The Ritz Carlton Review

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Why The Ritz Carlton?

When @Mjruskers and I were much younger, he once told me that it was on his bucket list to stay at a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Me too! I chimed in. I mean, it sounded so glitzy and glam, who doesn’t want to stay at a Ritz?! I never actually thought it could be a reality, but several years later when trying to figure out a birthday present for @Mjruskers, I remembered his bucket list and thought, well maybe…. I knew there was Ritz-Carlton property two hours away in Toronto. We could go for one night and not have to pay for any airfare. Perhaps I could swing it, I thought. 

Sadly, I was oh so wrong. It was WAAAAYYY out of my budget at the time, but I was not about to give up. I watched the price, signed up for alerts, etc. and guess what?! The price dropped by $200 and I booked it. I packed our bags and whisked us up to Canada for a one-night surprise get away. Once we arrived, champagne was pressed into our hands, and we were escorted to our room just to discover a beautiful view and a TV in our bathroom mirror!!! Trust me when I say we had no idea a hotel could be so nice. 

Fast forward another couple of years and we found ourselves in need of a room in Cleveland, Ohio. It was only for a night and we were anxious to try out another Ritz-Carlton. This time, it was fully booked. Totally bummed, we started looking for another hotel, but over the next several days, I checked all the hotel booking sites on the daily. Still nothing, but then all of a sudden there was one room on booking.com.  Apprehensively, I snagged it – the room was not even available on the Ritz website. When we were arrived, there was some confusion behind the desk and I was so nervous there was going to be a problem. Turns out, they were actually sold out. And they were going to upgrade us to their club level!! Sounded fancy, but we had no idea what that meant. We graciously accepted and went on our merry way. Well! We were in for quite the surprise. We had a key that accessed the club level and when we entered we could not believe what we saw! So much food and a full bar…. with no bartender!? (read: with no supervision…. have we met? Did they lose their minds!?) Okay, we thought there has to be a catch. A two-drink maximum or something….no way this is just being handed to us, literally, on a silver platter. We sat, we ate, we nervously poured a drink. No one even glanced our way, so we giddily poured another drink. After a look around, we realized people have been sitting and drinking for hours! We relaxed a bit and realized, okay so THIS is how the other half lives!! Who knew places like this even existed?! Certainty, not us! Needless to say, they got us. Hook, line and sinker. 

Our third experience with a Ritz property came in the form of a conference in Aruba!! We had a two-night conference at the property, but we wanted to extend it by a few nights. No problem, the room rate for the conference rate was within budget, we’d just tack on a couple nights. Ummm not so fast. Apparently, the conference rate would not be honored for additional nights making the rate very much NOT in the budget. If you have not sensed a pattern yet, we were not giving up. We stumbled across the Ritz Carlton credit card. If you signed up and met the initial spend amount, they just GAVE YOU THREE FREE NIGHTS!!! Uh-yes please. (I am unsure if this promotion is still available). Now, there is a catch. The annual fee is steep. Somewhere in the $400 range, but that was less than one night at the Aruba Ritz Carlton, so we signed up with the full intention of closing out the Ritz Carlton Reward Credit Card after one year. Yea, well that did not happen, because the perks are just too good, it more than pays for itself and we really enjoy the Ritz Carlton brand! Click through above to read my reviews and stay tuned for a full review of the Ritz Carlton Credit Card. 

Cheers!