Carmel Beach Hotel — Hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea

I wanted to love this hotel…|And if you are a couple just going for a few nights (not staying in room 20) you probably will like it.|But as a military service member trying to plan a wedding in Carmel from Germany, the lack of communication, coordination, and an utterly inhospitable nature plagued us from the start.|The first few times I emailed Vincent about booking 4 rooms for various points during the week he told me my emails kept going to his junk folder. Then, the room prices he sent me, which he stated where just an “average” were actually $100 less PER NIGHT than the final charge. I should have realized they would change the prices based on the day and add all sorts of taxes but I had no idea that would add more than $100 per night to the price originally quoted. Additionally, we asked about doing our wedding dinner in the hotel restaurant and never received a response (this was probably for the best).|Once we arrived, the hotel room they placed us in was the size of a shoebox (room 20) and over $600 per night. The room had a bad odor and the shower lacked any pressure. Mind you we are a bride and groom there for a whole week to get married spending about $9,200 total for our guests to stay there…. I only knew how bad our room was because when I went to check my parents into a room in the same price category the following day, I saw that their room was 3 times the size of ours. Only after asking the front desk to switch us into a bigger room 3 days on did they actually move us. Their attitude was not very hospitable either, we were more of a burden than a happy couple celebrating their marriage.|Lastly, when some friends of mine tried to do something nice the cost quoted was absolutely ridiculous. My maid of honor wanted to order organic rose petals to the hotel and just asked if a member of staff could spread them on our bed for our arrival – she was quoted $165 to do this. My boss wanted to order a bottle of wine to our room to celebrate – he was quoted $200. I was so embarrassed when he called to tell me that he was sorry but that seemed too much for one bottle of wine.|They did upgrade my maid of honor for two nights, so that was nice as it gave us a suite to get ready in. Also, at the end of our stay, they took $200 off of one hotel room bill but I am not really sure why.|Overall, it was the worst hotel stay I’ve ever had and I am so sad I had my family stay here for our wedding. Please give your business to another hotel in Carmel. Every other service in Carmel (dinner location, wedding service, flowers, cake, etc.) was amazing and the locals noted that this hotel already had a poor reputation.|Either way, I am happily married and got to do it in the most beautiful place on earth. I hope this hotel finds its way back to hospitality in the future, but for...

I wanted to love this hotel… And if you are a couple just going for a few nights (not staying in room 20) you probably will like it. But as a military service member trying to plan a wedding in Carmel from Germany, the lack of communication, coordination, and an utterly inhospitable nature plagued us from the start. The first few times I emailed Vincent about booking 4 rooms for various points during the week he told me my emails kept going to his junk folder. Then, the room prices he sent me, which he stated where just an “average” were actually $100 less PER NIGHT than the final charge. I should have realized they would change the prices based on the day and add all sorts of taxes but I had no idea that would add more than $100 per night to the price originally quoted. Additionally, we asked about doing our wedding dinner in the hotel restaurant and never received a response (this was probably for the best). Once we arrived, the hotel room they placed us in was the size of a shoebox (room 20) and over $600 per night. The room had a bad odor and the shower lacked any pressure. Mind you we are a bride and groom there for a whole week to get married spending about $9,200 total for our guests to stay there…. I only knew how bad our room was because when I went to check my parents into a room in the same price category the following day, I saw that their room was 3 times the size of ours. Only after asking the front desk to switch us into a bigger room 3 days on did they actually move us. Their attitude was not very hospitable either, we were more of a burden than a happy couple celebrating their marriage. Lastly, when some friends of mine tried to do something nice the cost quoted was absolutely ridiculous. My maid of honor wanted to order organic rose petals to the hotel and just asked if a member of staff could spread them on our bed for our arrival – she was quoted $165 to do this. My boss wanted to order a bottle of wine to our room to celebrate – he was quoted $200. I was so embarrassed when he called to tell me that he was sorry but that seemed too much for one bottle of wine. They did upgrade my maid of honor for two nights, so that was nice as it gave us a suite to get ready in. Also, at the end of our stay, they took $200 off of one hotel room bill but I am not really sure why. Overall, it was the worst hotel stay I’ve ever had and I am so sad I had my family stay here for our wedding. Please give your business to another hotel in Carmel. Every other service in Carmel (dinner location, wedding service, flowers, cake, etc.) was amazing and the locals noted that this hotel already had a poor reputation. Either way, I am happily married and got to do it in the most beautiful place on earth. I hope this hotel finds its way back to hospitality in the future, but for...

Disappointing stay overall. Should have looked at Tripadvisor where the hotel has a 3.8 rating, which might be 1.8 stars too many.

To start, the positives: Fantastic location in a quiet residential area steps from Carmel beach -- white sand, amazing wildlife and birdlife. Very comfortable beds. On-demand shuttle to town is a plus (though we didn't use it since we had a car).

Unfortunately these are undone by the negatives. The front desk is undertrained, incompetent and unempowered for a hotel of this price point. Specifically:

We had booked and pre-paid a deposit for two rooms under the same name and traveling as a group of 3 -- my spouse and I + my 75 year old mother. The front desk staff only checked us into one room. When we came back to the lobby and pointed this out, confusion ensued. After being handed off between different front desk staff, they found our other booking and said the only other available room was apart from the other. If we wanted adjacent or proximate rooms, we would have to downgrade from the room category we had booked (no mention of a rate reduction for the downgrade). Since the hotel was fully occupied, we were also told there was no choice; we had to reluctantly agree despite not wanting my mother to be farther away than next door. It's a small property, so this was a minor though avoidable inconvenience.

Despite the high rates, the hotel charged an additional $35 per day "resort fee." Not sure what that fee got us besides simply paying a higher rate than advertised.

Upon checkout, we were told that invoices would be emailed to us. These came through while we were long gone up Route 1, and we noticed we had been charged for a breakfast we didn't have. No big deal, mistakes happen. I called the hotel and spoke to Elizabeth to correct the error. After being put on a 15+ minute hold, she came back and said there's an unsigned breakfast receipt for an avocado toast and something else. She would have to speak to the server the next day, and then speak to the GM, and if our story were true the hotel might correct the invoice within 48-72 hours, but no guarantees.

I was shocked; it was as if we had to prove we didn't have the breakfast. Not even a mention of an apology, We had paid over $3500 for the rooms, so why would we lie about a $60 breakfast? Why were we given the run-around to get the hotel's error fixed?

We've stayed in many luxury hotels and mistakes happen on occasion, but when they do, the staff have always been profusely apologetic and correct the issue immediately. This hotel proved there is a first for everything.

The water pressure is awful. Took a long time...