Had an excellent stay at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota over Labor Day weekend. While our room was gently worn with older furnishing, it was
spotless. Service by all Ritz Carlton employees was commendable. The private beach club was amazing, very family friendly. All of our needs were catered to. Many activities for children, fantastic amenities.

A lovely place to stay in a great location in downtown Sarasota. Stayed for four nights last week. Hotel was very nice and staff was quite friendly. Rooms were nice size and nicely decorated, and bathrooms were large enough for two people to share while getting dressed. Housekeeping was amazing, cleaned rooms at least twice a day and nightly turn down down service and never did I see them in our room or did they knock while we were in the room, amazing how they got in and out repeatedly without interrupting us. Water view not worth extra money, we were given a room upgrade to water view upon arrival and chose to leave upgraded room due to construction noise (building hotel next door) and honestly room on other side of hotel was much quieter (no noise actually) and had a nice view also. Reconnect package was great deal, included valet parking, breakfast daily ($40 allowance for two), and $25 daily resort credit. The Ritz's beach club restaurant was great for dinner and viewing sunset . We chose to drive rather than taking shuttle and getting to beach club was less than 15 minutes and a straight shot and enabled you to see Lido Key and St. Armand Circle. If you have chance to go to this hotel take advantage of off-season rates, we paid about $215 per night during August and looking to go back after Christmas and same room is over $500.

We have stayed at many hotels around the world but the SERVICE at this hotel was the best experience we have ever had. Most staff members remembered us by name and went out of their way to make sure we were taken care of. For example, the bell hop spent close to 30 minutes showing us several rooms when we checked in and weren't sure which type of room we wanted. He also provide useful advise about hotel services and restaurant recommendations around town. When we requested transportation to a downtown restaurant one evening, the hotel provided a car free-of-charge. The staff at the restaurant and Starbucks kiosk where we had breakfast, Sunday brunch, and a quick morning coffee also went above and beyond any of our expectations regarding service. However, regarding the Brunch, we have had the Ritz Carlton Brunch at Key Biscayne, FL and we think that it was much better than the one at Sarasota at the same price. The quality of the food was great at the Ritz in Sarasota, but the variety was lacking. At $60.00 per person, we felt it could be better (the service was excellent, though). The evening entertainment was amusing, but could be better. The two or three bands we heard were limited in the quality and variety of the music they played. I must say we were disappointed with the live entertainment at the lounge. Another negative was that the rooms were small and the beds were double beds rather than queen sized. For a hotel of this calibur, we expected more comfort in terms of space. In summary, we have recommended this hotel to several colleagues and friends and will stay there again.

This is by far the best hotel experience we have ever had. We were supposed to be in Cancun but Hurricane Dean forced us to cancel the day before departure. We got last minute 6 day accomodations without having to leave the USA. The service at the Ritz is beyond compare. We were greeted by name the whole 6 days by all staff (including doormen) and they never made a mistake. To do this right ,book a "Club level" guestroom. A 5 night stay includes complimentary valet parking ($100 savings) and a $200 spending credit plus access to their members Beach Club (on the Gulf) pool, beach and restaurant via a Ritz shuttle (less than 10 mins form the hotel). There is so much more included such as Continental breakfast, lite lunch, afternoon tea, evening hors d'oeuvres and late night chocolates all with fresh fruit and more. The grounds are beautifully landscaped. Not resort restaurants and shopping are but 5 minutes away at St Armands circle (shuttle drop off and pick-up included). It doesn't get better than this folks.