The Stevenson Monterey — Hotel in Monterey

After a long drive and finding out our reservation had been made in error at a Best Western (it did not have a room turned out), I booked my family into a room at The Stevenson late (around10:00 pm) needing a place to stay for the night. After unloading and entering the room I was contacted by their on duty staff (Wendy) saying she saw my family exceeded the capacity limit via video and we could not stay in the room unless we booked two more rooms (we have seven total). This is the first time this has happened in likely over 75 plus hotel stays over the past 10 years. But whatever, Wendy was doing her job.

I told her we would find another place to stay. We picked up our luggage, left the room and I went to the lobby to return the keys and make sure I was not charged for the room ($200+). It was at that point Wendy became very rude, unhelpful and confrontational. By the way the room was not appealing or as advertised (the room info said it had a king bed, which was really only a queen bed I’m pretty certain).

I had booked through Expedia and needed her to confirm the situation to the Expedia rep I had on my phone, but she refused and required Expedia to call her directly. Expedia told me they would try do so immediately, but at that point Wendy told us we could not stay and had to leave the property and we could not wait in the lobby for Expedia to call. I said I just wanted to make sure Expedia called and the cancellation was confirmed and I would not be charged. She then claimed my refund was totally dependent on working with Expedia only and there was no reason to stay, but I told her if that was the case why did she require Expedia to call her directly. Me pointing out the inaccurate statement to her led her to then threaten to call the cops (the ridiculousness of the situation just continued to escalate). My wife, who had joined me in the lobby while our kids waited in our car, told her to feel free to do so, which she actually did. In her call to the police my wife heard her tell the police (I was still on the line with Expedia trying to make sure I wasn’t charged for the Best Western hotel too so I didn’t hear what was said) we were refusing to check out or leave our room and greatly misrepresent the situation and portray us in as negative light as possible.

The Monterrey police arrived and the THREE officers who responded were all very professional and kind. We explained the situation from our view (who knows what Wendy told them) and they were far more helpful and responsive in explaining how to go about getting a refund/making sure we aren’t charged for the room. We then left and got another room.

By the way I noticed the pool at the Stevenson was either very dirty or run down - not appealing at all to swim in for sure, not that we were going to be swimming given how late it was.

In short, by far the worst experience I’ve had at a hotel in my life. I would not recommend this property. There’s far nicer places for less money. And based upon my interaction with their one staff member, you couldn’t find someone more unhelpful, rude and...

We stayed there the night of July 27th 2025. I have made a complaint in person and online to Craig smith the DM both did nothing. the lady on shift seemed more concerned about watching the show on her phone then my complaint. At 3 am I was locked inside the bathroom of my room. There was no way to get out I tried for 30 min before having to bang on the door and ask my husband for help, which woke up both kids so that resulted in everyone being awake at 3 am on vacation where our kids needed proper rest to function for the activities the next day. Not only was the lady dismissive about the panic and anxiety attack I had while stuck in there, instead of apologizing she said,”ok I’ll have maintenance look at it”. I have a medical disorder and if I would have had a medical emergency in there locked inside I could have died and she didn’t have ANY empathy. My second complaint is about that lady at the front desk. On multiple occasions when going inside to ask for pool towels, she was no where to be found, I stood around, screamed hello, went out and back in for 10-15 min before having to get DIRTY used towels from our room floor to dry my kids off as they were freezing. My husband said the same thing happened when he tried to check out, that she was in the back watching her show and left him waiting at the front for 10 min before walking out and saying “oh”.||I am now suffering from ptsd and cannot shut any doors behind me because I am terrified of being locked inside. I am so disappointed in the way we were treated and I can’t stop thinking about how being locked inside that bathroom is having a lasting effect on me. I am traumatized. She didn’t offer an apology or to make things right and that is not the kind of service a motel should be proud of. When I spoke to one of the owners Craig smith and told him no one ever apologized or made things right, he seemed to only care about a quick buck and not the expirience his customers have. As I read the reviews after my encounter with him I noticed he never makes things right with customers when his motel is in the wrong. Instead he offered 30 % off our next visit so we can get the same crappy unprofessional and unsafe service. The rooms are musty mildew smelling. The loud Bus stop is right by the rooms so everytime it unloads it sounds like people are at your door. We’d rather either stay at the intercontinental inn , Which on kayak.com you can get for practically the same price and treated like ROYALTY there! or just make it a day trip. I would never bring your family to this facility, they do not care about your well being or— that because of their room malfunctioning that we did not get sleep, which was the service we paid for. I know of many other places in Monterey that would have made things right, stay there instead because they will actually handle your complaints and concerns with care. This place wants your money and doesn’t care...

This is the Worst Stay I have Encountered. Stayed here from Tuesday 3/19/2019 through 3/22/2019 and everything was normal for our vacation until check out. We left the hotel 20 min out on our way home and got a call saying we are being charged because of a missing hairdryer that was not in the room at all, but the front office guy was only told what was missing and swear based on a physical check from the maid that there was one before we entered. This has been a mess, we had to complain on the phone that we didn't have one, or take one because we have no idea what it looks like. We drive back to the hotel and It started raining and to prove to the staff we dont have it, we took all of our items out of the car while all of our stuff is getting wet, and still nothing. But the staff(guy with long black hair)can do is still say its missing and you will be charged. I asked him how much and he said 50 dollars. It turned into a he said she said, and I was so mad, as we just stayed at your hotel for 4 days and just checked out. I tried talking to the staff working and the front office guy came out yelling at me saying I have no rights to talk to the staff and I told him I do have the right to communicate, as he threatened to call the cops as he walked away back to the office. We are still outside looking all over again for something I asked the staff what it actually looks like for more clarification. This is the worst place and service I have ever had, to be a customer here who just checked out. As times goes by, I'm upset crying while my boyfriend is trying to calm me down as we dont have it, and how could they assume we took this.They didn't think it was possible that there staff made a mistake or the fact people probably have been taking stuff all the time or there staff is, and they are just replacing it with backups or extra storage. But blame and try to charge the people who just checked out and swore they didn't have it, even with a physical check of there own outside...