The Ritz-Carlton, Perth — Hotel in Perth

We booked a Stars rate for the guest room with river view. We were very pleased to be upgraded to the Studio which had fabulous views and enjoyed our weekend there. The welcome bottle of bubbles was delicious! ||We were grateful to be given a very generous early check in and very late checkout which made our arrival and departure days very easy. ||Unfortunately Monday morning made us realise the room next to us and across the hall were under maintenance. I believe it was floor sanding but admit I am no expert. After over 90 minutes of power tools I raised the issue with management.||Management responded very well. I appreciated most the fact they admitted that a mistake had been made and that room should not have been allocated to us due to the works. ||Service recovery was excellent. While I did not really want to move rooms it was clear that was the only real solution for the noise. We were upgraded to an enormous suite, provided with Club Access and I was also given an hour massage. ||To be honest, I felt we were over compensated. The massage and Club Access with a sideways move to a like room would have been perfectly adequate. Nonetheless I am grateful to Stephanie who took ownership of the issue and provided a very generous resolution. Full marks for service recovery.||AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT|Unfortunately the luxury hotel market in Australia is not competitive compared to our neighbours. I do think for an Australian hotel the Ritz Carlton is doing very well. There are some minor areas for improvement though.||In our first room (the Studio) there was no space in the closet to hang long items in the closet such as my dresses. This is not an issue in the suites. There are hooks in the bathroom if required.||Service in Hearth Bar was lacking. ||- We had a bottle of wine (which was excellent and fairly priced for the environment) and ordered a hot snack. We noticed other tables were given a tray of bar snacks. Ours did not arrive for 90m (to be clear, we did not need it, but it was odd to be the only table without one). ||- There was no service on the wine, we poured our own. Again, not tragic but not what is expected at this type of location. ||- We had a bottle of antipodes water. When that was depleted we advised staff we would move to house water. Amusingly they then poured tap water onto our antipodes water. Mildly frustrating as the antipodes is not cheap. ||- Hearth Lounge was freezing. To the point they have and provide blankets. While these were welcome, I would have loved to have seen it just a bit warmer in there. It feels like it should be warm and cosy in winter. It was an ice box.||- Lighting in the bar was too bright. It was I suspect an oversight because I noticed it suddenly change to be more suitable when a supervisor arrived. ||Songbird Bar poured me one of the worst Aperol Spritzes I have ever had. There was hardly any Aperol and it was very badly balanced. This was a pool service item and we were getting cold so did not raise it at the time to be fair.||I visited the sauna and pools on our last morning. I don't know if it was because I arrived early, but the sauna was very cold (for a sauna). I was able to sit in there for well over 25 minutes as it was only about 50 degrees. Unfortunately there was no water in the bucket which was an obvious oversight given I arrived about 9am. The whirlpool felt a little unkempt. The neck massager was calcified and not running. It was however nice and warm.||The hotel offers a walking/running map. One of the suggested routes is to the Blue Boat House. We chose to do this. All I can say is DO NOT. The route causes you to walk along a literal motorway for several kms with no access to leave that. My ears were ringing from traffic for several hours. It was one of the worse walks I have ever done. Instead turn towards the Double Tree and walk along the river that way. While there is still traffic you are not on the motorway. It is much more pleasant. ||While it feels churlish to moan given I was provided Club Access by management, the food in the Club for hors d'oeuvres was not quite the level I expected. The offerings were quite bland and only lukewarm at best. I don't think they reflected what the hotel is capable of.||There was some friction in arranging our bill. We had consumed two bottles of wine in the mini bar and reception had more difficulty than I would have expected identifying those and the price to be charged.|||AREAS OF STRENGTH/NICE TOUCHES|The spa is very good. The massage bed was one of the best I have been on. The linens were clean, warm and very plush. I was very comfortable. The room was very relaxing and elegant and I had a very nice massage. Afterwards I was offered tea and bubbles which I enjoyed also. I would splurge here again.||Charlie in the Club is an asset. After just one breakfast he knew our coffee orders. He also made me some of the better Aperol Spritzes I've had and shared some of his knowledge about other travel destinations within the Marriot portfolio which I appreciated. ||When we requested a bottle of champagne be prepared in our room with an ice bucket that was done perfectly at exactly the requested time.||The shoe shine service was excellent and our shoes collected and returned promptly. ||I liked the fact reception had a little tray of beverages that changed throughout the day. For example, coffee and water in the morning became juice and bubbles in the afternoon. While this would not cost the hotel much, it is a nice touch as it feels luxurious and fun to be able to grab a small treat as you return. ||Overall we will certainly return when work next takes us to Perth, to be honest we are unlikely to consider anywhere else. Much of that is because of the excellent service recovery following the issue with our room. Of course the issue is I now want to stay...

Ok. have to do it I guess. Didn't want to be drama queen, but all together not please with the experience - just too many little things.

That supposed to be 'luxury' 5 star. I didn't feel that at all

Booking - we got a wrong room. I was very specific about it when I did the booking. When we arrived the room it wasn't the room we asked (ok we were provided with the room after I raised that and it was resolved in 10min - fair enough). However I would prefer to just arrive and don't have to run around solving problems

Open pool was closed for maintenance. And it was notified to us before we arrived by email few days before - ok. However if some facilities don't work and that is communicated after a booking is made I would expect some discount - since its not what we paid for. We expected to fully enjoy the experience and we couldn't. As simple as that.

It was my wife's birthday and I communicated that so they claimed to make smth special. Well - a bottle of champagne for 8 month pregnant woman is ... special. Surely I could use it, but that's not my birthday... If you claim to be special - be special and take to account conditions if they are provided.

Sauna - we went there and we were provided for 30 min to use. Just 2 of us - thanks for that. I went to shower touched a tap and it just came off. Yeah 5 star hotel. Sure. Sauna it self is nice though, but we want perfect service aren't we.

Doors to the room. I don't know if all rooms are same, just judging by the one I was in (1226). They are super heavy and once you release it it shuts super hard. If you have a child or person with mobility issue - that one can hit you pretty bad.

Ok this one is quite common everywhere, but I guess have to start mention it. Tap water quality in restaurants or bars. I am really not enjoying smelling and testing chlorine in it. That's why there are ... filters. They are not expensive to install, but they make a major difference. And that a must have in pretentious place like this. You taste a nice wine or food, want to refresh the taste and that chlorine smell kills everything

Lastly - this one is very annoying. In final bill I got 1.5% surcharge for credit card use. Well I paid with my debit actually so that shouldn't apply. However as I was told that surcharge is hidden somewhere in agreement you sign. So yeah surely I need to read it full - smth I am very into when checking in when I just want to relax. Super annoying to pay that 1.5% tax for nothing especially when its hidden so carefully

Overall it feels like 'cargo cult'. Yeah we saw what nice service is somewhere on tv so we pretend we have it here.

So altogether - just another typical service you get in any 2star hotel.

PS. I really 'like' how google maps review works. So you can select this tags for 'How would you describe the hotel?': Luxury, Great view, Romantic, Quite, Kid-friendly, Great value, High-tech. Or you can select them all. Lol for adding only...

This is just an average hotel, we had a larger room. I think it was a suite. The rooms are okay, just a bit of a strange layout. Feel like they need a deep clean. Firstly dropping the car at the valet there was no one left standing for ages miscommunication and then they park the car so dangerously close to other vehicles. The next day the same thing personally asked the valet to collect the car went up to the room spent awhile finalising checkout came back downstairs And no car. Waited outside no service. No one helped. Finally someone wandered over and said oh your car is over there. It just felt really low rent. We then had no hot water which was super frustrating because we had a function. We were going to in the Swan Valley and it was a warm night so coming home to cold showers and then in the morning having cold showers. We later found a note under the door that just said the showers were cold. I called reception early in the morning about 7 am just to ask what the story was with the cold showers because we hope the night before was an anomaly. The person on the phone was quite blunt and just said it wasn’t working. It just felt like they were over being asked. I felt bad for ringing them and asking. The location is very ordinary. There were homeless people everywhere there was a guy with his shirt off going nuts a short distance away and there were people literally sleeping outside when we came back from a function. It was very unsettling. We brought two cars and parking and access was very difficult. There is only three hour parking and it is very expensive. I had to park almost half a kilometre away and walk with suitcases. We concierge pack the other car which as I covered was no easy feat. breakfast we went to the restaurant and stood at the door and waited and waited. Finally someone came over and just said they would be with us soon and then walked away. We were then walked through and the layout and the food quality was okay but just average. We both are regular and extensive travellers and this place was just very average. There are far far better locations and options in Perth. I would just challenge people to think about the spend versus quality. This is just my personal opinion from what I experienced and I acknowledge they might have had a...