Carrie Gauntt

Review of The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountai...

Here now! Great location, hiking trails are fantas...

Here now! Great location, hiking trails are fantastic.
There were some things that could be improved on (see below) BUT I'm giving 5 stars specifically for Stephani at poolside service. She went above by getting us dryer sheets for the bugs (they deter them), helped with moving umbrellas when we changed seats and ALWAYS HAD A SMILE! Thank you for making our weekend.
Improvement areas were check in. I understand check in is at 4pm but when coming for the day it would be nice to allow a better place than a bathroom to change into swim attire. We arrived around 2pm and wanted to get straight to pool. Were fine if room isn't available but a tiny bathroom stall to change is gross.
We asked if we could use spa, which they allowed but almost seem put off. The spa had a large changing room. This should have been their first choice to offer us. We also asked 2x if they could give us a time for the room might be ready. We were Happy to wait for a bit in order to change in our room but no one would give us a time and repeated "well check in isn't until 4pm". Yes, we understood that but if it was only going to be say 30-45 min we would wait. Since no one would give a time, we changed at spa and after 20 min at pool we got the text the room was ready. Ugh
They (front desk) wasn't very friendly through this process. People come to AZ for the pool during the heat. Checking in at 4pm defeats why we were coming, there would be little pool time if we waited.
Lastly, I Hate when gratuity is added. Now, Stephani was fabulous but what if she wasn't ? Bell hop same thing. A tip is just that, a tip. Places that do this I feel like I'm being taken advantage off and its stealing my money. Just my preference.