The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour

“Loved!”

I’ve been wanting to stay here for eons on our yearly trip to Miami. We finally had an opportunity to stay here for my wife’s birthday. There were a lot of great reviews and a lot of not so great reviews. It’ also a lot of Marriott points to stay here. I ended up booking two nights with Amex Bril... more

I’ve been wanting to stay here for eons on our yearly trip to Miami. We finally had an opportunity to stay here for my wife’s birthday. There were a lot of great reviews and a lot of not so great reviews. It’ also a lot of Marriott points to stay here. I ended up booking two nights with Amex Brilliant FNA award nights around 85k/night. My wife, daughter, and I LOVED it here. It’s a totally different Ritz experience than others we’ve stayed at. And if you’re trying to compare it to Key Biscayne you can’t because they’re both great but for totally different reasons. First of all Bal Harbour has beautiful water - we never even left the property. The service was great – everyone was extremely courteous and genuine. We were upgraded to a fabulous suite that we really enjoyed. I feel the need to address some of the negative reviews because they had me so freaked out before coming. People said how dark the hotel was – Yeah, that’s true I suppose but it still worked. This property was acquired by Ritz Carlton in 2014-ish (Previously Regent Bal Harbour) so just keep in mind that this design makes it feel totally different from the typical Ritz resort style property. People said the rooms were dated – Yeah Maybe a tiny bit but the quality of the materials made up for that. Everything felt very solid and quiet. I’d much rather have old quality than new trendy low end materials. We ordered in-room dining for breakfast and dinner and had the cart setup on our balcony overlooking Haulover inlet. We really enjoyed that as opposed to what we would normally do and eat in restaurants every night. Each entrée was a culinary masterpiece. The beach service was also really nice. I loved the white chairs and white umbrellas and the staff was very courteous and helpful. The beach experience was very quiet and calming. Everything was also very family friendly. There are only two rooms when you get off the elevator which I thought was neat. I never felt like the hotel was overrun with people which was nice. The only things I could say as a negative was that the restaurant by the pool had the exhaust blowing out and you could smell food/grease at times. The sun was also blocked by the building mid afternoon so had to move to the beach to stay in the sun. On our overall trip we stayed in South Beach two nights, Bal Harbour two nights, and the Key Biscayne Ritz for two nights. We’ve visited Miami multiple times so familiar with what to expect where but this was the first time in Bal Harbour. (The reviews were constantly comparing this with St. Regis – I haven’t stayed there but I did walk by it on the beach side. Just from walking by I didn’t think it looked all that alluring in comparison but that was just me). (Stayed at Key Biscayne Ritz for the third time on this trip – totally different but also highly recommend that one too)

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