Oceanpoint Ranch — Hotel in Cambria

Great proximity to the ocean but it's a double edged sword. While you do have an obstructed view of the ocean from the Oceanview Lone Star Cabin, it means you're sandwiched between Moonstone Beach Dr. and Hwy 1, so you get traffic noise at all hours.

It's a simple walk over Moonstone Beach Dr., or under the bridge to get to the beach and the beautiful boardwalk that traverses the entirety of Moonstone Beach. It's a very quick drive to Hearst Castle (which was our primary destination), San Simeon, and the Elephant Seal viewing point.

The Game Room is cool, with an upended canoe and dozens of dangling lights under it, several regular and lawn-sized games and a super slick shuffleboard table. There is a pool but I was way too cold to go in. There were several kids down there who seemed to like it. There are horseshoes and other lawn activities as well as several propane-fueled firepits surrounded by Adirondack chairs to relax in.

The room was large, with a table, two chairs, two stuffed chairs by the fireplace, a big bed, a clawfoot tub and a small bathroom with a shower. There is a sliding door to an outside patio with two chairs. The clawfoot tub was a godsend after cold days in whipping wind on the beaches. The cleanliness was mediocre. There were crumbs and a dead mayfly on the floor under the table and the bathroom window had been left open a bit prior to our arrival so there was an enormous bug in there. I don't care about bugs but I know many do.

Bed was okay. I have an iffy back and it didn't suit me at all, but hubby was fine. Could have used more than 4 pillows. The noise was all night long - highway noises as cars barreled by at all hours. I did finally get to sleep but then at around 7 each morning there was a repetitive snapping noise that seemed to travel from the front of the room past the chimney to the wall - bizarre. Not great rest for me.

I'm irritated at the communication from the hotel. They were constantly on the upsell - get a better room! add a smores package! get a late checkout! have some overpriced water! It's just tacky. I had booked directly with the hotel and was urged to join the Pacifica Perks program so at checkout it offered either the smores or the bubbly package for free, which I thought was a nice touch. I chose the bubbly and it didn't change my total. When I arrived there was no bubbly in the room so I went to the office to get the bottle (which came with two tacky plastic on the rocks cups) and then I went to my email to re-check the reservation confirmation they had sent earlier that week to remind me of my upcoming stay only to see they had added $30 to my prepaid booking. When I asked the reservations about it they said it was for my add-on bubbly. I explained that it had been offered as a perk and my original confirmation showed no charge for it - it was highly irregular to add extra to a guest's check without any notice. But they persisted, so I paid $30 for a "free" mediocre bottle of wine I didn't really even want in the first place. Not cool.

So - location - nice. Amenities - decent....

I understand the hotel industry is still recovering after the past 18 months of covid, but this experience was notably disappointing and overpriced. I simply noted all my concerns into a list during my 2 day, mid-week stay. This is how it went for a roughly $350/night stay:

Room: -The rooms have an interesting concept (ranch theme), but it doesn't live up to the promise of the photos (dirty/not well maintained).

-Entry light switch didn't do anything. No central light, only lights on the bedside table or bathroom.

-Bedside lamp had two different color bulbs, outlets at base of lamp didn’t supply power (broken).

-Tub has a broken plug (not attached to drain, pulls out, broken screw)

-Temp scale on bath tap wildly inaccurate, and difficult to set bath or sink tap to warm (cold or blistering hot only)

-Heat bulb in bathroom died, replacement and/or maintenance unavailable in early evening

-No ac/fan, only a heater.

-Hair in daughters bed upon arrival inspection

-Decorative door to mini fridge broken

-No vents in bathroom. The window that used to exist has been boarded up. Therefore, no fresh airflow when the family showered/bathed.

-Ants attacked any food in bins

-Carpets need to be cleaned. Our feet and socks became extremely dirty. Felt unsafe considering we had a baby in the room, and food on the floor is a common thing with kids.

-Not a single in room chair, let alone desk or place to sit.

Cantina (on site restaurant): -Cantina wasn’t open on scheduled hours.

-Canteen staff was aggressive at entrance, didn’t assist with door (carrying baby) and pushed his way past us. Ignored us at the counter and happily talked to staff and avoided making eye contact with us until he had finished all other potential duties and we were next on his list.

Service/Staff: -Arrived 2 hours early (my fault, not the hotel's fault). Staff said they'd call me when the room was ready. No call was ever received, and I just had to wait till check-in time. There was no bathroom available, and they sent us to the state park beach toilet (5 min walk on a trail to get there).

-No plates available when requested.

-Staff never asked about feedback upon checkout.

Common Area: -Closest ice machine out of order

-Pool was cold

-No safety consideration for kids around the pool. My 4 year old could open the gate on her own, and our room was next to the pool

-All the game equipment was in disrepair

I sent an earlier set of my notes in a feedback request email that I got after my stay. I find the response lacking:

Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey. Your feedback is essential in our effort to improve our service standards. I apologize for the series of issues during your stay. Your comments have been shared with the appropriate departments so that they may be addressed. Please feel free to contact me directly and it will be my pleasure to assist you.

Thank you for choosing Oceanpoint Ranch!

All The...

OMG! I if I could give it zero I would give it a zero but the website puts in one as far as I’m concerned and three other customers who came in while I was there…Stay as far away from this place as possible dirty dirty dirty. I usually look at these reviews and say well I can’t be that bad but this there were bugs on the ceiling. The waters didn’t work. They did end up fixing the bathtub, but not before the dirty water came on our feet while we were taking a shower They had never dusted the TV. I took photos because I knew people will not believe me. The carpet has stains, so we kept their shoes on the entire time we were gagging. We really thought we could handle it, but it was so disgusting that I went to speak to the manager I spoke with the assistant manager Nicole, who was very nice. She should have been the manager because the manager named Angel Gonzalez was the rudest person and not very cordial to me seeing as I am an amputee. When he came out of his office, I smiled and he said what do you want monotone. I said, would you mind sitting over here because I don’t wanna scream across the lobby. He said no I’m fine where I am. These are all quotes. I told him I couldn’t get up and talk to him standing up because I didn’t have a leg and the prosthesis was hurting at that point I even showed it to him so there would be no confusion. He said well I’m fine where I’m at. I’ll stand behind the counter if you want so I got up from the couch with my cane and went over to the desk. I asked him if Nicole the assistant manager had shown him the photos. He did not answer. He did not say anything. He said well you know the policies here and he wouldn’t even answer when I started to speak to him about how dirty things were he was so words cannot describe him beware of Angel Gonzalez. He is not cordial to even the other people that were coming in. He didn’t care about any of the customers. I hope that the people at Pacifica hotels who own Oceanpoint Ranch get a hold of this so that they know what’s going on at their hotel in Cambria, California.|| asked the manager to look at my photos and his name is Angel Gonzalez on the other side of the spectrum isNicole is the assistant manager and she is wonderful. She wanted to help me but Angel Gonzales the manager interrupted her I asked who owned the hotel he then took over the conversation by saying here is my card. That’s all you need.||While we were there, there were three other couples that complained about the dirt too. The outside is really cute, except for the stains that will lead to the front door of our room. There were dust balls, all over the lroom,which I would call dust boulders there was make up left under the Bed right at the foot of the bed that was not ours. How gross. Beware of the Oceanpoint Ranch beware of the...