AtlMan

I will be staying at this property for the first time over a weekend prior to Thanksgiving and was hoping to get reports from fellow FTers about the place. It just opened last year, so I am expecting to be impressed, but any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

AtlMan

AtlMan

Has no one stayed at this property that can give me a little report on the resort? There must be someone out there who has experienced this new Ritz-Carlton. I fully expect it to be nice, but just want to know a little more detail about the place prior to my arrival. Thanks in advance!

AtlMan

Beckles

My brother stayed there and didn't think it was anything special. It's a fairly large building with the bottom half being the hotel and the top half being residences, but I haven't seen it since it was completed.

On somewhat of a side-note, the Hyatt Sarasota, which is right across from the RC, is supposed to have an AWESOME pool area now with a beach pool (zero-degree entry), which is also new since the last time I've been there ...

lahout

I stayed there in mid September.The hotel is fairly new, operating for just over a year. The lobby and common areas were very beautiful with marble and fine furnishings. The service was unbelieveable. While at the pool attendents brought me ice water without requesting it and a a towel pillow on which to rest my head.The pool was nice but rather quiet. We visited during the off season so that may explain it. We stayed on the club floor and we offered continental breakfast, afternoon snack, tea service, cocktails& hor d'oeuvres and chocolates at night.
The location was very convienent to downtown Sarasota but not on a beach.The staff couldn't do enough for us. I can't wait to return.

AtlMan

Thanks for your posts thus far. I am looking forward to staying at this property. Besides the hotel, what is the general consensus on the Sarasota/Bradenton area?

I may be moving there and am curious to know as I have never visited. Of course I will form my own opinion once there, but it is always great to hear what others think.

AtlMan

JohnnyP

There doesn't seem to be a thread on this property yet, and I'm wondering what other experiences have been for Marriott Titanium members recently. Any reviews? We're headed there this year for a family vacation (two toddlers). What have the experiences been like with suite upgrades? So far on Ritz Carlton stays, we've been pretty impressed -- whether it was a great upgrade to a 1 bedroom suite at RC Dove Mountain or a significant upgrade to a large deluxe room and a free breakfast at the RC Kyoto property.

neuro0

Do they give out 4pm late check-out to Elite?

woodje12

I stayed here a year or so ago and was "only" Gold then (now Titanium). So no special recognition although their standard service was excellent and the room was sizable and comfy.

icanneverflyenough

Paid for a club room. Very dated property. Needs a pretty thorough renovation. Worse yet they charge a resort fee even though you can't use any of the outdoor amenities like the gorgeous pool because of massive construction next door at the Ritz-Carlton timeshares. There's a free shuttle to their beach club about 10 minutes away but going there means spending money as drinks and food are free in the club lounge at the hotel but not free and somewhat expensive at the beach club. I don't like paying $7 for a can of Coke when it's free at the hotel. I asked about the resort fee replacement since internet was included. A manager eventually got back to me and just waived the resort fee especially after I complained about the construction. By the way, the construction isn't disclosed at all when you book. The offerings in the club lounge were okay but hardly a meal replacement even the "lunch" offering. Nothing substantive at night. The "champagne" was a sparkling wine that retails for $3-5 a bottle. Owners seem to be milking the hotel for cash flow while the main emphasis is the timeshare units given the existing timeshare building, the new building that will be under construction for another year or two, and the other timeshares at the beach club. For $150 a night or less, this is a good value but above that you are better off staying at the new Westin a block or two away.

JohnnyP

We had a recent 5 night family stay at the RC Sarasota. We were booked with points and I’m a Titanium member.

Pre Arrival

I called a few weeks in advance to inquire about the possibilities of five night upgrade to the Club level. My wife was pregnant, so alcohol wasn’t going to be a big feature for us, so I asked what they could do. I was told that she could extend us a “very special” price of $200/night to upgrade to the Club level. Of course, I’m not an idiot and this is their “normal” price. That left a very bad taste in my mouth.

I kept my eye on suite availability and the morning of departure called the front desk about the chances of a suite upgrade. They offered a paid upgrade (don’t remember how much) but otherwise said no-can-do. I didn’t push it. But again, continued to give the impression that the hotel was all about $$, not hospitality.

Arrival

Things could not have been more different when we actually arrived. The valet team was spectacularly welcoming as was the gentleman working the front desk. I nonchalantly asked about the potential for a suite upgrade. He said, “Of course, let me check.” And voila, 1 bedroom suite upgrade. (It was overlooking construction site, but we didn’t mind — the cranes and men working actually provided some entertainment for the kiddos!). He also proactively offered to move us to a Club suite with a better view if we wanted to upgrade to the Club level (how much? $200/night), but we declined. Couldn’t have been a more pleasant and welcoming front desk experience. (And he got a nice tip the day we left!)

Parking

A quick note about parking. The only option at the hotel is valet. Personally, I hate valet service. It’s inefficient, unnecessarily costly, and I’ve had some scrapes on cars in the past. I’ll park my own car thank you. In fact, I will purposefully not book a hotel if I cannot park my own car. Unfortunately, the City of Sarasota has instituted fairly draconian parking rules downtown and there are limited places to park overnight within walking distance to the hotel. However, there was ample free parking just south of the hotel in the Golden Gate Point apartment complex, less than 5 min walk (and a street light). Perfecto, I was in heaven.

Room

Our room was recently renovated and very comfortable for our little family. There was a separate washroom off the entry way, a full living room, separate bedroom with sliding doors and an adjoining en suite bathroom. Couldn’t have hoped for a better room! One of our kids has unfortunate allergies, and they kindly cleared the mini fridge for some of his special milk and snacks. Housekeeping consistently did a great job and they always had smiles on their faces.

Pools and Private Beach

We didn’t use the pool at the hotel (this is Sarasota after all!) but did go to the beach club a lot. We took our own car there so as not to fiddle with the shuttle with little kids. Here again, only valet parking, which was a pain. A couple days I parked on the street and we walked up to the club after dropping off my family, which was a bit far for most people, but I’m a stubborn person. :-) The private club was fantastic, with end to end service being top notch. They set up chairs and umbrellas for us, had a big box of sand toys for the kids, and a decent pool. Locker rooms were a bit outdated. We ate at the restaurant a couple times. And while service was a bit slow, the food was actually pretty good and reasonably priced. It was also fun to walk up and down the beach.

Club Level

We paid for the Club level one day to see if it was something we wanted to do for the entire trip. As noted by the prior poster, I’ve been to free hotel club lounges that had nicer spreads than this. I never expect the RC Club to be “worth” the $$, but in this case it wasn’t even in the same zip code. In some clubs, the service is practically a meal replacement. This was not the case here, barely even for breakfast. Even though the club was not full, they were consistently running out of food (especially the better food items) and it took them forever to replenish the supply. Staff was rarely present and would disappear for 15-20 minutes at a time into a back room. As noted above, one of my kids has some nut and dairy allergies. There was not much he could eat (which we are used to). It would have been awesome if they had said, “Hey, let us get something for him” and thrown a little nut/dairy free option together. Heck, they proactively did that at the Grand Hyatt we were at a few weeks ago, which blew our mind. But no, not at the Ritz Carlton.... Needless to say, we cancelled Club level for the rest of our stay.

Fitness Center
They did a good job here. Clean, well ventilated, modern equipment and large enough that it never felt crowded. One opportunity would be to have some kind of locker room with showers, like other properties. I always prefer to clean up before going back to the room (especially since I often work out when the kids are napping when we are on vacation and I don’t want to wake them.

Location

With a car, the hotel is superbly located, with easy access to downtown Sarasota. (Great farmers market!) And just 5 minutes to St Armands Circle.

Overall

Mixed feelings about this hotel for sure. The pre arrival nonsense was awful and made me dread our stay — not thefeeling one should have about an upcoming vacation! But once we got there, it turned into a marvelous stay. Just avoid the Club level, it’s not worth it at this property vs. other Ritz clubs.

I didn’t take many photos of the property, and these don’t really do justice to the room. Sorry!


Our 1 bedroom suite

Bedroom in the suite

icanneverflyenough

I never received a pre-arrival email, making this the first Ritz-Carlton that I've ever stayed at that didn't have a guest relations staffer email me ahead of time. Also, you and I both seem to disagree on the furnishings, decor, etc. Yes, that was elegant but the rooms were outdated. Outside of a small desk area, there were no outlets anywhere. At least in my room. I also thought it was unusual that none of the stuff that said "Ritz-Carlton" were co-branded with Sarasota. From keycards to slippers to bathrobes to pens. You name it. Every Ritz-Carlton and even many JW Marriott hotels now have their location branding on all the collateral. With the construction and absurd resort fee there is really no way to justify staying at this hotel compared to almost brand new Westin or even the Autograph Collection property in downtown Sarasota, except to say you're staying at the Ritz-Carlton.

HookEm

I stayed at this hotel at the Club Level 3 years ago and my experience was very different than described above. The Club had extensive and high quality food presentations. Service was also outstanding. So I wonder if the hotel is under new management or just why it so different now.
I had a guestroom with the balcony facing north toward a protected rectangular “lake” of sorts, and the Hyatt at the opposite end of the “lake”. They were beginning construction of a building on the east side of this “lake”. Is that where the construction mentioned above is located?

MaggieKay

I have stayed at this hotel three times now - the last time was last year and our experience was similar to yours. In fact we may go again next April. I don’t recall any problem with construction going on, or even seeing it. We had Club access using the Ritz credit card upgrade, and found the food and service to be excellent. Since I really don’t drink and my husband usually only has one glass of wine each day, I valued the club to be worth about $150. per day for us. When we were checking out I heard the front desk agent quoting a price of $300. per day for club access.

We checked out The Westin which is pretty much across the street and didn’t like it one bit - basically it’s just a big high rise fortress that isn’t resort like in the least. We also stayed at the Art Ovation Autograph hotel for a couple of nights and that was nice- considerably less expensive than the Ritz and having many fewer resort facilities. However, it was in a very convenient location near all sorts of restaurants, stores and theaters.

icanneverflyenough

The construction startss at around 7:30 AM and don't finish until just about dark. The noise is unbearable by the pool. Who knows why the food quality has reduced in the lounge but it has. Lunch is hardly "lunch" while the evening food meets a loose definition of canapes but is hardly comparable to other Ritz-Carlton Club Lounges and below what you find at many Marriott M Clubs, which are complimentary unlike the Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge. Serving the equivelent of Andre "champagne" is also laughable for the premium charged. I would also take issue with calling this a resort. It is a city center hotel that just happens to have a beach club that is partly used by timeshares.

Mickidon

I was scheduled to stay on the Club level and had booked a view room at approx. $900 (!). Then I stumbled upon this thread and called, only to learn that the view rooms face the construction site, so I was offered the opportunity to move to the
"quiet" side at around $800. The most unsavory aspect of this was the non-disclosure of the noise, which is documented here and all over TA reviews as well. It also impacts the Club Lounge. All of this plus a $40 resort fee has sent me elsewhere.
I've stayed here in the past under normal conditions and it isn't a big give up.