The Ritz-Carlton, Abama

The hotel was populated by young children and babies, the pool was like a water park , no where for adults to find peace , restaurants were also full of screaming kids . We booked half board on arrival at 1800 there was no availability in a restaurant , we quickly realized you had to book up well in advance .. I recommend you have B&B as it gives you more flexibility on choice, on the positive side the front line staff were exceptional, unfortunately the managers did not manage and lacked ability to see problems and correct them . Food was very good , drinks very expensive !. Would we go again ,defiantly NOT.

When expectations didn’t match the reality. We booked 2 weeks (Citadel Suite) as this breathtaking resort. Second day we asked to change the room because first one was dirty (spots on the furniture) also it didn’t had carpets (as shown in pictures) and with a baby who just started crawling tiles is not the best (in our case). Room was changed and it was worse. Doors were broken, baby crib ripped, still no carpets, no sun on the balcony during the day, dirty walls. And I haven’t mentioned them even clogged sink, bathroom doors that are stuck, broken closet handles, toiletries that haven’t been refilled even once per week. All would be fine if the management would react on complaints. So naturally we asked to cut our trip in half as for next 4 days nobody took care of the complaints. When we told we want to leave then options with upgrade appeared which didn’t suit us anymore after spending 5 days in bad conditions. Baby crib changed the last day of our stay though. On the good note - they allowed us not to pay for the rest time that we are not staying (just we needed to cover one day stay fee) and staff (especially breakfast) were amazing and super helpful. Breakfast was the best time of the day only because of them. My conclusion- we left not because we wanted to - but we were forced as it seemed ridiculous to pay 500€ per night for this quality which is definitely not up to Ritz standards. Why we haven’t stay at upgraded room? Because it was 400€ per night extra while we spent already 5 days in a terrible room without any attention (I asked the second day to upgrade ourselves on our own and nobody cared until I came again few days later to tell that we wanted to leave). Management could handle this situation better and we are very dissatisfied and disappointed with the outcome.

This was our 4th stay at this hotel and each time the recognition as a Bonvoy Platium member and customer service has deteriorated. They appear to practice the opposite of rewarding loyalty. Our first visit in 2020 was excellent and memorable but each subsequent trip has been a step backwards. No mention of status at checkin, no benefits offered. I ansked about the benefits as previously they offered welcome drinks, spa experience and other items but was told none of this is offered now. I asked if any room upgrade was available to be told instantly there were none, without even checking the computer despite rooms of higher categories still showing as available online. I enquired again about the spa access and was then offered the voucher for the wellness experience but told by this staff member that it had always been available, contradicting what we were initially told. One two nights there was no availability for any of the onsite restaurants other than MB which is no use for families (even when trying to book 2 nights in advance). Upon enquiring with the concierge about this, she was not interested and didn't make any suggestion. Other nights there were empty tables while we dined so there must have been unused capacity. We had other issues like being locked out of the room due to battery depletion in the door which took 50 minutes to resolve due to queues at reception and waiting for it to be fixed. The receptionist couldn’t have been less interested or unapologetic. I also reported issues with the varying water temperature in the shower becoming boiling hot for a short period and then cold. After 3 days and multiple meaningless messages in the app with no evidence of anybody actually looking into it, we were due to leave anyway. I also note other reviews mentioning this issue so suspect it’s a known problem. On the final day I requested later checkout but was told nothing was available, not even 1 or 2 hours extra. Again the attitude from the reception staff in dealing with this was one of indifference. At checkout I was asked how the stay had been and said there had been a few issues, this was the end of the conversation with no enquiry as to what those may have been. I also note that their responses to reviews on tripadvisor recently all follow a very similar style, suspicious for being written by AI so I tested this and get a pretty much verbatim response to what the hotel has responded with when I copy a review in and ask ChatGPT to "write an apologetic response". I suspect I’ll receive a similar generic response of meaningless platitudes. This seems like a perfect demonstration of how they approach customer service, giving an initial impression that they are interested and care but it soon becomes clear that they don’t. We have enjoyed staying at the hotel previously and it has many things going for it with the location, nice rooms and high quality restaurants but there has clearly been a deterioration in customer service over the past 5 years so I suspect this will be the last visit unless I see things have changed.

We recently stayed here for 5 nights on our first family holiday. It was excellent and the staff were phenomenal. We had our 5 month old son with us and it’s the perfect place for children. Restaurants are great, hotel grounds are amazing and the whole place is just brilliant. One of the staff called Nico was lovely and extra helpful throughout as was every member of staff. I’d suggest booking the retreat upgrade as this includes all your drinks and lunch time food every day. A beautiful place to stay overall, the rooms are super spacious too.

This Ritz is exceptional in most ways! From the start of the stay through the end they make Bonvoy elites feel valued. The complimentary breakfast buffet is amazing and has everything you could want. I was upgraded as a Titanium (and FHR) booking multiple categories from the base resort view room to a VERY spacious resort view 1 bedroom suite. The deck was huge! The pool is really nice and heated. Overall the property is really well kept and I would love to come back!