Embassy Suites by Hilton Monterey Bay Seaside — Hotel in Seaside

We stayed for a short family vacation to visit the aquarium.

We chose this hotel because it was close to what we were planning on doing in town, had suites with separate bedroom and living space, and included a free breakfast. While the location is convenient—close to the beach and other local attractions—the overall experience left a lot to be desired.

The breakfast buffet was meh. The line can get really long and only the omelet was good because it was made fresh. But the sausages and potatoes were hard and stale, and the floor area was extremely sticky, making it unpleasant to walk through.

The hotel elevator broke twice while we were there and the elevators are already crowded. On our last day, it stopped on every single floor (all 12 floors). So I do not recommend a high room.

The hotel adds $15/day per room, a mandatory resort fee which you can use for snacks in the lobby or beach supplies. You have to use the $15 every day or lose it. Also, skip the "premium" room options. The only added perk is that they add snacks and drinks to the room. But with the mandatory $15/day resort fee—you’re paying twice. Once for the room "upgrade" then again for the resort fee—all for snacks that you can just buy at the local Safeway for a lot cheaper.

Our room also had a lot of issues. When we arrived we found bugs all over the bedroom window, smashed into the curtains, and swarming the balcony ceiling. The balcony itself was unusable—covered in mosquitoes and bird droppings. Even with the windows and doors closed, you could hear the highway and people racing remote-controlled boats on the lake at all hours. Videos are attached to the review.

We also noticed that our room was warm so we turned down the temperature on the AC but it still didn't cool. While the maintenance worker responded quickly when we called about the AC not working—unfortunately, once it was up and running, it made a loud buzzing sound that continued all day and night.

To make matters worse, it leaked water from a vent directly above the desk—right where you’d normally place a laptop or suitcase (videos attached). It soaked our open luggage so that my husband had no clean clothes left for the trip home. The hotel offered to dry them, but not wash them. Although, they did compensate us for the self-parking fee.

As far as room comfort—the bed was very uncomfortable, the pillows were flat, and there was no trash can in the main bedroom. The couch was also hard and squeaky. The lamps in the bedroom have a variety of plugs which is nice, but the lamp on the right side of the bed was broken.

It was nice to have a small fridge and counter, but due to the sheer size of the table they put between the wet bar and the living area, it was VERY cramped, making it very uncomfortable to even sit there to eat. The bathroom was spacious, but the shower water never got hot and the tub filled with water during showers because it didn't drain. The heavy sliding barn-style door was also difficult to open.

The TV had an HDMI port and showed on the welcome screen that you can add a device, but our Fire TV Stick didn’t work despite trying multiple times and it working fine at home and other hotels.

Although the app suggested that we upgrade our room from the Premium King Suite on the side of the building to the room with the balcony facing the water, it was definitely NOT an upgrade. The balcony rooms facing the water are much smaller than the original room that we booked. We walked by the other rooms on the side of the building and saw inside while they were cleaning, and they are way bigger in comparison.

So while the upgrade may be due to the view and balcony, it was absolutely NOT worth the extra cost since you can't go onto the balcony or open a window due to the mosquitos and noise from the highway and remote-controlled boats.

Overall, the staff were kind and professional and the location is ok for sightseeing, but the overall lack of cleanliness, discomfort of the room, food quality, and added fees made this our first and last stay at...

One of the worst hotel experiences we’ve ever had. We’re a family of six, and we typically bring a lot of business and spending wherever we stay. We booked one of the hotel’s “HEPA-filtered” rooms—advertised as allergy-friendly and available at a premium rate—because it was one of the few rooms that could accommodate our family size.

From the moment we arrived, the experience was disappointing. Our room was right next to the elevators, instantly reducing any sense of privacy. The door itself looked cheaper and smaller than others in the hallway. Once inside, we realized how misleading the “HEPA” label was. We had to search to find a small air purifier tucked away in the corner, which wasn’t even turned on. The room was supposed to have a lavender scent, but it smelled like a stale hotel room—no lavender at all, even when sniffing the purifier directly.

They also claimed the room received an “intense double clean” for guests with allergies. Yet after showering and walking barefoot for only 30 minutes, my feet were visibly filthy (see photo). The biggest issue, though, was the air conditioning—it didn’t work the entire stay. We spent most of our three-day trip trapped in our room, repeatedly calling for help as maintenance came and went, trying different fixes that never worked. We patiently waited hours each time, only for the AC to fail again.

Finally, around 10 PM on the last night (the night before checkout), they offered to move us to another room—but by that point, asking a family of six to pack everything up so late was unreasonable. The windows couldn’t be opened because they were covered in spiders. They eventually brought us two fans and offered a “small discount” on our thousand-dollar stay. Only after my husband pushed back did they reluctantly increase it to under $200 off—still insulting for what we went through.

The only positive was that staff responded quickly when we called. Otherwise, everything was subpar. The beds were extremely uncomfortable—two adults can barely fit in one—and the pool area had large dead bugs. At breakfast, the food was among the worst we’ve ever had. To make things worse, there was an entire bread section (with bagels and toast) hidden behind a wall, which we didn’t even discover until the last morning. They also advertise a $15 daily gift shop credit, but it wasn’t reflected anywhere on our bill, and staff simply insisted it was “included.”

To top it all off, they refunded only one parking fee instead of the two we were promised. At this point, we’re too exhausted to argue anymore.

Save yourself the frustration—do not stay here.

Photos show windows covered in spiders, dead bugs at the pool, fan in the room, dirty feet after 30 mins walking barefoot in ultra clean room, outdated plugs, you can see the ugly view as well on a thousand...

We stayed at the hotel on 4/21/22 in room #713, for my 3year olds birthday. We booked one of their double rooms with balcony. Check in was fast and painless. Along with getting everything to our room, The staff was so kind and helpful. Once in our room we noticed a awful strong odor of cigarette smoke in the bedroom. We called the front desk they sent someone up and they sprayed the carpet with a orange chemical. The smell went away briefly but came back so we aired out the room and one of our guest brought a air freshener, problem solved.

I noticed several areas in the room that look damage from water or even slightly moldy above the sliding doorway. In the bathroom the wall paper had bubbling from water damage. We didn’t think much of it and cleaned what we could and brushed off the rest.

We went to the pool it was great my 3year old had a blast. When we came back up to the room we noticed the carpeted floor in the bathroom was wet. We thought one of our guest left a wet towel and put down a large bath towel to soak up the damp carpet. After dinner I came back to put up the towel to dry and it was FULLY SOAKED. We called the front desk they sent the engineer to check the problem couldn’t find one they gave us more towels to soak it up. Our bedroom was getting hot so I went to turn the AC on and it was blowing out warm air so we called the front desk and then sent the engineer again they check the ac found the valve was shut off. Sweet another problem solved and we thought also the water problem. Wrong right after my son went to sleep I went to shower and the carpet was soaked all the way to the sliding door of the bathroom. I called the front desk and told them the issue they sent more towels and apologized for the problem at hand. Thankfully we only booked for one night.

Breakfast was great but you better be quick to get downstairs in the morning for breakfast especially if you want to have their made fresh egg omelette. Which was delicious. Breakfast was nice. Seating was hard to come by.

On our was checking out we noticed water damage outside of our room immensely worsened overnight so much that the wallpaper was pealing off!

Over all service was always fast and helpful. Great view from the room but couldn’t have the windows open because of the fans on the roof on the build below were so loud. Over all I’d say the embassy suites were good but it could use some serious upgrading. “it would have been nice to switch rooms, to avoid the problems” we did file a complaint and were comped Hilton...