The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas

We chose the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas expecting impeccable service and a memorable New Year’s celebration. What we got instead was a frustrating and disheartening experience that fell far short of the Ritz-Carlton name and the over $3,000 per night price tag. From the moment we arrived, the staff aside from the outstanding Claudia, Jonathan, and Latoya—were consistently unwelcoming and hostile. Our visits to the concierge were met with impatience and bad moods, leaving us feeling like an inconvenience rather than valued guests. The breakfast buffet was disappointing in quality and variety so we opted for à la carte. Big mistake. It took an excruciating hour for our order to arrive, further souring our mornings. Housekeeping added to the stress. After cleaning our room, they forgot to leave towels. Despite making over eight requests for fresh towels, we didn’t receive them for 4.5 hours completely derailing our New Year’s Eve plans. Unacceptable for a hotel of this supposed caliber. Our bathroom sink barely had running water, so we requested maintenance and were assured someone would come “right away.” It took two days for anyone to show up, leaving us to deal with the inconvenience far longer than acceptable. And the highly anticipated New Year’s Eve party? A complete letdown. No countdown, no energy, no sense of celebration—just a poorly executed event that capped off a disappointing stay. Spending over $3,000 a night for this level of service is beyond unacceptable. We didn’t feel welcomed or cared for and this experience is far from what we’ve come to expect from Ritz-Carlton properties.

We went with our two kids (4 and 8) in February and chose this hotel because of the water slide and the kids club. We had read a lot about mediocre service but we found everybody to be friendly and helpful and to seem to like their job! Food was very expensive, more than just "oh, this is the Ritz, no surprise". The rooms were good and but nothing to write home about. A little dark because of the covered balcony. Free paddle boards were great, and it was wonderful to be able to use the residences' facilities as well. Kids Club, yay, it was there, but uh, it wasn't great. We checked the kids in with a dude who was clearly not used to being with children. Didn't know what to do with the little one who was hesitant to go in, didn't try to distract her. One day they did tie-dye but only the bigger kids got a t-shirt, the 4-year-old a little tote bag to tie-dye. Not fun. Because we didn't feel they were in particularly good hands, we only used the kids club two mornings. And they're insanely expensive! Also, they don't take the kids to the pool. That's weird when that's really why you're at the Ritz-Carlton on St Thomas with kids.

We stayed here for an anniversary trip and although the view and scenery were beautiful, the unfortunate encounter from check in and front desk agents tinged the overall experience with great displeasure. I had booked and paid in advance for the club level room and confirmed by phone months in advance that it was an upgrade included as a benefit from having the Ritz Carlton credit card but the front desk agent strongly insisted that it was not valid and we would have to stay in the regular room despite having confirmed and reserved our club level room in advance. She only changed her mind and allowed me to stay in the club level room after she called reservations who informed her that I reserved the club level room. Absolutely no apology, it was actually made to sound like she was extending me some huge courtesy that was a great inconvenience to her. Despite their well dressed staff and gilded presentation of a luxury status hotel, the front desk customer service and Ritz Carlton service values were painfully lacking. The ladies spoke in monotonous voices and looked like they rather be packing crates of metal than interact with ladies and gentlemen who come there for vacation. Check out was also sad and reminiscent of going to the DMV as the lady did not smile and seemed exasperated to be there. Their shiny shoes were impatiently tapping against the shiny floor as they looked at their computer screens. Luckily for us, the other staff including the ladies and gentlemen from the club lounge and bellman were hospitable and engaged, which made the experience better. The housekeeping staff meticulously cleaned the room which I was pleasantly surprised thinking that everything else was going to be subpar after the experience with front desk agent. I had stayed at Buoy Haus nearby before checking in here and that hotel had better guest anticipation than here. We received a nice gift for our anniversary whereas the Ritz Carlton front desk agent couldn’t even check me in properly and didn’t use our names nor wish us a nice day. All words exchanged were just part of the transaction. It just felt so odd coming from a so called luxury hotel costing about $900 per night. No service recovery unfortunately, to turn things around so my view of them remains.

Beautiful hotel with beautiful views. One of the friendliest staffs top to bottom of any hotel I’ve been to. High recommend traveling here either as a couple or with family and friends. Food and drinks were good. Other options also nearby if you want to get off campus. There isn’t a lot of activity late night, but there was always a bar open after dinner. Having excursions and boat tours right from the beach is an incredible perk. Can’t wait to go back. The pools were great too.

We stayed at the club level for a week and thought it was worth it. As we had a baby and a child, it was more convenient to eat at the lounge most of the time. We were given a room on the same level just a couple of doors down and it was easy to pop in and out. The lounge was never private and felt pretty private. The food was good, not a huge spread but we always found something to eat. Drinks were self service and I quickly googled to make some cocktails out of the selection they had and it was good fun. They always had tea and coffee but the tea water wasn’t really hot. Breakfast was good and the omelette chef lady was very friendly. All the waitresses were always welcoming and friendly. It is a large property but we enjoyed walking around although it is not the most stroller friendly due to different levels. Especially from the club lounge down to the beach, we had to take stairs and carry the stroller down. We rarely went to the lobby and stayed mostly in the club area. The room was pretty basic and housekeeping was okay. We did not hear any noise from other rooms and it was pretty quiet when we were there in October. The beds were comfortable and the kids had a crib and a rollaway bed which worked well for them. The balcony wasn’t cleaned throughout the stay and we did not use it as there were some dead centipedes. The pools were nice but we mostly hung out by the infinity pool by the beach. The kids pool was shallow and there were way too many centipede in the water. My son used the slide at the kids pool a couple of days. The beach was rocky but calm. It isn’t a typical sandy beach and it was a bit difficult to get in without water shoes. Once in the water, it was pleasant. There were never too many people in the water and most guests were staying by the pool. We used kayaks one day and snorkels a couple of times. Snorkelling was pretty good and we saw a number of fish. Kids club was closed and by appointment only during the slow season and we did not use it. We had a rental car and used the self parking mostly. We used valet the first day and it was efficient but we later found out self parking is much closer to our room than walking all the way to the valet desk by the lobby. We used the rental car to go check out different beaches, Coral World, and St. John and I would definitely recommend getting a car.