The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte — Hotel in Charlotte

My wifes review has been removed several times.

I would like to walk you through our girls' trip to The Ritz-Carlton Spa just to give a taste of our experience. We get checked in and taken to women's lounge. They bring champagne, which I'm the one in the party who does not drink alcohol, but nice gesture. Asked for shoe size. The 4 of us are taken to lockers where they are trying to find the right slippers and robes. Standing in a cramped area for a while, I ended up with an XXL robe (asked for small or med) and oversized sandals. Other girls got too small of sandals. It's not that big of a deal, but it's a little awkward. We ventured to the salt room after going through a few wrong doors, and there was just enough room for 5 people. Very cool room, just cramped and uncomfortable seats. After a bit, we make our way to the pool, and we have to go ask for pass and directions as they were not given upon arrival. Of course... the hottub is closed as we all got changed to swimwear. We planned to order food, but no one came up for 20ish minutes. Waved a man down who took our order, although not his job. I figured I'd get into the "heated" pool since I'm already in my swimsuit, and water felt warm on top, but freezing when I hopped on in. I get out to rinse off, and showers were ice cold (tried faucet in both directions). Hour or so later, our food arrives. Might I add none of which needed cooking. Avocado toast not even mashed but sliced on bread. Smoothies warmer than the pool. Cheese platter with old hard cheese, and then I spot mold on both a piece of cheese and the mushy grapes. The server came up and was apologetic and took out of the way. At this point, we are still hungry, but we do not trust nor want to wait on any more food. We go down to sauna, back to Salt room, both small but nice and then ladies lounge. Tried the quiet room, but uncomfortably cold. We await our massages where they come to get us. I was asked for my problem areas, so I mentioned my head and neck is where I would like to focus. Massage was good, nothing I would rave about, but just as soon as I think I'm about to get head and neck massaged, it's over. I'm quite disappointed at this point, but I thought maybe they don't do that here. The rest of my party said otherwise. One of my friends was also disappointed in her massage as the man she had was rather inappropriate when he started to massage her bottom without consent.

Anyhow, I go back to the ladies' lounge in an attempt to shower, and to top it all off, showers were flooded. At this point, my friends and I are ready to leave as per experience and the fact we're starving. Go to checkout where the one lady at the desk is on the phone making an appointment for a guest. We wait at least 15 or so minutes while the appt is made for a guest, whose not even in person, while there are now 7 guests trying to leave, only 4 of which in our party.

I will say everyone we encountered wasn't somewhat polite, but I hope you can see that our experience was not even what I would expect from a lower end spa. The 4 of us took time away from family and responsibilities to relax and have a peaceful day. To have the experience be so shortcoming, it created the opposite of the intended effect well past the encounter. That result is nothing short of frustration.

I hope this review stays up, 4.6 stars doesn't represent this company at...

I would like to walk you through our girls trip to The Ritz-Carlton Spa just to give a taste of our experience. We get checked in and taken to women's lounge. They bring champagne, which I'm the one in the party who does not drink alcohol, but nice gesture. Asked for shoe size. The 4 of us are taken to lockers where they are trying to find the right slippers and robes. Standing in a cramped area for a while, I ended up with XXL robe (asked for small or med) and oversized sandals. Other girls got too small of sandals. Not that big of a deal, but a little awkward. We venture to the salt room after going through a few wrong doors and there was just enough room for 5 people. Very cool room, just cramped and uncomfortable seats. After a bit we make our way to the pool, have to go ask for pass and directions as they were not given upon arrival. Of course...the hottub is closed as we all got changed to swimwear. We planned to order food, but no one came up for 20ish minutes. Waved a man down who took our order, although not his job. I figured I'd get into the "heated" pool since I'm already in my swimsuit and water felt warm on top, but freezing when I hopped on in. I get out to rinse off and showers were ice cold (tried faucet in both directions). Hour or so later our food arrives. Might I add none of which needed cooking. Avocado toast not even mashed, but sliced on bread. Smoothies warmer than the pool. Cheese platter with old hard cheese and then I spot mold on both a piece of cheese and the mushy grapes. Server came up and was apologetic and took out of way. At this point we are still hungry, but did not trust nor want to wait on any more food. We go down to sauna, back to Salt room, both small, but nice and then ladies lounge. Tried the quiet room, but uncomfortably cold. We await for our massages where they come to get us. I was asked for my problem areas so mentioned my head and neck is where I would like focus. Massage was good, nothing I would rave about, but just as soon as I think I'm about to get head and neck massaged it's over. I'm quite disappointed at this point, but thought maybe they don't do that here. The rest of my party said otherwise. One of my friends was also disappointed in her massage as the man she had was rather inappropriate when he started to massage her bottom without consent.

Anyhow, I go back to ladies lounge in attempt to shower and to top it all off showers were flooded. At this point my friends and I are ready leave as per experience and the fact we're starving. Go to checkout where the one lady at desk is on the phone making an appointment for a guest. We wait at least 15 or so minutes while the appt is made for a guest, whose not even in person, while there are now 7 guests trying to leave, only 4 of which in our party.

I will say everyone we encountered were somewhat polite, but I hope you can see that our experience was not even what I would expect from a lower end spa. The 4 of us took time away from family and responsibilities to relax and have a peaceful day. To have the experience be so shortcoming, it created the opposite of the intended effect well past the encounter. That result is nothing short of frustration.

Review keeps...

I planned a bachelorette party for my best friend that included a spa day at the Ritz Carlton. This was supposed to be the highlight of the weekend, but was a disaster from the beginning.

First when trying to plan - I called 3 months in advance of our trip. I was told there was only one group coordinator and she would be in touch with me eventually, and that she was very backed up. I gave it 2-3 weeks before calling back, same message. I told them I had already been waiting to hear back some time and could they check my status. It sounded like the first person I spoke with did not actually even put in my request. I asked that they have her call me back when she can, I just want to make sure our day and time requests (AM) are available. The person checked the schedule and said there was plenty of availability at the day and time requested and it should not be an issue. 2-3 more weeks go by, no call back. I called upset that we hadn't heard back and was contacted by the group coordinator that same day, she was helpful but unfortunately the time slot we wanted was not available for our group and we had to do the mid afternoon. I took the available slots and rearranged the weekend schedule.

We were informed in advance that the hot tub was broken but that they were moving towards getting it fixed, and that we could enjoy the aqua lounge (nothing more than a crowded hotel pool, not even in the spa area). There was a significant lack of warm activities so all spa patrons were crowded into the sauna and the salt room (which we asked for them to turn on but they said it was on a timer -- apparently one that never goes off).

I can only speak for my massage as others in my group had mixed experiences, but what I will say is DO NOT GET THE STRESS RELIEF IF YOU ARE STRESSED!!! It was a lot of jostling and chopping and very fast strokes, I would have told the therapist I wasn't enjoying it if she ever checked in with me, but just kept hoping it would get better. I was ready for it to be over at the end. I am sure this is just a technique that I am not accustomed to, but it was not advertised very well on the website, which made it sound more like a medium pressure. The other girls in my group said afterwards that they were talked out of that style massage prior to starting, I wish I would have been given that option.

I told the girls at the front that I didn't particularly enjoy my massage when they asked how it was, and recommend changing the description and they just smiled and asked how I would be paying. I was surprised with a group coordinator fee which I guess covered the cost of the macaroons I had to ask for 3 times (they were delicious).

When it came time to leave, we waited almost 45 minutes for them to retrieve our car only for them to leave it in the middle of the busy road for us to hop in. Overall, I was very disappointed in my...