La Blonde C.
Yelp
My first visit to Naples, Florida. I flew to the area to visit a client and decided to take a long weekend with my husband. We rented a car and booked a stay for four nights-- Thursday evening check-in to Monday morning check-out.
I've stayed at a few Ritz-Carltons, but I think this one in particular has been my second favorite to date. The staff was incredibly friendly and always more than willing to accommodate us. I'm not much of a golfer, my husband is, but it didn't feel like an overwhelming country-club style hotel as I was expecting. It was quite inviting for, say, many different styles of guests. Additionally, we decided to stay here as the Beach Resort was under construction. I appreciated the R-C's honesty that the construction was quite noisy, however, we were still able to attend the resort's beach on the weekend when construction was quiet. They provide a shuttle from resort-to-resort, but we simply decided to drive. More on this below.
Because we were in and out of the hotel quite often and only for a few short days, this is what I had experienced in as much detail:
Breakfast-- nothing spectacular, nothing terrible; just simple. I expected a bit more, but it was okay.
Pool-- if you want to lounge, the service staff will provide towels, help you choose an area of preference, lay the towels out on lounge chairs and provide you a comfortable stay. They also offer pool-side service, so we ordered cocktails and some lunch which were incredibly delicious. However, you must protect and/or cover your food if leaving unattended as birds will flock the area. This happened to a few other guests while there and it was quite a scene. Lots of bird droppings. We skipped the main pool and decided to take a tube down the lazy river for some (fun) relaxation. I wish the pool allowed clear liquid beverages in plastic rather than no beverages at all-- it would have been nice to sip a drink while lounging on the lazy river, but then again, it's also an area for kids and adults. Drinks were fantastic and we had quite a few. They provide agave straws which by far surpass the paper straws being mandated everywhere.
Ria-- the pool side restaurant featured Latin inspired cuisine. I enjoyed my dish, but felt the menu was slightly small. I wish there were more restaurants to enjoy at the hotel.
Resort Beach-- so fun; we rented a cabana and met with a friend, the staff was incredibly sweet, encountered some adorable, wild gopher tortoises and had a great time. You're provided a flag which you can raise to let your server know when you need assistance, and she was always quick to respond. Drinks alone were fairly good; we noticed a little bit of inconsistency with the recipes, but we ordered 20 over the course of the day, so we obviously weren't too upset about it. Food was good, too. Only request I'd have from R-C is that they move the beach chair power washing station further away from the cabanas (or even to a private area). For the price of a beach cabana, it's way too invasive, noisy and has so much overspray. Luckily, we were able to move further down to avoid.
Car Service-- they offer both self-parking and valet. Originally, we started with valet until the crew lost our car, then lost our keys, in which it took about an hour for them to retrieve. We calmly kept our patience together and they offered us free parking for the remainder of our stay (with reimbursement), but I was quite disappointed. We decided to self-park and make the trek from the self-parking lot to avoid this from happening again.
Cleaning-- really poorly done; main reason I rated this hotel 4 stars (almost 3). I fully move into my hotel room first thing, so all my clothing and belongings had been put away, but a few things were left out when I was late for a meeting, especially on the bathroom vanity. Simple, just a few makeup pieces and hair dryer/brush. No personal belongings were even tidied, they didn't remove towels that were clearly dirty, and they didn't even replace pillows back into their original positions. They left empty, old glasses on our desk and chest, which honestly grossed me out, and also didn't remove all the trash. I actually had to tidy up the room to make up for the jobs they weren't doing, and still when they returned, it wasn't well done.
All-in-all, worth the stay. Naples is beautiful and has a lot to do for the west coast of Florida. Lots of wealth and great shopping, but also very friendly.
Sincerely,
La Blonde Critique