Ritz-Carlton Club, Vail

After coming to the ritz annually for years, we found the service for the rooms (cleaning mainly) to be not up to par. The room temp was set to heat and our bedrooms were very warm every night. The living/dining and patio were perfect and we loved the view and our condo. Be sure to ask for a fan and a humidifier. We love Vail and the Ritz—

The Ritz-Carlton Club, Vail (5 nights) - my 2nd experience with Ritz brand and not impressed at all.   Location - not near central Vail village but over to the west of Lionshead near the Marriott (The Hythe) which I have also stayed at along with several other lodgings around Vail.  The shuttle bus into Vail village , if you're inclined, is a little walk up the street at the Hythe. The Hythe is a much friendlier and warmer place with a large open floor plan. The Ritz hotel itself is not a cozy place to retreat to and felt cold and isolated with an empty bar & lounge. The amenities in the apartment were fine, most appliances were stainless steel.   The Ritz-Carlton condo apartment #112 is in the worst location of the entire hotel complex, on the ground floor, closest to the roads...  Both bedrooms, dining room and living rooms are facing right onto the frontage road and close to the highway. Also, there's a BBQ grilling and secondary lobby area that looks right in on one the bedrooms. You can hear the trucks zooming by on the highway as well as the local buses(every 10 minutes), shuttles and cars on the frontage road. Totally false advertising IMO, the apartment looks nothing like the pictures on booking sites especially in winter when there's no leaves on the trees that might block seeing the roads but not the sound of hearing the traffic all night long. A complete and very expensive rip-off. I expected a big living room with a serene majestic mountain scene in the background - not! The booking process was extremely painful. After I had already paid, upfront, the entire stay amount, a day later I received an email demanding that I supply & verify a fairly substantial list of personal information for validating my identity - even though I had already paid? Then in the same email, threatening to lose my entire payment that I had paid if I didn't respond in 24 hours. I can tell you if I could, I would have cancelled the entire transaction right then and there because of that email. Last issue, the Ritz has nothing to do with these apartment rentals as it's managed by Red Awning and the micro-managed by another company Berkshire Hathaway Colorado Properties. So who is responsible when something is wrong? Ultimately no-one is responsible it seems with two intermediary management companies involved.   I went to the Ritz front desk to complain about the noisy room location. The front desk said yes there is another room available from what they saw on their computer, however they had to coordinate with the management company.  I finally got a call from a representative of the management company over an hour later. The person was extremely rude and unprofessional, interrupting me whenever I spoke, along with basically saying that I'm stuck with the crappy room with all the street sound(and that there was no street sound), people walking by able to look in the apartment. I seriously contemplated hoping on the shuttle bus going back to Vail 4S(easons) and will next time. I should have gone with my first instinct a canceled the booking, but I wanted to give the Ritz brand a second chance to redeem itself. So here's my response -never again! I could say more but seriously it's not worth it - save yourself some substantial money with the implied Ritz name and attributes by staying at one of the many classier and friendlier lodgings in Vail village.

Expected more from a Ritz for service. Front desk is not knowledgeable. Bar is rarely attended to. I never witnessed the 5 o’clock toast and the 4 o’clock cookies were not available past 4:10. Not sure why there isn’t more provided based on occupancy. Pool is not serviced. Worst part is the screaming children. Signage says no yelling and no one maintains this or adheres. Disappointing.

The people that work at this resort make this a 5 star experience. Scott made my parents 50th anniversary the best. Dean surprised my kids with cookies which they loved! Almira took extra time for me all week. Justice remembered me from last time and took great care of us. Heather is always really good at her job. I believe this is my 5th visit here and a big reason why I come here is the people. While customer service around the world moves lower this place somehow keeps getting better. I have been all over the world and stayed in many very nice hotels. This is my favorite resort.

On property now. The service is simply incredible. The staff, from front desk to cleaning to valet is extremely accommodating and genuinely friendly. It is definitely slow season here now (seems locals call it “mud season”) but plenty to do especially if you are willing to take a ride. Vail Village is charming. Took a ride to Frisco and Breckenridge and highly recommend brows in stores and eating in Breckenridge. Many restaurants are closed but has not been a problem (yet). First rate Ritz Carlton team. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality!