Is a Stay at the Ritz-Carlton Worth It? Definitely Yes!

You have a vacation coming up, and while you can stay just about anywhere, you keep returning to the Ritz-Carlton. It is such a fine luxury hotel, and it’s nice to rest your bones in a high-quality establishment.

The Ritz-Carlton is an exclusive hotel, but not in a stuffy way. It offers a warm welcome to families, and even their pet, and yet retains an air of luxury. You’ll love the Ritz-Carlton, and once you’ve experienced it, you’ll want to go back again and again.

In today’s article, we’ll introduce you to the Ritz-Carlton and provide plenty of information to help you decide whether this is the right place to stay during your next vacation.

Let’s get started!

What Is the Ritz-Carlton? Some History and Facts

We’ll begin with some introductory information on the Ritz-Carlton.

The Ritz-Carlton, known in full as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC, came to be, thanks to Cesar Ritz.

Ritz was a hotelier from Switzerland, so he knew what it took to build a stunning hotel that attracted guests for generations to come. They called him the king of hoteliers!

Ritz was responsible for London’s beloved Carlton Hotel and Paris’ The Ritz. Do those names sound familiar?

The first Ritz-Carlton was an a la carte restaurant on the SS Amerika ocean liner cofounded with Auguste Escoffier, one of Ritz’s most renowned chefs.

The Ritz-Carlton in North America was a hotel chain from the beginning.

The first one opened in 1911 in New York City, then a hotel in Philadelphia, and then one in Montreal, Canada. By 1921, another location was added, Atlantic City.

As for the boat restaurant of the same name? World War I put the kibosh on that.

Although Ritz died in 1918, his wife, Marie, never stopped realizing Ritz’s dream for him.

Today, there are 108 Ritz-Carlton hotels in 30 territories and countries. The hotels have 29,158 rooms in all.

Further expansion is in the works, with plans to build 46 hotels in the coming years with an additional 8,755 rooms.

What Amenities Are Offered at the Ritz-Carlton?

With so many Ritz-Carlton hotels worldwide, no two offer similar experiences. Thus, it’s hard to say definitively what the available amenities are without choosing a specific hotel.

Thus, we’ll look at the Central Park, New York hotel as an example of what the Ritz-Carlton has in store for its guests.

In-Room Dining

Did you have a long flight, and you don’t feel like leaving your hotel room? Are you just enjoying the beauty of your room, and you feel like sticking around?

Either way, the Ritz offers in-room dining, usually 24 hours a day, so that no matter when you feel hungry, you can fill up.

Fine Onsite Dining

Luxury has never tasted so good as when staying at the Ritz-Carlton! Experience the eclectic selection of premier-caliber restaurants on the grounds of every Ritz hotel.

By the way, onsite dining doesn’t exclusively mean a sit-down meal at a restaurant.

For example, at the Ritz-Carlton in Central Park, you can schedule a picnic at the park (for $90 per person) or go on a whiskey distillery tasting and tour.

These experiences are exclusive to the Central Park hotel, but they go to show you what kind of culinary delights could await you if you stay.

Wellness Treatments

You’re on vacation, so take some much-needed “you” time. The Ritz-Carlton offers a full-service spa and wellness retreat that will melt your stresses away.

Again, the services offered will vary from hotel to hotel. In the case of the Central Park Ritz, you can enjoy these wellness treatments:

60-minute facial ($325)
Gold Repair Collagen Mask facial for 60 minutes ($325)
Couples massage for 60 or 90 minutes ($315 each for 60 minutes and $410 each for 90 minutes)

Fitness Center

If you’re Mr. or Mrs. No Days Off, then worry not, as you can still get in all your exercise needs at the Ritz-Carlton fitness center.

Exercise equipment includes leg press machines, stair climbers, stationary bikes, treadmills, free weights, and dumbbells up to 110 pounds.

For an additional fee, you can take advantage of the Ritz’s onsite personal trainers. You can also venture over to the Movement Studio to take a Zumba, barre, HITT, or yoga class.

You won’t have just any instructor either, but possibly celeb trainers such as Jillian Michaels!

Meetings

If you must travel for work, then the Ritz-Carlton could be just the place for you.

The hotel suite meeting spaces feature executive suites, event catering, and team-building exercises.

Your company will never feel more synergy than when meeting here!

What Are the Rooms Like at the Ritz-Carlton?

While the Ritz-Carlton’s restaurants and fitness centers will attract some of your time, most of your stay will likely be spent in the plush surroundings of your room.

So what are the rooms like at this luxury hotel?

To avoid providing generalized information, let’s look at the Ritz in Central Park to answer this very important question.

For starters, you can select from a room for just a few people or a suite for traveling with the whole family.

The available rooms at the Central Park Ritz-Carlton start at 425 square feet and are up to 450 square feet.

Here are some of the features of the hotel rooms:

In-room laptop safe
Housekeeping twice per day
High-speed Wi-Fi Internet
A Carrera marble bathroom with a makeup/shaving mirror, a toilet (you can request a bidet as well), and a separate shower and tub
An LCD HDTV with a Bose soundbar as well as cable and satellite service (complete with premium movie channels) and streaming on Pandora, Hulu, Netflix, and more
A king-sized bed or rollaway bed with a goose-down duvet and 400-thread-count Frette linens

If you’re contemplating a suite instead, those are anywhere from 790 square feet to 2,175 square feet at the Central Park Ritz-Carlton.

How Much Does It Cost to Stay at the Ritz-Carlton?

You have most of the facts by now on what a stay at a Ritz-Carlton hotel will be like, but no details on pricing yet. What will you pay to stay here?

We want to be clear that the costs are highly negligible and will fluctuate depending on where in the country you’re staying (as well as whether you’re outside of the United States) and possibly the time of year as well.

As we have the entire time, we’ll use the Central Park Ritz-Carlton as a price guide.

A Superior Room guest room with one king-sized bed and no view on the lower level of the hotel starts at $1,073 a night.

A Deluxe Room guest room with two doubles and no view is $1,147 a night.

If you want it all, stay at the Premiere Park View Suite, a one-bedroom suite with a king-sized bed and a sofa bed on an upper floor with a view of Central Park costs $5,150 a night.

Is Ritz-Carlton Worth the Money?

If you were hoping for cheap accommodations, then the Ritz-Carlton is certainly not for you, but you probably would have guessed that by now.

Everything about this hotel chain is dripping in luxury. The moment you enter the hotel lobby, you’ll be astounded by the hotel’s beauty. The rooms and suites feature light earthy tones, marble bathrooms, and dark woods.

The hotel at once gave off a country club vibe with rooms that were built smaller to create a sense of exclusivity.

Today, while the Ritz is much more welcoming (even pets are allowed in some hotels), its elegance hasn’t vanished one iota. Plus, the rooms are bigger!

There exist enough Ritz-Carlton locations that no matter where your adventures take you across the world, you should always be able to find a Ritz near you.

The amenities are all-encompassing. You can be fed, exercise, hold some business meetings, and treat yourself to a wellness session, all without leaving the hotel grounds.

The competitive location of the hotels means that you’re always within walking or driving distance of a popular city landmark, be that Central Park in New York City or elsewhere.

You can easily weave your travel itinerary into your stay at the Ritz.

Now, of course, we’d be remiss to gloss over the extravagantly high prices of even a single night at the Ritz. If you’re staying for two or more nights, you can easily end up spending $4,000, and that’s assuming you don’t want a suite that goes $5k a night.

Luxury doesn’t come cheap, though. If you want to truly treat yourself to a slice of the good life, then a stay at the Ritz-Carlton is just what the doctor ordered.

Conclusion

The Ritz-Carlton is a luxury hotel chain located in 30 countries as of this writing. No matter where you go on your adventures, there shouldn’t be a Ritz too far away.

While a stay at the Ritz-Carlton is admittedly very costly (the best always is), it’s also a chance to sample one of the most beloved hotel chains on earth and treat yourself to a luxurious experience unlike any other!