Centrella Hotel, A Kirkwood Collection Hotel — Attraction in Pacific Grove

Pros: Our room had a sea view which was nice and was quiet. The location was very good for walking downtown and to the sea. The house looks charming and lovely from the outside (unfortunately the inside is a very different matter).|Cons: In major need of a complete refurbishment. Very tired. Carpets damaged in many areas. Old dark carpets everywhere make the place gloomy. Obvious cost-cutting: Breakfast similar to a basic motel. Nothing homemade. Pastries from somewhere like Safeway, parfaits put together with all store-bought ingredients. Teas are the cheapest brand possible. They used to have a savory home-cooked entree and scones! What has happened? I see that they have had a large turnover of innkeepers and now it's been bought by a corporation which has made it into an impersonal 'money-maker' with no thought for the experience people seek when they choose a genuine Bed and Breakfast. Guests expect to be warmly welcomed by staff, asked friendly question such as 'have you driven far? where are you from?' Breakfast is expected to be home made. Rooms are expected to be stain-free and mattresses that have some back support and are not ancient.|Our room had the worst possible mattress we have ever slept on. It was obviously very old and subsequently very soft. Like a hammock! There was no mattress cover which is very unhygienic. It's a fact that very soft mattresses are bad for your back as they have no back support. And the bed is not a queen as advertised! It's a double. I measured it. The toilet is child-sized, and the claw foot tub has permanent brown stains in it. Who wants to have a bath in a stained tub? The windows work so poorly that they have to lend you screens to stop them from falling down. More cost-cutting: Tiny plastic glasses, extra small coffee/teacups. We had a kettle but no coffee/teacups! Only one staff member on the last morning was friendly and helpful. Staff are definitely unhappy working there. At 'breakfast' we heard many other guests complaining about various issues at the place. I don't suppose the corporation ever reads any reviews on various websites. We were never asked for any feedback on how we were experiencing the place/did we have any questions. Our advice to potential guests: Don't waste your money. This is not a real Bed and Breakfast like some others in Pacific Grove, for example, which are bright and clean, have a delicious home cooked breakfast, and where you are greeted with open arms and made to feel as if you are a valued guest as opposed to just some anonymous visitor. There was no tip envelope for housekeeping, another cost-cutting move I suppose, and one last thing: This place is not interested in being green/planet friendly at all, unlike many other lodgings. The coffee/tea stirrers are all plastic, there is nowhere to recycle anything in the 'breakfast' room, there are no signs in the bathroom to save water by putting soiled towels on the floor so the new untouched ones don't have to be washed. It's as if this place is stuck in another decade! One thing is for sure: We Are Not...

Pros The location of this place is what you are paying for. It is close to Lover's point and within walking distance of restaurants and shops. The decor is nice and everything is clean. The linens and pillows are soft, shining white, and cozy. The scones were delightful. They were fresh, buttery, flaky, and melt in your mouth. There are free snacks and wine in the evening. The lobby is a lovely place to read a book. They gave us a coupon for a free appetizer at the Beach House restaurant, which was very nice.

Cons The staff are not very warm or friendly. Between check-in and breakfast I didn't see a smile once. We arrived on time for our scheduled check-in at 3 pm and had to wait for 30 minutes before our room was finished being cleaned.

The rooms are overpriced for their size. There was an antique closet, but no place to sit to write or use a laptop. There was barely enough room for our suitcases. The only place to put them was in line to the bathroom, so we had to hop over them to use the facilities.

The breakfast was disappointing. They say that it is "made to order," but my oatmeal looked and tasted like instant oats. It was supposed to come with fresh berries. What I received was a tablespoon of blackberries that looked like they were frozen and had been defrosted. The oatmeal itself was watery. The coffee was in a dispenser, not very hot, and it ran out. When I asked the server for more he delayed and never got around to filling up the thermos.

The evening snack consisted of olives (that tasted like the jar they likely came from), premade hummus, and premade artichoke dip. The hummus had no flavor. The dip looked like it was mostly sour cream with very little spinach or artichokes.

The website makes it seem like you can get spa services in your room, which is misleading. The inn will schedule a massage for you ahead of time with a local business. I called two days before checking in and asked for a massage, but the receptionist acted inconvenienced and asked me to call the spa myself to make a reservation. I booked this room as a gift for my husband's birthday and wanted to make it special, but we ended up not getting massages because we got busy with our vacation, and the inn never followed up on the spa services.

In all, it feels like this inn inflates the price of their rooms with amenities like snacks and "made to order" breakfast. If you want a homey cozy environment with welcoming hosts I would go...

So sad to leave this review as we actually really liked our cottage, and the location is amazing. I've been hopeful over the last month Centrella Inn would rectify this situation, but despite my attempts, they have not.

The weekend of 2/13 my husband, son, pup and I booked one of their cottages for two nights at a total of roughly $900. During our stay the glass overlay of a wooden coffee table was damaged when my refillable water bottle fell over. The table itself was not damaged at all, but the glass piece on top of the table, not necessary for the tables function, broke into two large pieces, jagged and sharp, with glass shards falling to the floor. We moved the large pieces outside and notified the front desk and I cleaned up the shards. We told the front desk we would of course pay for the glass piece to be replaced.

Upon checkout I was given a receipt for $400 for the charges, which they had already run on my credit card. I explained that while we were happy to pay for the glass, we felt that $400 was excessive. I was told the owner would call me and left my number. I emailed the same day and told them I would be happy to pay for the glass to be replaced but there was no way the cost was $400. They replied that the glass was tempered which is why it cost so much. The glass that broke was 100% absolutely NOT tempered. I explained this to them and asked for a receipt or estimate for the replacement.

A week went by with no word so I emailed again. I was told the owner still had not been in touch regarding the receipt/estimate. Another week went by and I again reached out. I was told once again, they did not have this. It has since been another week.

I know they will not be able to provide a receipt for this because a small piece of non tempered glass does not cost anywhere near the $400 I was billed. Perhaps they'd like to replace it with tempered glass, which in my opinion would not have broken and is likely a good idea for safety, but I do not think it's anywhere near fair to charge me for tempered glass when what was damaged, was not tempered glass. The owner never did call me.

Such a shame as we live fairly close to Pacific Grove and really adored the cottage. We would have certainly returned for other weekends had they just taken a little consideration into the fair way...