The Ritz-Carlton South Beach

September 27th, 2021

Enroute:

To be quite frank, I didn’t have very high expectations for a Ritz that’s situated on Lincoln Road Mall. I think we know what kind of clientele there would be. For those of you not so familiar with South Beach, think of it as the Las Ramblas of Miami, where there’s an abundance of stores like Sunglasses Hut, American Eagle Outfitters and Forever 21. I’m sure these brands are hard to find in your local Simon malls.

However, the hotel had been overhauled after a hurricane a few years ago, and our favorite hotel in Miami, Como Metropolitan was closed due to a recent acquisition by Fasano, so we decided to give the Ritz SoBe a shot. We booked a spectacular rate on Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts for about $300/night, which came out to be a little less under $400 after taxes and fees. I consider it to be an excellent price given how expensive Miami has gotten since the pandemic.

Check-in:

Initially my Marriott app showed me we had been upgraded to a Lanai Pool View room, which, well, was a room by the pool. Right off the bat I have to say that the Ritz SoBe is extremely proactive with communications. There were emails sent to me before arrival, the night before check-out and the day after we checked out. The attempt at personalization is rather uncommon for most hotels in the US. Once we actually arrived at the hotel, the experience got even better. As much as I love to diss Ritz as a brand, this property is an exception.

The bellmen welcomed and directed us to the front desk, While the exterior of the hotel didn’t appear all that unique from its other Art Deco peers on the strip, the inside was astonishing. I would describe the lobby as, bold and quirky, I think? My first reaction was did Yayoi Kusama do this??? Unsure of the theme, I still loved it. It definitely had a wow factor, and it’s a lobby you shall not forget.

In real life, the lobby was much more dimly lit, augmenting that playfulness and sexiness I’m assuming the hotel is going for. It is, after all, at the epicenter of South Beach.

Checking us in was this joyous woman named Jenna. I told her that our recent stay at the Ritz in Turks & Caicos was less than stellar, and she responded with “you liked it, but you didn’t love it.”. I was like, girl, speak the truth. She also passionately briefed us on the hotel’s facilities, services and history, and upgraded us even more to an oceanfront room on the top floor.

On our way to the room, we walked past the Lapidus Bar, which was gorgeous and named after the hotel’s architect. I don’t often take many pictures of hotels’ public areas, which I probably should if I aim to be a better blogger, but I LOVED the wallpaper and the hallways at this Ritz. Even though nowadays I rarely associate Miami with being a tropical and rustic beach destination, given how modern and urban it is, the décor really brings out this primitive yet refined allure. It is, dare I say, aphrodisiac in a way that compels you to venture out to the world and get into some sort of cheeky yet harmless trouble. Why do I sound like Rickey T lol.

Unpack:

The room was not as impressive as the public areas. First to the right was the bathroom.

It was obvious that the renovation didn’t fully reach every crevice of the bathroom, as demonstrated by the remnants from prior era. While I always appreciate a dual vanity, this particular one was too cozy of a squeeze to be used simultaneously, not to mention the lack of countertop space for personal products. The tub, a UNESCO heritage artifact, occupied valuable real estate that could have been better repurposed.

Asprey is the standard choice of toiletries at Ritz. Provided here at this hotel was something called Archive, a random brand I knew nothing about. They worked fine, but Softsoap and Dial are also fine. I’m just saying.

Moving on, outside the bathroom was a tiny closet.

Next up, a minibar in the TV credenza. Wait, was it fully stocked? In a pandemic? How mischievous! Florida is the new promised land, isn’t it? Speaking of Florida, I think I can empathize with the sentiment. I mean, how do I do bottomless Veuve brunch with a mask on? Someone said this already? Who? Oh…

Contrary to the bathroom quarter, the bedroom was quite expansive. Of course at first you get struck by the perfect ocean view.

You know a room is big when there’s a divider that’s not partitioning off anything. Can we also talk about how the door to the balcony was the same kind for outdoor dining huts? While the color scheme of the room was a bit unusual, in real life it felt much more cohesive, and I’m obsessed with this reading light.

Lastly was the balcony, which had to be one of the more modest ones out there.

Overall the room was serviceable. From the balcony you could see the layout of the resort, which was quite massive. My imminent thought was how crowded the pool would be at capacity.

Unwind:

After the room tour we headed to the pool. Luckily when we were there the hotel had low occupancy, so we had the chairs of our choosing.

Based on the amount of chairs set up further from the pool, it seemed clear the hotel was prepared for more active days. At the end of the pool deck was a path leading to the beach.

Refuel:

Back at the pool, you can find the menu as follows:

We had a dinner plan so we just ordered guac and chips and some mahi tacos, which weren’t on the pool menu but were on the restaurant lunch menu, along with some Collins Ave coladas.

Everything was pretty good, and the pool staff were all very friendly.

Coming back from dinner, we popped in to the Lapidus Bar for a quick night cap. I forgot the names of the cocktails but one was an altered old fashioned, and the other was a rum and guava drink.

Breakfast was served at the hotel’s Fuego y Mar restaurant. I believe the breakfast credit for bookings through Amex was $35pp, which was sufficient. The restaurant had both indoor and outdoor sections. The indoor felt like a cozy lounge, while the outdoor was more of a “beach club in Mykonos” vibe.

The breakfast menu reads as follows:

In my opinion the menu was limited, but we managed to find a couple things we wanted. We both started with an iced latte, which was excellent.

Prior to our food, we were each brought a shot of green juice. I guess it was the server’s subtle hint of “y’all look rough”. But hey, I’ll take if it means I don’t have to pay $7 for it.

We shared some pancakes and benedict, which came pre-portioned.

The food was decent, but the service was better.

Depart:

Our experience at this Ritz exceeded expectations. I commend the lengths the staff took to be proactive. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this review, a couple of days before our stay, the hotel sent me a welcome email with all the pertinent info and to let them know if we needed anything. The morning of check-in, the hotel left me a voicemail letting us know that if we wanted to check in early, feel free to come in anytime as the room was ready. The night before check-out, the hotel emailed again to thank us for staying and solicit any feedback we might have. All correspondences came from specific employees at the hotel, so had we wanted to make certain requests, there would be a point of direct contact.

While not one single interaction with the staff was extraordinarily outstanding, the friendliness and professionalism from the front of office to the pool and restaurant were consistent. That being said, I’m almost 100% confident the operation would be diluted when the hotel is fully occupied. As a conclusion, the Ritz SoBe is a great hotel, but only come in the off season.