Review: The Renovated Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami

The Property:

The Ritz Carlton, Coconut Grove features 115 guest rooms, giving it a boutique vibe that I love! There’s 2 towers–while one is all residences, the other features rooms on the lower 8 floors, and residences on the top.

Pre Arrival:

The hotel emailed me roughly a week before for pre-arrival preferences. I noticed reviews on TripAdvisor that said connecting rooms were noisy due to the fact that the hotel had changed carpeting to wood floors, leaving a gap in between the connecting door and the floor. So I requested a non-connecting room on a high floor, and I got one on the 6th. At the time, I only had Marriott Bonvoy Silver Status and I asked for 2PM late checkout due to my late departing flight home. Thankfully, they said that would not be a problem.

Arrival:

I checked in just right before midnight, and the front desk agent reiterated how my requests were granted and that they would be happy to extend my checkout to 2 PM. The manager showed us to the elevator and welcomed us to the hotel.

The Room:

Upon entering the room, I felt the Standard King Room was quite spacious! I enjoyed the renovated/refreshed design, and thought the room looked luxurious, yet modern, which is often a hard balance. If you want to see a video tour of the room, check out my YouTube channel here!

They had USB ports and power plugs at each nightstand, as well as at the desk which was great.

A nespresso machine was provided with 3 flavors of capsules, as well as tea bags.

The room featured a balcony, and our City View overlooked Coral Gables, with a side view of Downtown Miami. The pool was located to the left side of us. Not a horrible view, but not great either.

The king-size bed was very large, and my parents enjoyed the linens and pillows. They said the mattress was good, but a bit too “sinking” on one side.

Bathroom:

The bathroom was probably the prettiest part of the room, done in white marble. I liked the separate shower, tub and WC. If they had put a double vanity here then it would be perfect.

Towels were solid, but nothing to rave about though. The hotel used Asprey London products which is the Ritz-Carlton brand standard.

Noisy? A bit. There’s a lot of construction around Coconut Grove and even though we weren’t facing the construction, we could hear it from the room. I did need earplugs to block out the noise at night. Additionally, the hotel was fixing the room next to ours, so we heard some drilling, but thankfully they started after 10am. The sound insulation was definitely not great here, so I’m very happy I didn’t have a connecting room.

The Worst Rollaway Bed I’ve Ever Had?:

Could a Ritz-Carlton really provide such a bad rollaway? Of course not, right? Well spoiler alert–yes, yes they can!

Pokey wires on the mattress that indent on your back when you sleep. Yikes!

As someone who travels with 3 people, I’ve had my fair share of rollaway beds. From the comfortable Westin Heavenly Bed rollaways, to the average rollaways at Hilton and Marriott, I’ve been on them all!

What I wasn’t expecting was to be on the worst rollaway at no other than…a Ritz-Carlton. I’m not sure if they have a “standard” rollaway for all Ritz-Carltons, or if this location just has very horrible rollaways but my gosh that was pretty bad.

I didn’t want to change rooms, so I ended up sleeping with part of my back on a pillow which helped–At least the pillows were up to par.

I tried leaving a comment on my rollaway to the hotel and they said a manager would contact me about my experience, but they never did…

Amenities:

There’s an outdoor pool, spa and fitness center on the second floor.

The fitness center is shared with the residences, and I visited three times during my stay. It wasn’t huge, but still well equipped for my workouts. It was never crowded, was very nice and peaceful!

They had a Peloton Bike and I loved using it.

Dining:

The hotel has a bar called the Commodore, which I didn’t visit. The full service restaurant, Isabelle’s Grill Room and Garden, left much to be desired. I opted to eat breakfast at Isabelle’s one morning before my day trip to Key West, and the food was subpar, especially for a Ritz-Carlton. My last hotel stay at the Hilton in Plano, Texas had a much better breakfast in comparison.

Service:

Housekeeping started out excellent at the beginning of my trip. On the first few nights, housekeeping replenished everything in the room–water, coffee + tea, toiletries and extra floor towels. Two other housekeepers were super nice when I wanted an extra set of the bath salts we were given on our second night.

The front desk was friendly and said hello every time I was about to leave the hotel. Calling down to the valet to get my car ready was quick and easy with the car waiting for me out front when I arrived downstairs. Valet parking is $40/day with in+out privileges. 

Service Woes:

On my 4th and 5th nights, housekeeping went incognito. Like, they never actually showed up? On my 4th night I headed back to the room at 5pm to change before dinner, and our room was still not made up! I got back late and my room was made, but only a “lite” version with no new lotion, and the bed barely made. Additionally, towels were lacking and floor towels weren’t replaced (and one floor towel was taken back). I had a feeling that turndown service made up the room rather than housekeeping. I thought it was just an off day, so I let it slide.

The next day on my 5th night however, I was gone practically the whole day from before noon and came back to the room at 8pm and the room wasn’t made at all! I told the front desk, and assured me that this was not the Ritz standard and that they would fix it. So, I decided to walk around the neighborhood, and I came back to another “lite” version of room cleaning. I ended up having to call up for tea, coffee and water which wasn’t replenished once again.

The housekeeping manager later checked up on me the next day and housekeeping resumed. But again, it was a “lite” service, as lotion wasn’t replenished nor was coffee. Since it was my last night, I didn’t bother to nag again and I was just really ready to check out the next morning.

Location:

It’s nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of Downtown Miami and South Beach and just a short Uber/Lyft away from everything. The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove is just about 4 miles from Brickell in Downtown Miami. I personally enjoy the Coconut Grove neighborhood that the Ritz-Carlton is in. There’s lots of construction going on nearby, and after it’s all done I would enjoy the area much more! The Streets at Mayfair is just a short walk away and has plenty of nice restaurants to choose from. I did feel a bit more unsafe west of the post office, so I would be a bit more careful around that area.

I got brunch at the Greenstreet Cafe and it was excellent. It’s only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. Also across from the cafe is Bianco Gelato which is AMAZING. One of the best gelatos I’ve had. 

And, the hotel is a short walk from the upscale Fresh Market on the Marina which has nice pastries, fruit and groceries.

The Verdict:

Overall, the Ritz-Carlton, Coconut Grove Miami is in an excellent location a few miles away from the busy city life of downtown Miami. However, the hotel exhibited characteristics more suited to a higher-end Marriott. From the uncomfortable rollaway bed, to the inconsistent housekeeping service, the hotel arguably caused more anguish than one would expect from a five star hotel. Given its price tag and Category 6 rating, the Ritz is far too pricey for what it offers.

To see a video of the the room, check out my YouTube!

Have you stayed at the Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove Miami before? What are your thoughts? Comment below!

Happy travels,

Ty

Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!