The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami

Now I remember why I always stay in boutique hotels. We’re paying $600 a night and the Ritz wants to charge $20 a day to use the internet!!!! I usually avoid chain hotels, and now I know why. Big chains overcharge to begin with, then nickle and dime you to death. We should all avoid the big chains. Their method of overcharging to begin with, and then charging extra for every little thing, is a plainly rude way to treat their “guests”. We’re not their “guests” here, we’re their “targets”. I’ve never been charged to use the internet at a boutique hotel and the rooms and service at the boutique hotels have been superior to the Ritz.

On special occasions my wife and I will book a weekend at a Ritz Carlton hotel. Over the past few years we have been to a few, Montreal - an absolute favorite, St. Petersburg FL, also great, and this past weekend, the Ritz Carlton in Coconut Grove, Miami. The best I can say about the hotel itself, is disappointing. Ritz Carlton is part of the Marriott group and this particular location has a Marriott corporate vibe to it, not the charming boutique feeling of the other two. As a Marriott Bonvoy member I am offered upgrades when available at their properties. Sometimes that means a modestly better room, other times a big score with a junior suite or something I would never book in the first place. We were offered a "city view" room on an upper floor and were told it was a three category upgrade to the standard room we booked. The room was nice enough, not particularly impressive with a view of two adjacent buildings with just enough space between them for a seagull to fly to the beach a few blocks away. I started to wonder what the lowest category we booked might look like. About the room. The standards we experienced during other Ritz Carlton visits, was, well, missing here in Coconut Grove. It started with little things, one robe in the closet for a two person reservation, none of those slippers you usually find in upscale hotels, OK, that may seem like nit-picking but the bigger issues were low quality scratchy linens on the bed and a way too soft, lumpy uncomfortable mattress. The "city view" description of the room was inadequate, it was also the "prominent road noise" room from the traffic below. Something the desk clerk could have warned us about before placing us in that room. If the lumpy mattress didn't keep me awake, the trucks and busses roaring down the road through the night did. While all of these things were annoying, there was one thing that left me dumbfounded. We forgot a charging cable for our phone and called the desk to see if they had one. While many hotels do, this one didn't. The person at the desk told me they did have charging stations with all the necessary cables in the lobby with a charge of $2.00 for 20 minutes. I said "Wait, you charge your guests to use electricity in the lobby ... at a Ritz Carlton?" Like I said, dumbfounded. While I understand that these hotels are owned by various people or groups operating under the Ritz Carlton moniker, they set their own rates and fees. If you are charging a lowest regular rate of $1,039 a night - for the lowest catagory room, do you really have to ding your guests $2.00 for 20 minutes of phone charging? Man, that's just cheap. After my lengthly diatribe I do want to emphasize one thing. The staff at the hotel is great, they absolutely responded immediately to almost any request. Everyone helpful, courteous and friendly, rising to the Ritz Carlton standard and above.

An ideal spot for R&R!