The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota

Rooms are great
Pool is disgusting

The service! The atmosphere!

We thoroughly loved our time at the hotel and especially at the beach club. The hospitality was exceptional and everyone, especially Demar at the beach club, made our family time the absolute best we could hope for.

The hotel is beautiful and in a solid spot. The trolley to St Armands/Beach Club is convenient and the staff on the bus is great. The food is decent but service is very slow, we ate at both Jack Dusty’s and Ridley’s Porch multiple times. Our pack and play took 6 hours to get delivered, we weren’t offered champagne at check in even tho we’re premier elite, small things like that prevented it from being a 10/10.

I’d like to highlight one member of the staff who was exceptional and reason enough to go back. Carlos at the beach club was everything you want at a luxury hotel. Funny, accommodating, great with kids, and truly went above and beyond. I hope he knows how much he made the trip for us. He even gave us this little floaty for our son!! Thank you for everything Carlos!

Thank you for a great time. This was our 40/41st anniversary celebrations for us and our friends. We love the resort and the reason we do is because of the staff and service. The hospitality is 5 star and the food and amenities are first class. We notified in advance that we were celebrating the anniversary time for both couples and we were so grateful and impressed with the nice chocolate strawberries and champagne provided to us. Rachel in the club was amazing. Bayan was terrific. Alia’s at the beach club always smiling. Brooke at Jack Dusty provided great service. Laura and Demetrius were awesome. Kavanaugh and Todd were so nice.
We love the club and thank you so much for a memorable time. We needed this getaway. Thank you to the entire team at the Ritz Carlton. We will be back. Thank you for everything.
M and J.

We stayed at this property in the past. It was clean, the staff was accommodating. But this day was quite different. The property is showing signs of wear and deferred maintenance. The hotel is obviously understaffed. Common areas were unclean and trash was overflowing in trash cans and on table tables in lobby areas.

Stephanie, the front desk manager extended our stay by one night due to black mold in the hallway on floor six. Also, our mattress in First room was severely torn and tattered. Pictures are attached to the mold and mattress.

We went on a sunset cruise that evening and their house Driver drove us to the marina. He said he would be back at 9 PM when the cruise returned to drive us back. I asked him if we needed his card or contact information and he said no, I will be there. The Driver Sean with Dolphin was not there. We stood out in the heat and waited on her Uber and to go order for pizza sat there for 45 minutes until we were able to get to the restaurant to pick it up and bring it back to the hotel.

Upon investigation of the two queen beds in our next room, those mattresses were also torn and tattered, and smelled of mold horribly. This is a health and sanitary issue that must be addressed. The staff here shows a total lack of care and unwillingness to do anything about the problems. They actually laughed at my husband when he was telling the story about the driver not showing up.

Bottom line that sums it all up is that the tipped employees hold their job in high regard and provide excellent service. But the salary employees seem to be unemotional and unconcern about anything it’s a total opposite experience that we had here a year ago

The first and most alarming thing was the black mold in the hallway on level 6. I even reported this to the front desk manager, and she seemed completely unaffected and showed a total lack of care. Black mold is a very serious issue. My husband was a contractor in Minnesota and is extremely sensitive when there’s black mold present. This can cause serious health issues for folks and should be taken seriously. He has been coughing since our stay. It blows my mind that no one would take this issue seriously or even address it. It was kind of brushed off to the wayside. There was a piece of wallpaper in the hallway, literally peeling off the wall with tons of black mold, see the picture I told the manager, and when we went back in the hallway it was literally just glued back in place, but wasn’t cleaned behind it. This is NOT UP TO RITZ STANDARDS.

The second issue was upon returning to our room, housekeeping had left pillowcases in our bathroom sink. The washcloths were not replaced.

Overall our return stay to this property led us, disappointed, and frustrated. Had to spend too much time, dealing with contacting the front desk and trying to manage the issues we had instead of enjoying our time here.

Thank you for also as a gold elite member we should be getting 2 PM late check out. We had to go down every day to have our key reprogrammed and on our last day they would not guarantee us the late check out. This is frustrating that they can’t communicate and manage things on their end better. Unprofessional and lack of good training.

Also, the food at club level was disappointing. It was like cafeteria food. The bloody Mary we had was not even shaken.

Rachel at clubs level, Thomas (valet), Shannon and Dawn at the spa were all absolutely amazing. The rest of the staff can learn from these exceptional individual.

Ritz Carlton never disappoints. Great rooms, great food, great staff. Luciana at Jack Dusty was wonderful! We loved her. Great location. You can walk to a lot of things in the area. Very accommodating for someone with a pet. Our dog Lola was treated like royalty.

I was here for an evening event and ended up staying for a few more days because I loved it! The service, the rooms, the location is all fantastic. It is very pricey but you definitely get what you pay for!

Location and facilities

We had a very rough experience at first but beach manager Demar reversed that experience and made it a million times better. He oversees a comprehensive beach operation while still taking time to meet and greet all of his guests. The entire beach staff is second to none and I wish I could employ them at my business in California. Thank you, Demar, for such a great experience here at the RC Beach Club!!!

Local muito bom, beach club sensacional

The beach club and the staff at the beach club - 10/10.

I loved everything about this Ritz Carlton property. I booked this thru Costco vacations and it was the best decision. It came with free valet parking and a rental
car. Once I arrived on the property I was greeted with a glass of champagne and upgraded to a marina view room.
The shuttle to downtown and to the beach is convenient and runs all day. This hotel
is in a perfect location and everyone was sooooo nice to me. This may be the best vacation I’ve had in a long time. Shout out to Chalee at the front desk and all the staff at the beach for taking care of me. Thank you Ritz Carlton Sarasota!

We had a wonderful stay at the Hotel. Staff is warm and friendly and the Hotel checks all the boxes when it comes to rooms and service. A special shout out to Adriana at the front desk who worked patiently with us to sort out a registration problem.

Extremely disappointed. We got a room for one night specifically so that we could get a cabana at the beach club to spend a special day with family. This was not inexpensive and we naturally expected the experience to be commensurate. A $450 cabana should pretty nice, wouldn't you think? It was literally 4 loungers that were identical to all the others around the pool (the description said that the cabana was for up to 6 people, but there is no way we could have fit 2 more), a stringy hammock that was impossible to lay in and a tiki style roof. That's it. Now please look at the attached photo. That was our $450 view. Our backs were to the pool, there was a *tiny* sliver of ocean visible if you craned your neck, and we could barely relax with the sound of heavy machinery constantly moving up and down the beach that was being repaired. To top it off, the service was even lacking, taking 30+ minutes for drink orders and even longer when we were trying to check out. Admittedly, the food and drinks were tasty, but that's all that was decent about the experience.

I stayed at this hotel for a wedding weekend and unfortunately had a very disappointing experience involving a personal item. During my stay, my diamond earrings went missing from my room.
What was most concerning was not just the loss itself, but how the situation was handled. I reported it while I was still at the hotel, and received little to no guidance on what steps to take. There was no follow up from management, and I had to repeatedly call on my own just to check if anything had been done.
For a hotel of this caliber, I expected a much higher level of professionalism and care, especially when it comes to guest safety and personal belongings. Even if the item could not be recovered, clear communication and a proper response would have made a significant difference.
I am still sick over the loss of my earrings, and this experience has completely eroded my trust. I now refuse housekeeping service in hotel rooms altogether because I no longer feel comfortable having anyone enter my space.

This review is for a Club Lounge access room. Blair, Ben and Beatrix in the Club Lounge provided some of the best service I have experienced in RC lounges. Drinks were perfectly mixed and no request was left unfilled. Arrangements were made for car service to dinner each night. I look forward to returning to this property and experiencing the Club Level again.