The Ritz is in the same building as the JW Marriott, just on different floors (with a transfer elevator awkwardly in the middle of the Ritz floors) and with a separate entrance. You pay about $200 per night more for the Ritz brand and luxury.
Didn’t get it. The pool area is lovely but our afternoon there turned into an unexpected Vegas pool party as half the USC football team, their girls and hangers-on showed up tossing footballs and drinking. The conversation in the jacuzzi was about poor Lori Loughlin being dragged unfairly through the mud because who wouldn’t cheat to get their kid into USC if they had the money.
The Wolfgang Puck restaurant WP24 is on the transfer floor with a tiny lobby. There was a private party one night so it was crowded and they shut the doors to the guest room hallways, with no signage, which felt rather bootleg returning to our room. There were half empty wine glasses in that lobby at 8 the next morning.
We ordered room service breakfast for 6:30 to 7 the night before to help us wake up before heading to the airport. It arrived at 7:10. The kitchen ticket said 6:06. Needless to say the food was cold.
The room was comfortable and the staff was friendly but it wasn’t the luxury experience we thought we were paying a 50% premium to have.
