I have mixed feelings about this place. The staff are lovely; friendly, engaging, and really want the stay to be great. The room was not good. It's sad but the Best Western I stayed in a few days before, in Capitola, was so much nicer.
The room smelled of sewer gas coming from the sink. It took us a few days to figure out the smell, we let them know on the last day. On the second day I pointed out that there were black smudges above the same sink; it looked like black mold. The place just doesn't look well cared for.
I reserved the Garden Room because it's a two bedroom and we traveled with a one year old. She goes to bed at 7pm. I don't. Unfortunately the room isn't adequately described as "an alcove with a twin bed, nightstand, chair, and no door." Had I known that I would have looked elsewhere. It essentially confined us to the very small bedroom with a very old TV because any time we left to use the bathroom, or minifridge, which is located in the small space, the "wet bar" that connects the two sleeping areas and bathroom, she woke up. The front door is very noisy and rickety, so our hopes of sneaking out for a drink on the porch while she slept were never met, given the drama that would have ensued.
There are multiple lights around the property, that's good, nobody will fall in the dark. The bad? They glare into all the windows like a thousand tiny suns. The blinds are cheap Home Depotesque miniblinds, so I resorted to putting blankets over the blinds. I could read without having a light on inside the rooms at night. If you need a darker space, or have kids, bring black trash bags and blue tape and put the bags up every night. Which seems like a silly thing to do in a room this pricey. Would blackout blinds be a crazy thing to expect with so many lights right outside the room?
Also, there is no screen on the master window, which is at a height a child could fall from. Just FYI on that one.
There's a locked door in the master bedroom; we quickly found out it connects directly to the attached unit, as we heard the occupants sneezing, coughing and watching TV as they came in later that night. It made us so nervous that our daughter crying would be heard, we became completely neurotic trying to keep her quiet. Which meant I got no sleep, because when she was up at 245 am, because she thought it was daytime due to the blinding lights, I stayed up and played with her so we wouldn't annoy the people in the next room. Good times for our family. We were all tired and cranky.
Breakfast was good. If you have a small kid, drive to it, don't walk. It's too hard to schlep all their stuff, the portable high chair, the bibs, the sippy cups, as you walk 20 minutes down a pretty steep hill, and then hike back up with all the stuff again. Unless you want to do that in lieu of the gym, and if that's the case more power to you. There's a ton of parking at 8am, and you'll be up then anyway, as your child wont sleep in the open, bright sleeping alcove. Since we were up between 2 and 4, and then again at 6, we had lots of time to think about the mechanics of getting to breakfast. At home, the kid sleeps from 7pm to 6am without fail. She just can't sleep under a spotlight in a room that leaves her exposed to all the noise and activity. That's with a sound machine and a blanket on the window in the room and window in the door. Why not put her in the bedroom with the door? The whole falling out the window risk, as leaving it open was the only way to get fresh air in the place. And there was nowhere in the room the pack n play would fit unless we moved the bed right up against the not safe window.
I guess this room would be ok for two friends, or a family with an older kid, but if you are traveling with a young child, do not book this room unless they put in light blocking shades, a screen on the window, and a door on the small bedroom. read more