Inn By The Bay Monterey — Hotel in Monterey

We needed a hotel room for just one night, to run the Monterey Bay half marathon. Finding a hotel that was close to the start, allowed dogs, and had no two-night minimum was not easy and we had very few options, and this was the best of those options. We got to town a little before 3 pm and tried to check in early, and we were told it would be $15 to check in early. We declined and decided to walk to the race expo since we had time. When it was finally time to check in, the gentleman at the front desk had a really hard time finding our reservation, which may not have been his fault - he said it was his first day on the job. There was a sign at the front desk saying checkout was 11 am, but you could have a late checkout for $15. We said we’d like the late checkout, and he clearly was not familiar with the policy so we showed him the sign. He said late checkout was not an option and mumbled something about housekeeping. Again, I’m not really faulting him for any of this frustration - but for a busy weekend like race weekend, the hotel should have known better than to have a brand new person working the front desk by themselves. And why offer late checkout if you can’t actually have it?||So we finally get to our room, and the keycard didn’t open the door. Ok, no big deal. Back to the front desk to get a new card that does work. We open the door and a strong perfume smell nearly knocks me over. I don’t know if it was from cleaning products or what but it is intense. It is not a bad smell, just a strong one. I am super sensitive to smells but I know there are no other rooms available, and the smell is likely to be the same in all of them anyway. So we open the two windows to try to air out the room even though it’s in the low 50s outside. ||The room itself is ok, it’s small but clean, and the bathroom is fine. The furniture is all IKEA but I don’t have a problem with it, my only complaint is that the bottom of the bed is metal and I keep kicking it on accident. And there are only three small pillows on the bed so I imagine my husband and I will be trying to share one of them. The bed is clean and comfortable enough though.||There are two levels of rooms. We are in a room on the bottom floor, since we have our dog with us, and i think bottom floor rooms are the only pet friendly ones. It is loud. Both from street traffic and our neighbors. Whoever is directly above us has been rearranging their furniture or something, at least that’s what it sounds like. ||I haven’t taken a shower yet but my husband said it was decent, but the bath towels are tiny. Maybe we are spoiled at home with our big towels. ||There’s a small fridge, microwave, and hot water/coffee thing. So that’s nice, at least.||I probably would not choose to stay here again, just because I am on the verge of a migraine from the smell, and it may be too loud to get much sleep, but you can walk downtown from here, you can stay here with your dog, and they don’t have a 2-night minimum on race weekend. And they have free parking. I’m pretty picky about hotels and would give this one 2-3 stars out of 5. For more than $300/night (on race weekend, it’s much less expensive other times of the year), I honestly...

The 1 Star is for the kind man that works the front. NOT the manager Patel. Made the reservation online and thought it would be great. We are military and unfortunately have to wait for housing. So we have to stay in hotels until then unfortunately for us.. we have 3 dogs and they are all service animals and are in cages if they are alone. We told the guy all of this. The front guy was really sweet and let us stay the night and told us to talk to the manager Patel in the morning about having 3 dogs. Since I guess they only allow 2. The room was surface clean. 1 of the 3 soap dispenser had broken off the wall before we got in there and was placed in this cubby area. It was also empty.

I got up first thing in the morning (7am) but they don’t open until 8am. So came back at 8am. No one there. Called. The man answered and said he would be out in 2 mins. 10 mins later, he finally came out and said he had been showering.

He didn’t care that they were service animals and said we also had too many people. The room sleeps 4 but because I have a child that is under 2 that sleep in bed with me, we technically had 5 people. So he sighted too many dogs and people in the room. Even though it was literally because of my toddler. Who doesn’t even count when we go out to eat or at theme parks. The room was more than big enough for all of us. And we clean our own space while we stay too.

We literally just came from TN/KY. We have been cross country and NEVER had a problem at ANY of the hotels we have been at. Not in Zion. Not in New Orleans. Not even at DisneyWorld. Wow. Especially as a military family that are literally on Orders.

So the STAR is for the kind New Man. But I recommend NOT...

I chose the hotel because of the good reviews on Google. I found a price online of $75. So I booked myself into the hotel. When I saw the room, I soon fell over in shock. The room didn't have a room number. There was a strong smell of disinfectant. But the biggest surprise was that the room didn't have a window, just a small gap. Apparently this was intentional so that the dilapidated condition should not be seen. Because of my complaint, I was given another room that was also unrenovated and unkempt. A little brighter though. But no curtains in front of the window. The bathroom was dirty. The refrigerator was making noise. When I turned it off, the ice fell from the walls and crashed onto the floor. I was happy when morning came and I could leave the hotel again. I would like a statement from the lady at reception as to why she offered me such rooms. Apparently there are definitely renovated rooms. Was the hotel fully booked? Why did I have to pay $95 for a run-down room? How much would one of the renovated ones have cost? I don't want an empty apology. I would like to have part of my payment refunded. Something like that is simply not appropriate. I was too tired to engage in discussions. I also didn't know that I apparently got one of the worst rooms in this hotel. But...