The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey — Hotel in Santa Monica

If I was writing this review after day 1 of our stay, it would've been 5 stars. Unfortunately, our whole stay did not live up to day 1. We stayed here 3 days/2 nights. The room itself was well appointed with a small balcony facing the marina.

Upon arrival, valet was swift to get all our luggage out and once we had a room ensured it was quickly brought up. During check-in, the guy checking us in, I forget his name, was very friendly and also acknowledged our anniversary and offered us a $50 credit for room service/restaurant. Hospitality also had a plate of strawberries for us in our room for our anniversary which was also a nice, welcomed touch. Ordered room service for dinner the first night. Everything was great between the food and service.

Our second day we chose to spend most of the day out. Valet was quick in the morning to being our car up (we had called before coming down). When we came back that night, valet again helped us quickly and we're friendly. We ordered some milk and tea for room service, and were only brought up the tea and milk for tea, not a cup of milk. No big deal, they probably misunderstood and I don't think we were charged for it (hubby signed for bill, he doesn't pay attention much). We also had an ice bucket with some drinks, they came in and services the room but didn't refill the melted ice; this was odd since we've stayed at lower rates hotels and they've even refilled the ice.

On our final day, Saturday, they gave us 2 extra hours for a late checkout which was nice. Because of that, we decided to stay in for breakfast and order room service. We ordered lime with our sparkling water and that was not provided. One of the glasses they have us was also severely water stained (and possibly not clean? See photo). We had extra cups so used a clean one instead. Breakfast itself was hot and delicious. The pot of tea this time came with only one small creamer for 2 people, whereas when we ordered the previous night it had came with 2.

When we were ready to leave, we called down to valet to being the car. We got downstairs and had to wait a little (not a big deal, not complaining about that) however when they finally brought the car up they get out with the keys, one of the guys looks at us and asks if it's ours, we say yes and the other guy proceeds to back it up into a parking spot and tosses the keys behind the desk. They all then proceeded to take care of all the other vehicles and guests coming in. It was clear they were more interested in helping out all the folks with the Mercedes, Ferraris, etc., rather than help someone that had a Ford. Every guest, whether checking in or out, and regardless of vehicle and appearance should all be treated equally and it certainly did not play out that way.

After a period of time, hoping that they had just temporarily parked our car and was bringing it over, it was clear that wasn't the case. We walked over with all our luggage, but because it was backed in couldn't actually load our stuff easily (they left it unlocked). Eventually, someone saw us struggling and brought the keys over. From us getting down to the car area to finally leaving it was close...

My husband and I do a lot of traveling. We are also Marriott bonvoy members and have been for many years now. We enjoy staying at beautiful hotels because we believe this is part of the traveling experience. We have stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Maui and we were very disappointed but we were ready to give it another try in Marina Del Rey. If you stay at the Ritz Carlton you know that you were going to pay a premium but with that comes the expectation of beautiful rooms, service and amenities. We had requested an early check in because we were only staying one night and we were coming to LA to see a concert. We wanted to have the day to enjoy the pool, relax and do an early dinner before the concert. As I mentioned before we are Bonvoy Members and with that Membership we are told we can get early check-in‘s and room upgrades. I had called the hotel a week early to ask for an early check-in and they told me that we could check in as early as 11 AM. I called the day before our arrival to make sure we could still have an early check-in and they told us they would have a room available for us. We arrived at 1 PM and there were no rooms available. We were staying on the club level so we decided to go to the lounge and have some lunch. After lunch we wanted to spend some time at the pool but the pool is very small and there were no lounge chairs available, so we did not go. Normal check-in is at 4 PM, we did not get into our room until 4:30 PM and there was no room upgrade given. I had made dinner reservations for 5:30 PM but we had to cancel them because we did not receive our luggage until almost 5:30 PM. We paid a premium to stay on the 11th floor where are we also had members lounge access. When we got to our room we were beyond disappointed. The room was very average size, the bathroom was even worse with only one sink and a tub shower. For the price we had paid for the room we were expecting much more. Possibly a sitting area? A walk-in shower? Double vanity? I called the concierge and ask how we could book a car service to take us to the concert and bring us home. The concierge told me that the service they used had no availability. Ask for recommendations on other services we could acquire and I was told “order a taxi yourself”. Needless to say, we will not be recommending or returning to the Ritz Carlton ever again. Beyond this hotel we are not only disappointed with the experience but also the lack of care for Marriott...

We stayed here regularly years ago but haven’t been back in about 10 years. What a difference that decade has made and not in a good way.||Rooms are now dated, tired and dirty and basic amenities such as dental flosser picks, emery board etc are no longer provided. There aren’t even glasses in the bathroom. Rooms bizarrely lack minibars or even mini fridges and the stated reason (so they can provide “customized” and “curated” ones for you) is INSANE, especially since nobody tells you this when you check in… I just read it now in management’s responses to other reviews). I mean how about even if we wanted COLD WATER in the room???!!! The in room coffee maker was broken. The welcome amenity that should be provided to us as Amex centurion members was a few sad, bruised and dirty pieces of fruit in one room and NOTHING whatsoever in the other. At other ritz properties it’s been a beautiful fruit plate, a bottle of wine and a cake or pastry, and that’s what it USED to be here. As to why the second room received nothing, that is a mystery since the amenity itself couldn’t have cost them more than $2.||Menu options are extremely limited and SO lazy (many items on the breakfast menu are exactly the same as the dinner menu?!?!?!) What is worse is that the food and service itself reminded me of what you’d get at a particularly mediocre Marriott… or maybe more accurate to say that the taste and presentation gives off a distinct Aramark vibe. And it took us over an hour and a half to get our entrees at dinner last night because “there was a large party” dining at the same time.||Overall the impression is that the hotel is trying to save money in a million ways and is not worthy of the Ritz name. Overpriced, hugely disappointing and would never stay here again… and it makes me want to avoid other Ritz properties worldwide if this location is an indicator of how parent Marriott is now running the brand.||We have a couple more days here and I am too lazy to move bc I’m here for work but I can’t wait to get out of this Ritz.||Ps the doors have a huge gap under them which not only lets in lots of light from the hallway but also helpfully makes every sound from outside he hallway carry distinctly into the room to wake you up multiple times during the night. Which is why I’m (furiously) typing this...