Carmel Valley Ranch - The Unbound Collection by Hyatt — Hotel in Monterey

If you want the wedding of your dreams, avoid Carmel Valley Ranch AT ALL COSTS.

Despite having a fully signed and agreed-to contract for months, CVR manipulated us over the course of almost half a year, until ultimately the Director of Events, Christina Richardson, called us to say that they will not be able to accommodate our wedding anymore and will be invoking their cancellation clause. Their contracts allow for them to cancel WITHOUT cause. So, until you are literally walking down the aisle… they can cancel your wedding for no reason!

We discovered CVR in Feb 2022 and immediately fell in love. It was a little out of our budget for our big Indian Fusion wedding, but we were able to get some more family support so that we could celebrate our special day the way we wanted. After signing the contract, everything went downhill. We had been promised a level of excellence and service, but were left empty: unanswered emails, false promises, unprofessional calls, and just sheer carelessness like spelling the bride’s name wrong in emails. This was doubly disappointing because all their reviews have been good, but there clearly seems to be a turn in their service.

During our original contracting process, we asked for room blocks for ourselves and our wedding guests, and CVR said it would be no problem, but would be a separate process/contract we do after we sign the venue contract. Shortly after signing our contract, we reached out about the room block. CVR then proceeded to ignore our request for over a month as we helplessly sent emails and called every 2-3 days. They finally came out of the dark and asked if we could get on a phone call. We immediately obliged, thankful to have made some progress. Sadly, we were faced with immediate disappointment as CVR asked us to MOVE OUR WEDDING DATE.

We said no, we’d like to keep our wedding date. CVR said they would get back to us on room blocks.

Fast forward another three weeks of silence and my repeated emails requesting updates, when they finally come back and say they will not be able to accommodate any rooms. Why? Because months after we signed, ANOTHER COMPANY offered to buy out the whole property for our wedding weekend, and CVR let them.

To hear that the CVR team booked a buyout after they delayed our request for a room block for months (and then ultimately rejected it) was absolutely gut-wrenching and Machiavellian behavior we could not have expected from any venue.

Wedding planning is already stressful, and this news added extra burden as we now had no location to get ready or change between ceremonies. We asked for their help in figuring out a solution.

After ghosting us for another two weeks, we received a phone call saying that they will not accommodate our wedding anymore. They canceled our wedding with little remorse and zero backup plan!

As we scrambled to find a replacement for CVR's misbehavior (we reached out to 103 venues), we finally accepted that it is going to be next to impossible to find a replacement venue on the same weekend anywhere WITHIN A 3 HOUR RADIUS.

To the staff at CVR: I will never forget how you treated me. You claim to be a luxury resort, but my wedding planner read all the emails, and said you are the worst venue she has dealt with in 25 years. You made my last 9 months MORE stressful, MORE traumatic, and MORE expensive than any bride should ever have to deal with.

To other brides and grooms reading this: I want your wedding to be amazing. Be smart and avoid these liars at all costs. Through calls, emails, in-person site visits, and texts, I spent NINETY-SIX HOURS going back and forth getting manipulated, lied to, and gaslit. I would not trust them for any wedding, especially multi-cultural celebrations.

The venue cancellation destroyed me for weeks. I do not want this to happen to any other bride or couple getting married to ever have to go through this. I do not wish the stress that CVR caused on me, my fiancée, my family, and the people closest to me… on anyone. It’s not worth it. Do not get...

I had a 2-night stay with my family. The property itself is absolutely gorgeous. We loved the hot tubs, pools, fitness classes, and the corral with all the adorable animals. The breakfast at Valley Kitchen was hands down the best American breakfast I’ve ever had—delicious omelets, smoked salmon, and even the steel-cut oats were exceptional. It was such a beautiful and peaceful experience, and it would have been perfect except for what happened on our last day.

After breakfast, we went to the spa locker room to check out the amenities. A middle-aged Latina staff member (I believe her name is Betty) came in while I was there. She watched me the entire time I was in the locker room, which lasted about a minute, and it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. Shortly after, another middle-aged Latina staff member, named Julisa, entered. The first woman said something to Julisa in Spanish, and they both turned and looked at me. It felt odd, like they were talking about me, and it was unsettling that one of them kept staring at me. I decided to leave, and the whole time, Betty continued to watch me.

I walked to the spa shop next door, and to my surprise, she followed me inside. I thought it was strange. Then she spoke to the spa shop staff member, who then walked toward me without saying anything. It felt like they were talking about me again, and it was uncomfortable, but I brushed it off thinking it was nothing. Later that afternoon, my mom, sister, and I went to the hot tub at the Lodge to relax before checking out. After getting out of the hot tub, I took 3 towels from the pile (since there were 3 of us). A moment later, a staff member—Betty, who had seen me earlier that morning and followed me into the spa shop—came out and told me I couldn’t take the towels. I was completely confused and asked, “Are we not allowed to use the towels?” She told me to call housekeeping. I explained that housekeeping doesn’t provide pool towels. Without saying another word, she reached out and grabbed the towels from my hands. I was in shock. I asked her again, “Are we not allowed to use these towels?” She repeated, “Call housekeeping.”

I was so stunned that I didn’t even know how to respond, so I just walked away. My mom and sister were left without towels to dry off, and we all had to walk back to our rooms dripping wet. I was extremely upset by what had just happened.

Later, I went to the spa to use the swimsuit drying machine. While I was drying my swimsuits, I grabbed a towel to wipe my hands. Julisa—the same staff member who had spoken to the first woman Betty that grabbed my towels—came in and walked straight toward me. She told me, "You can’t use that." I was so confused and asked her what she meant. Instead of answering, she spoke into her walkie talkie, and the young lady from the spa shop entered, as if she were backup. Now, the 2 of them were cornering me and blocking my path to the exit. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I asked them what the issue was, and the older woman rudely demanded to know my room number. When I asked why I was being targeted and what the issue was, she refused to answer. So, I just walked out. This experience was truly shocking and incredibly degrading, especially at a Category 8 Hyatt resort.

The staff members deliberately targeted me, bullying and harassing me without any explanation. They treated me like I didn’t belong, despite being a paying guest.

I should have reported the situation immediately to the front desk, but I was so upset that I just left and called the resort later. They investigated, but it became clear that those staff members fabricated a version of events that didn’t reflect the truth. While management did apologize and made attempts to rectify the situation, it didn’t change the awful experience I had with those women during what was supposed to be a relaxing family vacation.

If you visit this resort & encounter rude behavior from Julisa & Betty, report it right away. Guests should never be treated in such a degrading,...

While the grounds of the resort were rustic and beautiful, this category 8 Hyatt property is quite expensive. If you are into golfing it may be worth it, but if you enjoy spending time in a nice hotel room then you should look elsewhere where you can get a nicer room experience at a more affordable rate. Here are some of the issues I encountered during my stay in a Vintage Oak room with Outdoor Tub:|- Upon arrival I inquired about EV charging with both the check-in staff and the bellman at the valet desk by the Lodge parking lot. I asked if it would be ok for me to leave my car charging overnight and was told that would be absolutely fine. In the morning as I was ready to head out I unplugged the charger to learn that the charging rate was by time and I was billed for the entire time my car was plugged in, which was 2x more than the car actually needed to be fully charged up. I would have appreciated this as a heads up from the staff, especially as I inquired about charging overnight.|- Our booking package included a bottle of prosecco and bath items which weren't delivered until I made an inquiry about it.|- The front desk staff asked about the purpose of our stay, to which we said it was a birthday celebration, and offered to gift us a bottle of pinot noir, but this was not delivered until I inquired about it the next day.|- The room tier I had selected in my booking had an outdoor tub space with a fireplace that could be accessed both indoor and outdoors. However, for unit 289, we discovered that the outdoor space was not very private. From the gate to enter the patio, passersby could see directly into the room to the bed, or directly to anybody using the outdoor tub. Also, we could not open any blinds for the room without allowing full visibility into the room through the front window. In fact, since we were not the end unit of the building there were multiple times where people walking to the adjacent rooms walked by and could look at us directly in our rooms. There was nearly no privacy. From what I could tell, the next door rooms had a slightly different configuration where more fencing did help give more privacy.|- The decor and equipment in the room was dated. The heater above the bed would blow directly onto our faces whenever it turned on. The louvres could be manually adjusted but it would reset every automatic on/off cycle back to blowing directly onto our faces. The sitting chairs in the room had stained cushions and had holes in the rattan which would snag onto clothes. The glass shower door could not be closed all the way without the glass door hitting the corner of the glass wall.|- The indoor tub initially produced brownish water until we cycled it for a few minutes which hopefully was enough.|- The outdoor tub didn't work at all until engineering staff came to fix it, which disrupted afternoon/evening plans.|- Upon coming back to our room one afternoon there was a filled dirty laundry bag and cleaning supplies left outside by housekeeping, in the pathway leading to the entrance to the room.|- After housekeeping left, we ended up with only one bathrobe in the room instead of two.||That said, the staff I encountered at the front desk and at the Valley Kitchen were all very nice. The lodge had many fireplaces to hang out around, and nice S'mores kits in the evening. The pools looked relaxing, and we might have used them if it weren't for the cooler rainy days that...