Asilomar Conference Grounds

What can i say - this place was the pits!! We're from the UK and were in California for a 4 week road trip. We stayed at 12 different places from a desert Motel at $60 for the room, a cabin in Yosemite, to a 5* in San Francisco. This was the worst by a long way. We arrived as it was getting dark after a 5 and half hour drive. Receptionist was brusque, and that's being polite, she gave us a map and the fastest directions to our room ever. We had no idea it was going to be so difficult to find. We were told to park in an underground car park where space was tight because it was stacked with chairs, tables and beds. We had no idea how to get to our rooms from here. The sign postings were non existent. We'd requested an easy access room or access to an elavator as my husband is disabled. The only elavator to our upper floor room was out of order. The room was red hot, stuffy and smelled of mould, we found out when we enquired that there is no A/C. The room itself was shabby and needed a good clean. The carpets badly stained and I would not have walked on them barefoot. The window frames,surrounds and fly screens were filthy. The bathroom shabby, stained, and the bath and basin chipped and the vanity sealer dirty. Toilet ran continuously into the night until my husband tinkered with it. We had driven over 5 hours on the strength of the advertised details on their website that Phoebe's Cafe would be open until 9pm. It was closed at 7pm!! We had to leave the place to get something to eat and drink. Reception staff curt, dismissive and unhelpful. We didnt stay around long enough to see the grounds next morning as we just wanted to get out of there. My son did go for an early morning jog and said the path to and along the beach was really nice. The whole place needs a deep clean and serious modernisation. Management should be ashamed to charge people to stay here. Avoid at all costs.

Dirty room, not soundproofed! A mosquito net the size of the bay window fell on a child for no reason. The hotel needs a serious refresh. Pitiful welcome

My husband's parents had stayed here a few times for conferences back in the day and always loved it, so we decided to stay when we went to Carmel for a getaway. We were excited to see the stunning design by renowned architect Julia Morgan. The grounds and buildings were, indeed impressive! However, our experience was quite disappointing. We had booked a "historic" room, but upon check-in were told we were "upgraded" to an ocean view room in another building, which the desk clerk assured us had the best views on the property. Turns out it really wasn't much of a view. Even without the fog, all we could see was a little bit of the ocean above the abundant trees. But we could let that go -- wouldn't advocate for cutting the beautiful trees! The room itself was dated and a bit "distressed," but we could live with that, too. The amenities were spare (just a simple coffee maker, and old iron and ironing board in the closet -- that's it other than soap and shampoo), but that was O.K. -- we were expecting "rustic." The bed was a bit lumpy, but it was clean. What we were NOT expecting, however, were the ants. Fortunately, they were confined pretty much to just one area near one of the sinks (although after a couple days, they did "discover" the other sink, as well :( ). Since it was so late at night, we told the front desk about it the next morning, and the person at the front desk was completely non-plussed (maybe this happens really often? Maybe they just don't care?), didn't even apologize, and asked if it was O.K. if housekeeping came and sprayed, which we agreed to. We were gone all day, and when we returned, not only were the ants still there (and no indication of spray), but housekeeping had not been there at all -- the sinks had not been wiped down, beds not freshened, etc. I know the place was sold out for the big car show, but this is a conference center, so you'd think they'd be experts in handling busy seasons. But they didn't demonstrate much care and competency, which we were really sad to see with such a grand historic property.