For the continuation of my round the world trip with dad, we spent one night at the 205-room Ritz-Carlton Perth, after arriving from Doha and prior to continuing to Sydney. The hotel opened in late 2019 (talk about awful timing, especially in Australia!), and became Australia’s first Ritz-Carlton property.
Continue reading: Review: Ritz-Carlton Perth, Australia
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Thanks for the review. I’ll be in Perth next month and haven’t booked lodging yet, so your timing is impeccable. 🙂
Ben, you're absolutely right about Perth as a city. This must be one of the most beautiful and cleanest towns I’ve ever been to, with lots of parks, relaxed and kind people and reasonable pricing for most of the stuff you might need. Unpopular opinion, but I much prefer Perth over Sydney which is overcrowded, pricey and dirty. Can’t recommend enough to definitely return!
By the way, out of curiosity, can you tell that I’m German from the way I describe things, i.e. my choice of words?
I absolutely agree about how clean Perth is. All the mining money sloshing about makes for a very smart city. All Australian cities, I’d say, are pretty modern and clean but Perth feels like Switzerland compared to Sydney. I’d recommend hopping on the train 30 mins to historic Fremantle, a beautiful corner of Perth with old churches, pubs, old buildings and a waterfront.
I would also prefer a local wine to a cheap bottle of prosecco. Even a local sparkling white would suffice.
great views esp at night///What was the little island and ? structure seen from your room..? I dislike Prosecco also
I’m pretty sure it’s not Australia’s first Ritz Carlton. There was one in Sydney years ago.
Ritz Carlton in Sydney moves around a bit closed in Double Bay (Double Pay as some would say.) now open in Darling Harbour. Perth is an incredibly wealthy city by any standards n home to the worlds wealthiest woman, Daddy found most of the iron ore.
You know Ben that Australia does not make a lot of Prosecco, some very good.
It's not possible from the photo to see the label, but you may be making a big assumption there about it being crap and not an Ozzie sourced wine.
Unless the Ritz decided to give you a different welcome bottle to everyone else who has gotten one in the past 3+ years, that’s an Aussie wine.
Perth resident here (in fact I'm looking at the area in the photos from my office at the moment).
The odd looking cone structure is the Swan Bell Tower, which is a slightly weird Perth landmark housing some church bells taken from St Martin in the Fields church in London.
The views are of Elizabeth Quay which is actually an artifical inlet that has been constructed within the last 10 years. Previously it was just a big park. There's an artifical island in the middle which houses a (not very good) restaurant.
Looks like a very boring, typical run of the mill hotel. I guess Marriott has carefully curated its properties to basically tend to business travelers. Uninspiring but dependable.
All prosecco is from Italy and not all prosecco is cheap and crappy. Australia does make some fine sparkling wines as well.
No I wouldn’t have guessed. Indistinguishable from (and maybe better than) a native speaker.
I miss the old Ritz-Carlton Double Bay in Sydney and look forward to sampling the Perth iteration given your positive review. The location is perfect but wonder if anyone could compare this hotel with Como The Treasury?
And a propos of not much, I, too, loathe Prosecco but the gorgeous barman at Hotel Cipriani introduced us to Franciacorta sparkling which is much more 'champagne' in style and an excellent alternative 'when in Rome'.
Australia makes wine from prosecco grapes and we are in a stand-off with the EU in free trade negotiations over continuing to use the name. Italian immigrants brought the vines and the methodology to this country and reject Italian claims that it is a geographically specific term.
The Ritz-Carlton in Darling Harbour hasn’t been built and I’m not sure whether it will be. It was announced a few years ago but the original plan seems to be in limbo and Ritz-Carlton is one of several candidates being considered to run the property being proposed for that location. I’m not sure what the current status of the project is.
When the one in Double Bay was open I believe there was actually another much smaller one near Circular Quay which is now the Sir Stamford.
The decor looks rather bland, IMO.
For some reason I thought Asprey bath amenities were standard at Ritz-Carltons. They beers lively at the one I stayed in but you’re not exactly slumming it with Diptyque 🙂
I previously replied to this comment but it isn’t showing for some reason so I’ll try again.
The Ritz-Carlton in Darling Harbour was proposed in 2018 and just having looked up the status of the development it seems it was rejected in 2019 due to its size. There is a smaller hotel currently proposed for the site and Ritz-Carlton is one of the candidates to manage it I believe.
Many remember the Ritz-Carlton in Double Bay but few seem to remember that what is now the Sir Stamford at Circular Quay was a Ritz-Carlton for a while, too 🙂
Great review Ben - I had been longing out for this review as while I have been here I haven't stayed here (as a Perth local) but look forward to having a staycation here!
Yes the Ritz Carlton is the best located hotel in Perth. Also you are 100% correct Perth is a great city, extremely liveable, clean, beautiful weather and beaches - shame you got an overcast day, sunny winter days in Perth are unbeatable. And while still a pretty big city (over 2 million) it is not the size of Melbourne or Sydney, and with our resources sector there is plenty of money flowing through the state and city which keeps it technologically advanced.
The Como the treasury is also very good I hear (voted best hotel in the world at some point by a travel publication).
Also I feel Perth's coffee culture actually beats Melbourne.
Look forward to more reviews of Perth hotels in the future!
RE: Wine. Actually I wish hotels would stop offering alcohol as a welcome amenity or include sparkling water and/or local snack. Not everyone drinks alcohol, and I understand it's especially tough for recovering alcoholics.
I stay here frequently and think the review is generally consistent with my experience. I will say that you were treated much better than a regular Titanium visitor in terms of welcome amenity and room. Most of the rooms I've stayed in are showing their age after just a few years...lots of scuffed floors, damaged leather, etc. I agree the doors slamming in the hallway are a nuisance. The front desk service is the worst thing about this hotel. Slow check-in, extreme indifference to customer service and even refusing to connect me by phone to a colleague staying at the hotel because "it is a security concern". Not to mention that half of the rooms overlooked a building site until recent completion of the office tower next door. The Westin has a much better staff and while the lobby is less interesting, the rest of the hotel is a step above the Ritz.
There's a very simple solution to that. Update your Bonvoy profile preferences or simply let the hotels know beforehand when you do your online check in on the app. Works for me every time. Especially at hotels like the Ritz-Carlton.
So, I second you Comment about Aspery being brand standard, according to the website. You can even by them on Ritz website as part of Ritz at home. However, just got back from Ritz Grand Cayman and was told that Aspery is no longer standard. We had the same soap Ben did.
I’m in Perth now. Wrapping up 7 weeks traveling Australia and New Zealand. Western Australia has been hands down my favorite part of Australia. Just wish Marriott would add a property in the Margaret River area. Next time you’re here you need to check it out. Stunning.
You really should check out the Westin Perth on your next trip as well. It’s been hands down my favorite hotel in Australia so far and I’ve stayed at some “fun” places (Ritz Melbourne, W Brisbane, JW Surfers Paradise, The Tasmin in Hobart)… The Westin’s design is sophisticated and comfortable, the location is excellent, the buffet breakfast served in the downstairs restaurant for elites is top notch. One of my favorite Marriott hotels (non-resort) I’ve ever stayed in.
What an amazing place .l have never been so impressed by one of your reception staff at the Ritz-Carlton in Perth . Her name was Yuyun and she deserves a special mention for her kindness and dedication to her profession
My wife fell ill during our visit and YuYun couldn’t do enough for us She is a credit to your organisation that you are so lucky to have her in this wonderful hotel . I can’t thank her enough for her kindness