Carriage House Inn — Hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea

If you ever plan to come to Carmel, Big Sur, or Monterey, I highly recommend booking a stay at Carriage Inn. We received the warmest welcome from the manager, Michelle, as soon as we walked in. She took us directly to our room and showed us everything and all the room features herself. She made us feel welcome and gave the place such a kind, welcoming, personalized experience. Plus the room itself was lovely, spacious, and clean. The stay came with breakfast — a delicious breakfast that was freshly cooked and individualized to us (they give you a menu every day, and you choose what from there you want to order). Upon arriving, you’re also greeted with freshly home baked cookies (delicious), and the host a nightly (free!) hors d’oeuvres (with wine and a varied spread). Parking and breakfast were included. It was such a convenient location. For visiting Carmel beaches, it’s situated very close to one of the two beach entrances (the least crowded of the two entrances, where we enjoyed a nice sunset). The place is super close to Point Lobos, Bixby Bridge, and Big Sur. Michelle, the manager told us that by showing our room key at any restaurant in Carmel by the Sea, restaurants would give us discounts — and they did!! We made the unfortunate mistake of booking our last night in the area at a hotel in Monterey, and it was awful compared to how lovely everything in Carmel was. If you’re traveling out of the Monterey airport, please consider staying the extra night at the Carriage Inn. You’ll be so close to the airport anyway, and there’s no need to stay in Monterey when you can enjoy such a lovely stay from just a couple of minutes south at the Carriage Inn. I rarely post reviews but this feels too beautiful of a place with the best customer service to not post them a review. HIGHLY...

This hotel was wonderful. It was very charming. When we arrived we were both given a glass of wine, and helped to our room. We also ordered free breakfast of our choice, to be delivered at our specified time (we had coffee, two types of quiche, croissant, bran muffin and juice). There was plenty of FREE parking, within the bounds of the hotel grounds, protected by walls. They had an ice station with a filtered water station, and gave us two really nice, complimentary, metal “hydro flasks”. The room was well stocked with towels, slippers, robes, glasses, coffee cups, and a beverage station. The refrigerator had complimentary sparkling water and sparkling apple juice. There were also multiple snacks and fresh baked cookies. The bed was divine. It had a feather topper and a feather duvet. There was a fire place (gas/auto) and heater. No air conditioning, but there is a ceiling fan, and it was cool enough outside that we slept with the window open and enjoyed the coastal clean air. There are also plantation shutters for privacy. The service was superb. On top of everything, the staff had the sunset time on a board, and reminded us not to miss it. So, we walked about a quarter mile to the beach and watched a stunning sunset. Plenty of restaurants in the area. We went to Brophy’s and had a burger, that was really tasty. They had a lot of beers on tap too. FIVE...

We booked two nights at Carriage Inn but had to check out after the first night. The room next to us had someone extremely drunk, shouting and making noise for hours. We were up most of the night and had to knock on their door ourselves. The walls are really thin, so noise travels easily. The front desk was closed overnight, and no one told us there was an emergency number we could call.

In the morning, we let staff know we were leaving early because we couldn’t sleep and didn’t feel comfortable staying. The manager wasn’t there, but we were told she’d follow up about a possible refund. We also asked to switch rooms but were told there were none available. At that point, we had only been charged for the first night, and there was no mention that we’d still be charged for the second.

So we were really surprised to see a charge for the second night show up later—even though we didn’t stay. Honestly, we think it would’ve been fair to get a partial refund for the first night, too, given how bad it was. But we didn’t push for that. We just didn’t expect to be charged for a night we didn’t stay, after leaving because the hotel couldn’t resolve the issue.

Really disappointing experience, and not how we expected things...