Le Petit Pali at Ocean Ave — Hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Thank you for showing willingness to improve in the responses. I did really like 3 of your employees and wish all could be like them. Updating the rating for that. ———— It was a recently renovated motel but renovated cheaply - meaning you could still hear everything from your room and there’s no proper air filtration system in the room.

Room: the rooms are quite small; as described above, it has Instagram style decors and furnitures - meaning those might look good in picture but only look good in picture & feel cheap in real life. We stayed for half week and really could not stand the VOCs throwing out from the furniture - had to keep the windows open on very humid days - because of the poor service: I was told by one male staff at the front desk for two consecutive days that “we do not have air purifiers and will never accommodate such requests”. Funny that I always have such requests fulfilled in any 4 star+ hotels. So that tells you what to expect - not a four star place at all.

Service: don’t expect much - all male staffs were rude and inconsiderate - the elder person who checks people in seems to hate his job or being in service industry given his attitude at work - he shall either retire or be sent to any 5 star hotel for a continuing training to learn how to operate better. One breakfast lady, one afternoon tea lady and one elder lady were much more professional - they should promote them immediately before all guests were pissed off.

Food: they offer breakfast but there’s only super sweet pastries, fruits & wine for decoration, poor tasting coffee (dripping coffee which tastes worse than illy’s) and unknown brand yogurt filled in re-used la fermière yogurt jars.

Let me go one by one: pastries were one of the few edible choices in their breakfast. They do claim to offer fruits but it was mostly large piles of grapes that weren’t broken apart nor washed. Another guest was joking with us that it’s for decoration only lol.

Their yogurt is the most confusing option on the menu. they were in la fermière jars but they tasted much more sour than any French yogurt I had. My first taste on the yogurts made me think they are expired - but only to find out those were unknown brand yogurt (staffs told me they were not home made) and refilled into the jars. Staffs insisted these were la Fermière but I do not think they ever made Greek yogurt, and their only plain yogurt usually was packed in glass jars instead of their clay jars - after a few days, they finally told me the caps were bought on Amazon but never said if the jars are too. I hope they wash the jars well and put a claimer up front so people know what to expect. You have to individually “order” dripping coffee which is quite weird to me.

Location was very good but all hotels in town have good locations. We chose it for the location and thought it would be a newer hotel building - it is not. Parking is very tight - I did not notice any open spots at night during my entire stay.

This place seems to have contracts with tour groups - there were a huge group of tourists gathering in the hotel every now and then. So be aware if you are sensitive about it.

There were a few polite and nice guests in this hotel but most seem quite rude… not sure where this hotel has most of its ads at…. we noticed quite a few European tourists yelling loudly and slamming their doors at night or having their not well behaved dogs walking on lobby room couches inconsiderately - I love dogs and being a dog mom of two, I never let my dog on public furnitures even tho they are hypoallergenic. Cannot imagine someone sitting on the couch after the dog visits and leaving with piles of furs on their coats.

I do not recommend here if you care about quality of life or food or thought it has...

I can't say enough amazing things about this hotel. We showed up around 7pm the night before Thanksgiving to see if they had any availability and they offered us an absolutely adorable and cozy room which was exactly what we needed. Allison was beyond welcoming and kind from the moment we got there and even gave us a discount because our fireplace wasn't working. I can't believe what a great deal we got on the room! We got a king size bed that was on the second floor and we were so happy with it! It's super renovated and modern with a spacious bathroom and great layout; the walls are thick and the windows have black out curtains so there's plenty of privacy. Not to mention they have Malin + Goetz products in the bathrooms!!!

The hotel has pretty ample parking right in front of the rooms, like all in the same complex, which makes it really easy to unload bags and adds for great security. Amenities-wise, it's great. There are two cozy fire pits and an area outside with seating where guests love to hang out and drink, us included! The hotel still offers a socially distanced and Covid friendly happy hour with complimentary wine and they are super thorough with disinfecting and protocol. The complimentary breakfast every morning is delicious and individually packaged, it comes with coffee and orange juice and we loved the yogurt parfait and the pastries/croissants! Not to mention they are incredibly dog friendly and many of the guests brought dogs with them. It’s also incredibly conveniently located and just a street away from all the shops/restaurants/etc.

We happened upon this place in a very last minute way and I cannot wait to come back here next time I am in Carmel! Allison was also incredibly helpful with local suggestions for things to do in the area, especially hikes. And like I said, they are so accommodating; I needed a food grade refrigerator for my dog's fresh food and they stored it for me every morning and night. They have someone at the front desk 24/7 and everyone we interacted with was super friendly and welcoming!! Highly recommend...

Honestly, the only good thing about this hotel is the location. It’s very conveniently located with most of the hotspots of Carmel within walking distance. Other than that, I would say it’s extremely overpriced. We paid around $670 a night during the weekend for a remodeled motel room. They try to upsell this place by using brand items like “diptyque” shower gels and a Marshall speaker. The place “includes” a “continental breakfast”. The breakfast has some good quality items but is very limited with some bread, pastries, boiled eggs and jam. Not very fair to call it complimentary breakfast since you’re paying a resort fee of $40/day. The homemade cookies you get every evening is a nice touch, but I doubt they were actually home made. They definitely weren’t warm upon delivery and tasted kind of stale. The parking situation is also horrible with very tight parking spots and no availability after 3 pm, so you still need to park on the street. The guy by the front desk is rude and doesn’t really seem to care about his job. They are pet friendly, however they charge $125 which I think is a bit excessive for a small dog. They have a tiny patio and other than that there is no real outdoor space or a pet relief station. Since this is a remodeled motel, there is no AC and the rooms are pretty noisy. You can hear outside noise from the Main Street, the Nextdoor neighbors door slamming closed and the people upstairs walking. The bed was comfortable. No smart tv.

There was a note in the room which said you would receive a bottle of Antipodes water per person/per day. Upon request at the front desk they told us that this had changed, and you’ll only receive a bottle of water on the first day. This took us by surprise.

In conclusion: we were looking forward to this stay a lot but left pretty disappointed and not very rested due to the noise. If you’re looking for a higher end hotel, this...