Alila Napa Valley — Hotel in St. Helena

I initially gave this resort 4 stars, because we had an issue that has been resolved. It was a minor charge for what was supposed to have been a gift, but it was a big deal to me and my husband. I'm pleased to say the concierge we dealt with, Janice, went to a fair amount of trouble to rectify the issue and gave us a truly genuine and sincere apology.||My husband travels a LOT for work and is a Lifetime Globalist. As such we feel very fortunate when we're able to book a stay on points and as such, we go to some effort to spend money on property.||I have terrible skin allergies and was in contact with Allison, the spa manager, prior to our visit so that I could book a massage and be sure that the technician would use unscented oil.||I cannot begin to express how understanding and helpful Allison was, what amazing care she, Joan, and my technician Gwen, (Dan for my hubby who said his massage was amazing) took in making us feel comfortable and cared for during our visit. I mentioned in passing how much we LOVED the Alila robes and Allison was kind enough to look up the cost (very reasonable) and order robes to have waiting for me and my husband upon our check-out of the spa.||Well imagine my delight when I went to sign out for our services, mentioned that I didn't see the robes on our bill, and was informed by Joan that the two robes had been gifted to us!!! I mean what an incredibly thoughtful and really DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE. The cost of the robes was inconsequential. We would have gladly paid for them. It was the pure delight in such a kind gesture that made me feel SO SPECIAL.||When a resort goes to that extent to make you feel special, the least you can do is return the favor. Instead of availing ourselves of the many restaurants in St Helena, we decided to eat AND drink on property. Every meal was delicious and the wine list is exemplary. That is saying something since I'm a bit of a wine snob and my husband and I belong to several formal wine organizations. At the end of our stay we realized it was far more relaxing to enjoy the on-property amenities and food and beverage, and we'd do it again. If you're a wine aficionado you will find something that suits my palate. I was blown away by their selection of Italian wine since so many restaurants in the area are California centric, understandably of course.||Lastly I'll address issues mentioned in other reviews: yes you can hear the people walking above you. I think that's the price you pay for clean floors instead of gross wall to wall carpeting. I only ever heard people during the day. Yes you can hear the "dinging" of rooms opening and it does sound like someone is coming into your room (probably an easy volume fix if management is reading). Rest assured if you have the DND light activated, no one is coming into your room. The soaking tub in our room was a personal favorite, and I availed myself of the soak and bath salts every day. |Personally my husband and I would have preferred the pool music to be at a slightly lower volume, but we did not hear it from our room (I used headphones to read and that was a perfect solution). The breakfast, as mentioned before, is FABULOUS. The all day/dinner menu is well rounded if not particularly large. It's a small resort with a fine dining restaurant on property (which is beautifully appointed and delicious) and that's the trade off. Still all of the food we had was excellent and I've worked in restaurants most of my life, so that's saying something. Yes the pool is not large and chairs fill up, but that's true of every resort and I've been to a few. If a day by the pool is what you want, splurge for the cabana. The gym is large and well equipped with weights, towels, mats, and water. My only gripe was there were 3 treadmills and only one was working and the rowing machine was also out of order. It's difficult to get people to service these machines in fitness clubs, let alone a local resort, so bear that in mind. There were still plenty of ways to get in a workout with Peloton bike, an elliptical machine, TRX straps, a multi-modal Lifetime Fitness weight machine, and lots of free weights.||Would I visit this resort again? Yes. Without hesitation. The staff really made the overall experience incredible and the property is pristinely and meticulously cared for,...

This was probably the most disappointing hotel stay I've had in a long time. The location, and views from the vineyard room are unbeatable but the air conditioning broke several times, the setup has you dependent on the staff for basics like parking, water and ice but the service is slow, and the bed was very uncomfortable.

First, the good: the location at the north end of St Helena is very convenient, a beautiful quiet area. The views from the vineyard room are stunning-you look directly over the vineyard towards the mountains to the west, and outside your window is a balcony with a gas fire pit. The bathroom is also very nice, with a large rain shower adjacent to a soaking tub.

Unfortunately, the good is not enough to make up for the bad: the beds were not comfortable, inconsistent in support so that you have to find a very particular spot to not feel like you are uneven. When you need water or ice, there's nowhere to fill up for yourself-you have to call and have it sent up. The only fridge in the room is small and mostly full of mini bar items. The parking is also valet only.

More frustratingly, all these things you need to call about are made difficult by the fact that the desk seems very understaffed. Sometimes, we had to call several times and let it ring for a while before anyone picked up. And when we would call for the valet to have our car ready, often even 15 minutes later it wouldn't be there yet, probably because the valet is also understaffed. (The rare times we were able to self park, we were much happier) One day we had to call four times throughout the day to get the room serviced, and after the third call (even though we had told them exactly when we'd be going out again), they came while we were still in the room getting ready to go out for dinner.

There was no guide in the room that explains, for example, that the water and ice have to be called for, so we ended up wandering around looking for the usual ice and water dispensers until we stumbled across a cleaner who graciously fetched us the water we were trying to find.

The worst part for us was the air conditioning breaking several times, including it being broken when we were checking in. After waiting in the heat for our room to be ready, we were informed that the air conditioning was broken and that there was not an estimate for when it would be fixed. We were told that that night would be comped for this. The air conditioning did eventually start working but it's the sort that takes a while to cool so the temperature was high until fairly late at night. On our second night, it broke again and we slept poorly, and eventually woke up to the room approaching 80 degrees. When we went to check out at the end of our stay, the manager was at lunch and the person working the desk was unable to address the compensation. The manager did call later and informed us that there were no notes made as to what was being done for us-he seemed completely unaware of all of this-and then he told us we'd be getting a refund roughly equivalent to 1.1 nights, which means barely anything for the issues with the second night, since we'd already been told at check in that we would get 1 night back for the issues on the first day. It's still not clear to me if the manager even understood what he was offering given what we'd been told at check in.

Obviously the issues with the air conditioning and the poor handling of compensation made things worse, but the other issues, especially the uncomfortable bed and the understaffed service (compounded by no self service and no informational materials) would make me reluctant to stay at this property again, especially given the very high prices.

We had thought we were lucky to find a good points redemption to stay at such a luxury hotel, and instead the Alila was the one regret in an otherwise wonderful long weekend trip. In hindsight I wish I'd read more reviews here. You can see many of these are not new issues. I suggest you stay somewhere else and save your money/points for more meals, wine tasting,...

YALL. Do NOT pay 1000k/night for this place. Unfortunately, we did and were not impressed with what we received. I would argue this hotel is not worth more than 500/night. While the view from the rooms are surely beautiful, this is NOT a luxury hotel. Our check in process left much to be desired. Zero information about the campus and amenities and absolutely no direction on how to find out room. We literally wandered out of their little check in room and realized we had no idea where we going. Luckily we were able to track down a random employee who was able to point us in the right direction. We had read reviews about the mini bar being complimentary so we eagerly opened a bottle of wine to celebrate the beginning of our first trip to Napa. We were not pleased to later in our stay find a mini bar menu hidden deep within multiple tabs on the hotel room ipad next to our bed. This hidden menu informed us that the wine we drank was actually going to cost us $180. At every other hotel we have every been to, the mini bar price list is clearly displayed where the mini bar is located. There was a QR code located on the mini bar. When we used this code it opened a menu of prices for room service food. You would think that if Alila wanted to be transparent about the mini bar prices they would include them in the QR link located on the mini bar. The beds are not horrible but not luxury. The pillows and mattress and the quality of what you might find at an embassy suites. My husband and I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat every night despite it being cold in the room because the sheets do not breath. One of the most frustrating part of this "luxury stay" is that at the end of the day when attempting to watch shows to wind down it would take ten minutes to be able to load one of the streaming apps. I dont know if its the wifi or the old TVs but they were SO slow. Also the only apps available were netflix, you tube (not youtube TV--just regular you tube), and a limited version of HBO (you cant even get full version of HBO if you login with your own subscription). Not the technology level you would expect at this stay price point. Upon check-out, we realized that there was an additional charge to our bill of $65/day for a "resort fee". Yall. This is not a resort. When I called to ask what this charge was for they reported it was for the wifi and the complimentary valet service. If I could put an eye roll emoticon here I would. We get wifi included for free in our hotel stays that we pay 200/night for. We did not use the valet once as the hotel is small and you can just park right in front of your room yourself. While the views from this hotel are gorgeous and the location is good for short trips to many wineries, I will not return to this hotel because I cannot stand overpaying for what I am getting. Again- do NOT pay over 500 for this hotel. And even then-- its only worth that because you're in Napa and its a good location. If this hotel were in Austin, TX it would not be worth more than 350/night. I hope my reviews prevents you from...