Monarch Resort — Hotel in Pacific Grove

Let me first state that I have never left a review before, either positive or negative, that is how frustrated I am with this place. I have stayed here before and never had a problem, but after this I will never stay here again. I arrived at 12:30pm, I knew check in time was 4 but thought I might pop in and see if they happen to have my room ready. The lady behind the counter said they did and to come back and check in time. We wondered around Monterey, met up with our other party and I let them know we couldn't check in till 4. We went back at 4:45, a different woman checked us both in, we grabbed our bags and went up to the designated rooms. When we got there the doors were open, the cleaning lady was standing in the hall, we asked if our rooms were almost ready and she said "no time soon". I headed back downstairs, told the woman behind the counter what I was told by the housekeeper and she said, "Ya they are overhelmed, there are only two housekeepers here". Not really my problem but she assigned both of us different rooms and we headed back up. Those rooms were also not ready. Headed back downstairs and was given 2 different rooms. Went back upstairs and when we opened the door the bed was not made in either, the rest of room appeared clean but the bed was bare, so again I went downstairs. She called housekeeping and we all went to the room. Housekeeping said they would make up the beds and we went out and waited. Had a fun night in Monterey then the next morning my friends met me at my room before heading out for the day. I went to sit on the side of the bed, looked down and there was blood all over the sheets. BLOOD. I have never been so disgusted. I could get past the fact that there was no soap, shampoo or conditioner in the room, but the fact that she put dirty blood stained sheets on my bed is unacceptable. I went down and as calmly as possible told the 3rd woman behind the counter what had happened. She again switched me rooms and offered a $10 credit. $10???? Are you kidding me? I should not have had to pay a dime. Hotels with any class would've comped my entire 2 day stay. Checked my bank today and they credit me $40.00, which is just as ridiculous. I called this morning and was told the owner "would call me in a few days". Not sure what next steps to take as I have never encountered this level od mediocrity before, but I'm thinking Better Business Bureau to start. AVOID THIS PLACE. Did I mention that they have a sign out front that states they give AAA discount but when I asked about that , they told me "you already have a discounted rate". Huh??? I have the regular rate you charge? Sounds like fraud to me. I'll explore...

On Wednesday, February 16th 2022 at 3:44 pm (all times Central), I received an email titled Reservation Confirmation from thevistas@sbcglobal.net for a reservation I made at the Monarch Resort for Thursday, October 13th until Monday, October 17th.||||On Thursday, May 19th at 7:44 pm I received an e-mail from that same e-mail address titled Reservation Cancellation, no reason was stated. At 8:17 pm I emailed back questioning why it had been cancelled. At 8:26 pm I called the hotel. The person who answered said that that e-mail address was used exclusively by the owner and she had no access to it. She stated that they had switched to a new reservation system and that might be why the reservation was cancelled. I asked her to reinstate the reservation and she said there was a big group booked in there on those dates and there weren't rooms available.||||I explained to her that that is not how reservations work and she had me forward the e-mail to an address she had access to in order to "research the issue further." I never heard back from her.||||At 10:24 PM I received an e-mail from Dianne Mahroom using the owners e-mail address. She gave me the same story as on the phone. She didn't know how the reservation got cancelled but they were fully booked.||||I responded that I didn't believe her. She replied that she would see what she could do and I said don't bother.||||I am grateful that I learned this before staying with them and will not have to be subjected to further deception on their part.||||I don't know which is worse; having to listen to such a poorly thought out lie or being treated like I would be stupid enough to believe that in the 42 minutes between when the reservation cancellation e-mail came and my phone call to them, that they would have coincidentally have received a booking that sold out the hotel.||||Stay away from these people. They...

I'll start with the beginning, parking, checking in, and directions to accessing room and amenities was a breeze. Staff was above and beyond accommodating, housekeeping was amazing. The cleanliness and hospitality was 5 stars. The bed and pillows were perfect-and ordinarily I cannot sleep at all in an unfamiliar place. We had a King spa suite with a huge jet tub in front of a massive window with electric controlled curtain panels (which also felt like a magical reveal of the view in the morning). The continental breakfast was delicious, with Starbucks coffee. My only complaint is that my partner has celiac disease and could not eat anything at the resort. We spoke to several staff and were either told no there's no gluten-free options, they had to ask around (not many people are aware of the severity of celiac and it's totally different than a gluten-free diet preference/fad) or we were told some food 'should' be fine. 'should be' doesn't really work for someone with celiac disease. Some people have immediate symptoms, swelling/bloating, oral sores, headaches, brain fog/disorientation, abdominal pain/bowel issues and long term issues including risk of cancers. It can't be taken lightly. Whenever I ate at the resort, I ate by myself, in front of my partner which made me not enjoy eating. We had to travel 30-60 minutes to find her safe food. With the multiple kitchens/restaurants/a buffet at the resort we were astonished that it wasn't inclusive for people with allergens/health concerns. I will say that a woman, a manager I believe, named Megan, seemed genuinely apologetic/empathetic and I'm hopeful the resort will become more inclusive as we certainly want to visit again! |On another positive note, the pool room, gym, and casino really provided much on site entertainment and we wish we had...