stay to be honest.
It's not as nice by far as the one at grande lakes orlando or at key Biscayne though.

That was our 2nd stay at the RC sobe. The previous year,I was followed into the lift by this nice looking lass almost dressed like a cheerleader who didn't press a floor number.
Small talk ensued on the way up followed by her asking me if I wanted to be tucked in...
I politely declined without see'ing the price list.
Ymmv.

busy

I recently stayed in that exact accomidation and enjoyed my stay. The GM is really interested in insuring a solid guest experience and the the hotel has great guest ambassadors that you may be assigned.

Easy Victor

It really depends on what experience the OP is looking for. The SoBe area is high energy, while the others (particularly the RC West Palm and Napes) are really laid back. The SoBe property is really nice in that it allows you to partake in the surrounding "crazyness" while being able to escape it at the resort.

I'm also guessing that the OP's conference is in the Miami area and thus the reason to look at the SoBe property. Then again, I could be wrong!

ejong

I spent hours combing threads here trying to decide where to stay during a two-day visit to South Beach. We are not typical Miami Beach types, no interest in night life, just kind of passing through on a driving trip around Florida.

But we do like our creature comforts, so finding the right hotel was important to me. We ended up settling on the Ritz-Carlton South Beach (a friend who grew up in Miami and absolutely hates the place said it is the only hotel he would consider staying at if he were forced to return) and LOVED it! It looked a little odd on the approach - the exterior architecture does not quite scream "luxury hotel" but once inside it was quite lovely.

I had booked an oceanfront room through Amex Platinum, but I guess because we were there in the early June shoulder season with some less than ideal weather, we were upgraded to a beautiful penthouse suite. Photos are posted on my trip report at http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/201...beach-sojourn/

I had also considered the newly renovated Fountainebleau at North Beach and wanted to visit there to check it out, but we ran out of time, so I cannot compare the two. There are scads of hotels in South Beach and a number of them looked nice, but the location of the Ritz-Carlton and the genuinely hospitable service we enjoyed there definitely give it an edge imho. Great poolside brunch also, btw.

We stayed in three R-C's during this trip; Sarasota, Naples and South Beach. Each was distinctly different. South Beach was far and away the best value, given the upgrade. ^

sig05

I'll be staying here in two weeks, so I will provide a recent update report.

m.photog

I will be anxious to read your report. We had one of the Lanai Pool View rooms which did not include club access as I recall even though it was one of the more expensive rooms. They upgraded us to club access which was appreciated but I have to say it is one of my least favorite clubs. It seems like an afterthought.

Overall we enjoyed the hotel and plan to be there again sometime. I recommend reading a bit about Morris Lapidus who designed the original Dilido Hotel which became the RC. He was one of the leaders Miami Modern style of the time.

sig05

How did you get upgraded to Club Level from a Lanai view? That's at least two steps down from the best non-suite and non-club rooms.

I'm Club Level on a AAA rate for Club City View that includes valet parking for my stay. Didn't make sense to burn a RC upgrade cert in this instance.