Hearst Hacienda Lodge — Local services in King City

The Hacienda itself is a beautiful building built in 1930 by Julia Morgan, the architect behind the magnificent Hearst Castle some 30 miles away. If you are a fan of the Moorish revival architecture it is quite a sight to behold. The rates for staying are quite reasonable -- we paid $90 for a two bedroom suite! The grounds immediately surrounding this lodging are well kept and it was peaceful and quiet. We were able to enjoy some beers we brought in on the back patio. ||||Now -- the bad, and this is what knocks two stars off: the Hacienda is located on a military base. You have to have current passports or a "Real ID" -- call to find out (if you can get ahold of a live human being -- good luck with that). That's the least of your worries. The problem is the military has no time/manpower to run the Hacienda so they contract it out to quite possibly the least competent "vendor" I've ever seen in my life. ||||1. Checking in: get this -- you can't check in til 3:00 but if you get there after 4:30 you are SOL! There is sign on the locked check-in door listing a phone number to call if you come after hours -- but the number connects you to an unhelpful message that says the mailbox "is full"!! Double SOS! We frantically looked through our email and found vague instructions on a code to get into our room. ||||2. The wretched "restaurant." There are two buildings across from each other with a small walkway between the two. There is absolutely no sign on the restaurant so we had to guess. Inside the dimly lit, cavernous room are a hodgepodge collection of mismatched tables and chairs. No sign, no hostess, no clue! A big-screen TV blares "Judge Judy"-style nonsense which quickly gives you an idea of the mentality behind the people who run this place. We sat down and were stared at by three of the lethargic workers who stood by a counter. One of them eventually left to disappear outside, one sighed wearily and went back to the kitchen and the remaining one, dragging her feet, finally came up to us (at this point we were the restaurant's only patrons) telling us we had to order from the counter. A listing of hot dogs and hamburgers greeted us. Better than nothing, I guess. ||||3. Amenities. Apparently there is a bowling alley, a swimming pool and a movie theater in the vicinity which civilians can use. As there was no MAP given to us (why not leave some out for visitors to utilize?) we asked the dour barkeep where the bowling alley was -- she said it was in the restaurant which they were renovating -- we later found out this was not true! There is one, somewhere else on the base. It would have been fun to bowl a game or two but we had no clue where the alley was and there was literally no one around to help out. ||||4. Breakfast. The cheapness of the vendor in charge is mind-blowing. Unless you are in the military or retired military you are SOL. From some of the older reviews I read they used to provide at least a continental breakfast. How cheap can you be to not even provide that? The vendors helpfully provided ONE muffin, a fruit cup and a hard boiled egg in the fridge. Enough for one person. There is a coffee maker but as it was situated on top of the microwave which itself was on top of the small fridge the cord was not long enough. I had to hold the coffeemaker in my lap to make coffee which was so ghastly when finally brewed I chucked it out (might want to clean this one). They couldn't afford a $10 table to put the coffee maker on? And why couldn't they have the restaurant open in the mornings? As we wanted to visit the nearby Mission, also on the base, we ended up not eating anything til 12:00. There is literally nowhere to eat within 10-20 miles. ||||My suggestions: ||||I would seriously recommend getting a new vendor to run things. Jack up the price a little if you have to. Have a person working the office more than 1.5 hours a day and hire employees who act like they actually enjoy being there. This is a BEAUTIFUL building and I can easily see some energetic people making this inn a wonderful...

The Hacienda itself is a beautiful building built in 1930 by Julia Morgan, the architect behind the magnificent Hearst Castle some 30 miles away. If you are a fan of the Moorish revival architecture it is quite a sight to behold. The rates for staying are quite reasonable -- we paid $90 for a two bedroom suite! The grounds immediately surrounding this lodging are well kept and it was peaceful and quiet. We were able to enjoy some beers we brought in on the back patio. ||||Now -- the bad, and this is what knocks two stars off: the Hacienda is located on a military base. You have to have current passports or a "Real ID" -- call to find out (if you can get ahold of a live human being -- good luck with that). That's the least of your worries. The problem is the military has no time/manpower to run the Hacienda so they contract it out to quite possibly the least competent "vendor" I've ever seen in my life. ||||1. Checking in: get this -- you can't check in til 3:00 but if you get there after 4:30 you are SOL! There is sign on the locked check-in door listing a phone number to call if you come after hours -- but the number connects you to an unhelpful message that says the mailbox "is full"!! Double SOS! We frantically looked through our email and found vague instructions on a code to get into our room. ||||2. The wretched "restaurant." There are two buildings across from each other with a small walkway between the two. There is absolutely no sign on the restaurant so we had to guess. Inside the dimly lit, cavernous room are a hodgepodge collection of mismatched tables and chairs. No sign, no hostess, no clue! A big-screen TV blares "Judge Judy"-style nonsense which quickly gives you an idea of the mentality behind the people who run this place. We sat down and were stared at by three of the lethargic workers who stood by a counter. One of them eventually left to disappear outside, one sighed wearily and went back to the kitchen and the remaining one, dragging her feet, finally came up to us (at this point we were the restaurant's only patrons) telling us we had to order from the counter. A listing of hot dogs and hamburgers greeted us. Better than nothing, I guess. ||||3. Amenities. Apparently there is a bowling alley, a swimming pool and a movie theater in the vicinity which civilians can use. As there was no MAP given to us (why not leave some out for visitors to utilize?) we asked the dour barkeep where the bowling alley was -- she said it was in the restaurant which they were renovating -- we later found out this was not true! There is one, somewhere else on the base. It would have been fun to bowl a game or two but we had no clue where the alley was and there was literally no one around to help out. ||||4. Breakfast. The cheapness of the vendor in charge is mind-blowing. Unless you are in the military or retired military you are SOL. From some of the older reviews I read they used to provide at least a continental breakfast. How cheap can you be to not even provide that? The vendors helpfully provided ONE muffin, a fruit cup and a hard boiled egg in the fridge. Enough for one person. There is a coffee maker but as it was situated on top of the microwave which itself was on top of the small fridge the cord was not long enough. I had to hold the coffeemaker in my lap to make coffee which was so ghastly when finally brewed I chucked it out (might want to clean this one). They couldn't afford a $10 table to put the coffee maker on? And why couldn't they have the restaurant open in the mornings? As we wanted to visit the nearby Mission, also on the base, we ended up not eating anything til 12:00. There is literally nowhere to eat within 10-20 miles. ||||My suggestions: ||||I would seriously recommend getting a new vendor to run things. Jack up the price a little if you have to. Have a person working the office more than 1.5 hours a day and hire employees who act like they actually enjoy being there. This is a BEAUTIFUL building and I can easily see some energetic people making this inn a wonderful...

We went to Hearst Castle for a tour and our tour guide mentioned about the Hacienda and how it was built by the same architect as Hearst Castle's (Julia Morgan) and William Hearst. We were told it is only 20 miles away and we booked a room immediately as we thought this was an opportunity not to be missed. We took PCH and the road from PCH to the base, although not long was very windy, narrow with no lights and no reception. It took us 2 hours to get there. When we finally found the entrance, we had to go through a "background check"!! as it is a military base. Quite unsettling to be asked for all of our info in the middle of the night, with no reception and nowhere else to go. Thankfully we had our Real IDs and there were no issues. We never got to meet with anyone at the lodge. By the time we arrived it was after 6pm, the person had left and we had instructions to open the lockbox and retrieve our key. The building, architecture, doors, windows are beautiful. But they hung giant lockboxes on each handle scraping and damaging the door every time you open and close it. Heart breaking. I don't know if it is the army or another company running this lodge but they are doing a fantastic job running this place to the ground. Everything was horrible, the heater was supposedly on emanating a bit of warmth which was not near enough to warm the Giant room up, we were freezing. I didn't even dare to take a shower in the morning as it was too cold but my fiancé and another guest we saw at the park apparently tried and water never warmed up. Also, there was mention of breakfast and water that should have been left in our fridges. We talked to the only couple of people we saw at the bar before it closed at 8pm or so and they mentioned it. I called the after hours number and asked the lady about breakfast, she said no, I said we were told there would be some eggs in the fridge, she said no, how about the bottled waters I said, she then finally accepted she forgot to put them. Her curt answers of "No" with no explanation or apology were rude and unacceptable. Basically, we were given nothing. I told her that I can pick up the water the next morning while checking out to which she agreed, first "yes" out of her resentful mouth. (Water is such a treasure when you are stranded in an army base with zero stores or vending machines) Surprise surprise, when we were leaving after 9am the next morning, the reception was still closed with no hotel employees in sight. Having just seen Hearst Castle and knowing the historical importance of the architect and the building, we were so excited to be staying there but ended being sad and disappointed at how this place was run and how they were running down the building. I think a historical preservation organization should take over and take back this beautiful hacienda. What is being done to it currently is...