The Ritz-Carlton

They ruined my honeymoon. With no exaggeration, even two years later I am still haunted by how this hotel ruined what was supposed to be one of the most important nights of my life. Please read my story below: June of 2024 my husband and I got married, and our first stop after our wedding was the Ritz ATL, arriving very close to midnight that night. We had booked it several months in advance, my father-in-law used to travel frequently and had a large amount of points added up that we used to book our room. More specifically my husband was a secondary to his account and we booked the room through splitting it between both points and cash. Everything was paid for in advanced fully, we had receipts and everything. My husband and I arrive that evening excited for our night ahead when it quickly came to a devastating and crashing end. Immediately when we gave them our reservation information they informed us that they lost our money that we had paid prior to our arrival to complete the remaining amount after using the points. Instead of looking at our receipts proving we had already paid and done everything we needed to, and them admitting fault, both my husband and I were forced to stand there in our wedding attire for almost an hour as employees discussed amongst themselves what to do. Keep in mind it was a little over midnight at this time. It was EMBARRASSING, and came apparent pretty soon that my husband and I weren’t getting to our room anytime soon. On the verge of an emotional breakdown we had to resort to our last option of me THE BRIDE in my wedding gown pulling a $100 bill out of my purse in front of everyone in the lobby to give to them to try to finally incentivize them to give us our key. Fortunately this worked, but our dread did not end there. Once entering our room I was hit with a strong ammonia smell so pungent I asked my husband if he could smell cat pee. Let alone the humidity in the room was so high you could feel the moisture in the air. On the counter we noticed a little cake, bottle of champagne, and a card. We thought to ourselves , “well at least this is nice.” Nope, we read the card and were stunned when it said, “Congratulations Mr. And Mr. Houghton.” We figured this was caused from the usage of the points that previously caused us such an embarrassment and headache in the lobby, despite my husband being clearly marked as the son of the original account holder. Safe to say what was supposed to be the sexiest, most luxurious night of my life resulted in nothing but the feeling of defeat, frustration, and disappointment. Though that was probably just a technical mistake, for us it was a reminder of the embarrassment and emotional distress we had just experienced in the lobby. After such a big day, it felt like a blatant disrespect, discrimination, and abuse of us as clients. I did not comment then because I frankly just wanted to move on and forget about this moment, but now as I am approaching my two year anniversary I am more disgusted and unafraid to speak up about how awfully we were treated on the first night of our marriage. The Ritz is supposed to be known for their top notch service, but what we experienced was as bad as a cheap motel with employees who had no consideration for what would provide the best experience for their clients.

This was a miserable experience. Truly miserable customer service. It took me over 1 hour to check in and had to argue with multiple managers to get my rom key- even though I had fully prepaid for the room. They finally allowed me to check in but only after I bought a gift card to the Marriot as my "refundable" deposit. (I didn't have $500 in cash on me.) Upon check out, they refused to refund me my deposit because they accused me of consuming items from the mini-bar in the room. (I never took anything from the min-bar...$9 M&Ms, no thank you.) I spoke with the manager who was unable to help. Finally had to call my credit card company to contest the charge. Thankfully, Visa was able to help. The whole experience was a disaster. I will never stay at the Ritz again.

My fiancé and I stayed here on Saturday night to celebrate our engagement. Unfortunately, our experience was not up to standard for a 5 star hotel. When we arrived, the valet was not tentative at approaching my vehicle to help my 5 month pregnant fiancé out of my vehicle (there were no other guests or vehicles present). After we got checked into our room, we decided to go down to the lobby to enjoy a dessert and I had a cocktail. The sorbet ice cream had blackberries and raspberries in it. Halfway through eating our dessert, I took a bite of blackberry with the sorbet which had a sharp piece of glass or plastic within the food. I immediately noticed the staff of this and waited about 15 minutes for a manager to come and inform me my meal and breakfast the following morning will be complimentary. I cannot emphasize enough how unacceptable that is, especially if my 5 month pregnant fiancé swallowed a piece of glass that was served to us. All through out the night other guests were slamming their doors outside well past 1:30am in the morning. After checking out, valet did not greet us to ask for our bag tickets. This resulted in my vehicle being ready to get in but my luggage had not been delivered. This was so awkward…Our stay was just a disorganized mess with how staff was running and it’s such a disappointment for something I had planned for months and paid $400+ for a night. (Parking also is added on top of your bill as well). Overall, this experience was a major disappointment and I would’ve never fathomed this occurring at the Ritz-Carlton.

Seems like just a nice Marriott.

I wish I could give 6 stars for service. I was having a tough week so my family called to send me some kind of gift. Tanese offered them so many options and landed on a very thoughtful surprise for me to walk into when I arrived. The overwhelming hospitality of this hotel is impossible to beat. Thank you Tanese!

Amazing

Great location downtown Atlanta. Rooms were nice but could use an update. Service was excellent. Everyone there is super friendly.

This stay was awesome! The rooms were nice and the dining was amazing!

Best vacation experience of my life. This staff is absolutely Magical.