I am in awe of how misleading the description of this inn is. Especially the San Nicolas room!…read moreFrom the website re: the inn: "From the moment you arrive, the pace of the mainland slips away, replaced by sea air, harbor light and the quiet thrill of being somewhere truly special." What we experienced from the MOMENT we arrived - absolute CHAOS. We were greeted with a horrible rotten egg stench as soon as we opened the door, steep stairs with no one elevator (yes that's on their q&a but just another annoyance), violence and screaming in the streets after dark until 3 am, bass from surrounding bars shaking the building until 2 am, overpowering chemical smell in rooms, single pane glass that sounds like people on the street are in the room with you, gaslighting owners and managers (Melissa - not Jackie), unreliable communication, absolute ripoff for what you have to put up with. Melissa ultimately minimized my concerns by saying "nobody else complained". Okay, and? People have different tolerance levels, different health issues, even if it was someone's first time at the snug harbor inn maybe it wasn't their first time to the island. Maybe they didn't care. Maybe they didn't have the energy to complain. That shouldn't invalidate my experience and the lack of transparency. Can you honestly say you laid the framework for guests to make an informed decision? Did you provide transparency around potential barriers guests may experience during your busy season? No. This went beyond just a fun foam party during the daytime hours, there were literal violent fights and screaming in the streets BOTH nights until 3-4 AM. See videos below from Saturday night around 1:30 AM. I do acknowledge they can't control this behavior but they can and SHOULD add transparency for folks who are expecting a soft experience based on their own misleading advertising. The unprofessional manager, Melissa, also loves to blame-shift. She told us we could press 0 or call a number provided if we experienced issues again on the second night. I called 2-3 times throughout the night and it rang endlessly. By this point I was exhausted and didn't even think to get the physical number from the end of the hall and just assumed they weren't answering. When Melissa told me she never received a call the next day I was shocked but instead of being apologetic she said "if it was me, I would have walked down the hallway and got the number". I'm so sorry, in hindsight, if I wasn't running off of 4 hours of sleep collectively over 48 hours I would have gotten dressed at 3 am and gone to the end of the hall after pressing 0 didn't "work". Not sure how I was supposed to discern between it not "working" vs someone not answering. Funny how pressing 0 during business hours worked just fine. Either way, what a ridiculous process to shoulder the burden of breaking up riff raff to the guest and then blameshift when the thing you said would work didn't... While I would love a full refund, I firmly believe we are entitled to at least one night of a refund because of the misleading description on the website and we couldn't make a truly informed decision. I was told they would consider updating the website in the future but that benefits my husband and I in no way. The right thing to do is provide a refund for tainting our visit to Catalina with 0 reprieve from street violence and drunken debauchery.

This was my first stay at Snug Harbor. I visit Catalina/Avalon annually and of course had seen the…read moreInn right on the corner of Crescent and Sumner above Leo's Drug Store, but it was not until my stay last year at nearby Hotel Vista Del Mar that my interest in Snug was piqued. Last year, Vista and Snug were under the same ownership, which is no longer the case. Snug now has closer affiliation with Hotel Aurora a bit up the hill. Snug is a cozy and charming 6-room inn. There is staff on duty during the day; welcome in-room wine and snacks are provided as well as daily continental breakfast. There is no staff on the premises at night, although someone is on-call. My stay was lovely and somewhat surreal. I visited during the February rains which caused the cancellation of all Catalina Express boats on 2 days during my Avalon visit. This forced guests here for the long Valentines/Presidents Day weekend to leave early or relocate. I ended up being the sole guest for my 2-night visit! And with minimal visitors on the island, evenings were also pretty quiet, despite being right above the main drag (Crescent). Snug does provide earplugs and eye masks if needed. I moved up my arrival date due to the weather and Snug was able to accommodate me, even offering the same room, which was the Santa Catalina room, the inn's "crown jewel" situated on the corner with two large bay windows, one facing Avalon Bay with Casino, Bay and pier views, the other with a built-in window seat facing Sumner and the hills above. All rooms have a fireplace and deep soaking jetted tub. The rooms are not particularly large but are full of charm, coziness and warmth. No robes or slippers, but there were 2 clock/music/alarm machines. Complimentary reusable water bottles are provided; there's a water/ice machine in the hall. The welcome snacks offered were olives, pretzels and high-end nuts (i.e., no peanuts). The continental breakfast was quite ample and includes a small loaf of warm banana bread, yogurt, fresh berries, granola, milk, juice and coffee or tea. You fill out an order slip as to what you want exactly and what time you want it delivered. There are 6 delivery times for the 6 rooms, which of course was not an issue for my stay. There is a common room with a sofa, fireplace and machine for coffee and tea. There is a closet for luggage storage, a public restroom and umbrellas. The front door is open 8-5, key access is needed in the off-hours. Shout-outs to the great staff I met--Jackie, Destiny and especially Johnny at the front desk and housekeeper/breakfast preparer Alicia. Overall a fabulous stay. I usually split my time on the island between Mt Ada and a property "downtown". Snug Harbor has moved to the top of my downtown list!

This venue is GORGEOUS and our wedding was beautiful. The low rating is due to the…read moreunprofessional/unorganized people who run the venue. This was the only venue we looked at so I'm not sure if this just a normal experience, but it's a pretty pricey venue and it seemed like what we paid for only got us the air to breathe and tables and chairs that looked like they belong in a retirement home. With $500 here, $400, here, $350 here, etc. we did turn it into a beautiful wedding space. After signing the contract and paying a deposit, there was a total lack of communication in regards to planning the wedding and what the venue needed/when. I was told I would be assigned an official event coordinator would work with our chosen wedding planner 3 months before the wedding date. Obviously a ton of planning needs to happen before then, and during that time I was just being bounced around between 3 or 4 girls who were all very nice, but none of them seemed to know what was going on. I'd have to do several follow up emails/calls to get an answer in the first place, and then the answer would completely vary depending on who was giving it to me. I asked several times about the tasting and how that works and got nothing, until I asked again and was told I needed to do it withing 2 weeks because then the high season starts and they won't hold a tasting then. Additionally, I could only do it on a Tuesday or Thursday between those 2 weeks. We scrambled and made one of those days work and confirmed (I have several emails saying I'm confirmed for that date, how many people would be with me, etc.) Then when I asked a couple questions closer to date about when to be there, I was told that we weren't confirmed for the tasting and they had another event running.... and that it wasn't confirmed because I didn't give them our tasting menu selections even though they never asked for it. I was furious as their catering contract is pretty high priced and it didn't seem fair to miss out on the tasting due to their lack of communication. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and we made it work. Moving forward, I dealt with a lot of the same thing. The only way to get answers or get anything done was to get pissed at them. We did a walk through with our planner (which again almost didn't happen for the same reason as the tasting), and the girl that did the walk through with us barely had any answers for our questions. We asked very normal questions regarding what speakers are provided with the venue, what's the deal with lighting, etc. "I don't know, I'll find out" was the common answer, but she didn't write a single thing down on her paper and I think you can guess whether or not I got those answers from her.... When we were just a week out, she asked me to fill out a template with table assignments. The template only had me provide the number of each type of meals - Example- Table 20: 4 chicken, 3 short rib, 3 fish, 2 veggie, etc. I specifically called my event coordinator and asked if I need to assign the specific seats at each table to my guests and associate the names/seat with their meal choice. She said no, they just need to know how many of each meal at each table and that's it. On my wedding day, I was getting my hair and makeup done and now she's calling me freaking out about not knowing which meal goes with what person and at what specific seat. So annoying! Those are just a few examples of how unorganized and unprofessional they are. As for the price - maybe all venues are like this. But I was just really surprised at how high we paid to just use the venue, but that we had to pay a few hundred dollars for everything else to turn it into a wedding space. $500 to remove lounge furniture that didn't actually need to be moved, $250 for bar tenders (even though the bar packages were expensive enough), first I was told $500, and then $400 to use the projector that lives on the ceiling there (which they didn't even know how to use and almost wasted our time with creating that slide show), $250 for the dance floor, etc etc etc. I wanted one of my best friends who's an excellent baker to bake us a cake. Then just a week before the wedding, they said they needed license/insurance from the baker and for me to sign a waiver (I realize that this may be standard, but why so last minute?) She didn't have license/insurance because the cake would come from her kitchen. So I had to scramble and figure something else out just days before. I was interested in their ice cream bar which they wanted to charge $20/person! On what planet have you seen ice cream that is $20/person? And it was only chocolate and vanilla, probably from Vons! Obviously my guests have no idea how much the whole event cost and how unorganized the venue was, so to them, the wedding was a blast and was beautiful. I had a great time. But I just want other people to know what you're getting yourself into if you do choose to have your wedding here.

My daughter just had her wedding here and it was beautiful. The venue overlooks the ocean creating…read morethe perfect backdrop for our event. She got married on the sand at Descanso Beach and had the reception in the new banquet hall. The place was perfect with its open floor plan for the wedding.

I chose this hotel, because the last time my husband and I went to Catalina, I stayed at another…read morehotel and was not completely satisfied with everything that hotel offered. So, I walked around town by myself and explored all the hotels. I walked into this hotel and was invited to view the rooms by the owner. The minute I saw the rooms, I was in love. I booked this hotel and the Avalon Suite half a year ago. The moment my husband and I got off the boat and walked over to the hotel, the staff was amazing. An attendant saw me going up the stairs with my luggage and ran down to get my heavy luggage and carry it up the stairs for me. Check in was easy breezy. Our room was ready within minutes and we got to go into it at 11am. The Avalon suite was the room all the way down the hall on the left hand side. I believe we are one of the few rooms with an extra large jetted bathtub, the main reason why we chose this particular room at this hotel. I made sure to take photos of all the rooms the minute I walked in so I could write this review complete with photographs of the way we found it. The living room had a fireplace and a tv above the fireplace, a comfortable couch and a sofa. We had two small tables in the room. The room had excellent heating and air conditioning which we controlled at the touch of a button. We of course had a separate bathroom with jetted tub, two sinks, and a nice and large counter top. In the living room, we had another sink with a small refrigerator and two complimentary bottles of water. We had a safe next to the refrigerator which we did not use. The bathroom had a separate small room with just the toilet which we loved because after using the toilet and making a stink, we could turn on the light/ventilator which worked really well at clearing out the smell and close the door. The bedroom was a bit cramped, especially at the foot of the bed in front of the fireplace, but we had a large living room that made up for it. The bed itself was very comfortable and firm, the linens were clean. However, I got really cold on the first night I was there and had to request extra blankets which they promptly brought us. Also, the extra large pillows on the bed were extremely uncomfortable, forcing us to throw it to the side in the middle of the night. I think it's just there for decorative purposes. We found two extra regular pillows in the closet which we made good use of. The room had a small closet with plentiful hangers. There were dresser drawers we made good use of. There were two lamps, one by each side of the bed on top of a dresser with drawers. I loved the space on top of the dresser for me to place my medication and phone and watch chargers. There were plentiful chargers, USB and C type. Although the chargers on my husband's side of the bed wasn't working and I had to charge all of the electronic devices on my side. One thing about the jacuzzi tub. The wall next to it is really thick and we both had a really hard time getting into and out of it. We were both afraid of falling down and had to climb up slowing, stand on top of the little wall area, and climb into the tub and vice versa each time we used it. Other than that, I have no complaints about this hotel. The rooms are only made every third day we stay and we can tell them when is most convenient for them to do that for us. Everything else we need is brought to us by texting them. The hotel had warm Otis Spunkmeyer cookies each evening, though we only ate it one evening because we were out the other evenings. A member of the staff told me to call him so he could place the cookies in our room while we were gone, but I forgot to call each time. Someone came in our room and placed Ghirardelli chocolates with a cold bottle of water for each of us each evening we missed the cookies. Someone even came in one time and made our bed for us which was really sweet. The staff were all so wonderful and warm, making us feel right at home. And when we got tired, we sat in the chairs at the front of the hotel overlooking the beach below while sipping complementary coffee, tea, and lemon infused cold water. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and highly recommend this hotel to anyone thinking of staying here.

The hotel was significantly overpriced for what was provided. There were virtually no meaningful…read moreamenities, no food service, no mini bar, and the overall experience felt far below what I expected for the nightly rate. These limitations were not clearly disclosed when I booked. Most concerning, however, was the noise. There were guests partying late into the night, making it nearly impossible for my family to sleep. A restful night's sleep is one of the most basic expectations of any hotel stay, and unfortunately that was not possible. Prior to my arrival, I attempted to cancel my reservation, but my request was denied. Had I known the property's limited amenities and the excessive noise conditions, I would not have proceeded with the reservation. Overall, I feel the accommodations and experience did not justify the premium price I was charged. I respectfully requested that management review my stay and offer an appropriate refund or partial credit as a gesture of good customer service. However nothing was done to resolve this. Don't go here

Chef Greg and Seafood Bistro catered my little private event. The food was delicious, perfect!…read more More importantly, Elizabeth helped me plan a lot of really important little details. The result: it came off PERFECTLY!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!! I could not be more appreciative of Elizabeth's and Chef Greg's work. Really nice! Don't miss these guys!

I went and visited Catalina for my very first time and stayed at the hotel. Aurora, the front desk…read morewas very polite. Their breakfast was simple but filling ALL YOU CAN EAT. pancake's eggs and sausage. Spoke with a gentleman at the front desk Parker and he is very knowledgeable of things around the island to do and the good places to go eat. Very nice gentleman. I would highly recommend this hotel and will return to stay again!! Thank you Mr. Parker. Your honeymoon guest Mr. Mrs. Lamb

LOVE The hotel has a breezy, contemporary, and casual vibe…read more The deck was renovated and quiet, and has beautiful views of the bay. The breakfast bar and coffee were still good. The afternoon cookies were a nice touch. The staff was helpful. LIKE Stayed here again after researching other options. Most of my previous review stands, although my room this time did not have the updated bathroom with Catalina tile that I adored last time. It was fine, but could use an update.

Thanks, Omar and Saul. Great service, drinks, views, and fun. TVs to watch sports too, and a short…read morewalk to the boat dock. I will try out the brunch next time!

This review is a looooong time coming! My husband and I got married on Catalina Island on February…read more22, 2020...2 weeks before the pandemic started shutting the world down. As we just celebrated our 1 year anniversary, I realized I didn't post a review and wanted to get to it! I believe that the ownership of Avalon Magical Weddings has changed so the negative reviews posted here do not match up to our experience. Our coordinator, Janeth, was AMAZING. My husband proposed on January 10, 2020 and we wanted to elope with just our kids on 02/22/20 (2 is my fav number) and it had to be on Catalina, where we had gone every year to celebrate our anniversary for the past 5 years. Janeth jumped into action, coordinated the flowers, the pastor, location, photography, marriage license and the dinner...mostly all over email! She asked detailed questions, I sent her numerous pics of what I had envisioned and she was patient through it all! We met her in person the day before our wedding, walked through how it would all go, met with the Pastor and had all of our last minute questions answered. The morning of our wedding it POURED! We had no Plan B really, as we were committed to getting married on the beach, but as luck (or some other Devine intervention) would have it, the rain stopped and the sun came out in time for the 3p ceremony! I hadn't seen the flowers or knew what to expect but my bouquet was stunning! Exactly what I wanted! All in all, it was a beautiful day and we were blown away with how great everything turned out. Absolutely zero regrets!

Gosh where do I begin. First of all if you are shopping for a wedding package in Catalina this is…read moreNOT the place to go. Let me repeat that to save you a possible wedding disaster...DO NOT again DO NOT hire Laurie to plan, officiate or have anything to do with your wedding. In her add right now it says the silver package (the one I signed up for) cost $975. I added 2 corsages and 3 boutonniere and had my bouquet upgraded (basically added 6 roses and 3 carnations) my total came up to $1525...thats $550 extra. Now as if that's not ridiculous enough, I asked to add a tulle in my arch and to change the venue from Cabana Beach to Beach platform. I was charged extra $300 for the platform (I guess I understand that) and extra $400 for the tulle (WTF!!!!). Laurie says that I have to pay for the time she spend away from work and her transportation. Then she told me that she did not charge me for the Tulle. Now just how much does she charge per hour, a roundtrip to Catalina express is $72.50 plus the taxi $100...I'm pretty sure she knows a vendor to go to, so should not be more than an hour to pick up a Tulle but I was charged $400 just for that. Then she had the nerve to tell me that I got the tulle for free...Bullshit!!! And the unlimited phone contact is a joke. First of all good luck on trying to contact this lady. If you get a hold of her she is always in a hurry. Then try and talk to her I dare you, thats a joke...one question will take you one hour and a half to get answered 'coz once she start talking you will never have a chance to talk, she can literally talk you to DEATH. She nevers listens to what you want and she will insist that her way is the ONLY way. Now if you want to just show up on your wedding and have no input of whatsoever, like a puppet on Laurie's show, then she will be your gal. The Background music and the ceremony itself is ridiculous. The boombox you will not hear, she does not wear a microphone of some kind so the guest will be surprise when she pronounce you as husband and wife. The wedding is over and none of the guest know that it even took place (sooo sad!!!). The minister (Laurie) dressed inappropriately, I will take a hooker in a heartbeat to officiate our wedding, a clown costume is better. I will post a picture later and you be the judge. She is also the photographer (professional, or at least she calls herself). How can you officiate and take the precious moment of the ceremony? She can't and she did not. No picture of my dad (who is sick by the way) walking me down the aisle. Our first kiss as husband and wife and so forth and so on. And the pictures which by the way she throw 50 extra (making it 150 total) had 102 pictures (no exaggeration here 'coz I counted) of the same pose...me and my husband kiss like picture. I asked to have a family photo as my dad can't be out on the sun for a long time due to chemotheraphy drugs that he is taking but Laurie said that she need to take the photos in order. In the end I have 4 group pictures in which at that point was incomplete guest due to dehydration and we had to pack our stuff from the rented hotel. The icing on the cake is this, not only did she give (paid for already) the garter but when she sent the expedited marriage license registration she sent it $3.00 short. So we had to come to our local county registrar to pay the $3.00 and pick our license ourselves. This whole experience with here was a NIGHTMARE. Do yourself a favor if you want a wedding bliss this is not the place. There is NOTHING MAGICAL in Laurie's business!!! P.S. Laurie don't deserve even a half star but yelp will not allow zero!!!!

Brittani is a gem. She arranged my wedding bouquet exactly as I described. She even walked over to…read moremy hotel to hand deliver it herself! About my bouquet, I chose flowers that reminded me of loved ones who passed away: sunflowers for dad, roses for my grandma and lilies for my Aunt Lily. Because my husband was allergic to lilies, she removed part of it so he wouldn't be a sneezing mess haha. As for the store, there were lots of good quality items from clothing to accessories. I can tell the store had a lot of history behind it as evidenced by pictures of her family along the walls. I was pleasantly surprised to know Brittani was a USC alumni like me. Go Trojans! Please come by this store and meet this lovely lady. You'll feel right at home!

Such a cute store in Avalon. The owner, Brittany was so nice and helpful. I purchased a really cute…read moresundress and the most fragrant candle! Definitely check it out for some cute island style clothing and accessories while on the island!