More about Marriott Monterey
Had low expectations & was pleasantly surprised
by A TripAdvisor Member
We stayed at the Monterey Marriott because my husband was in a wedding and this is where the wedding party was staying. I read all the reviews on Trip Advisor before our trip and my expectations were VERY low going into it.
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when we got there. I had dropped my husband off to play golf with the groomsmen and arrived at the hotel early (10:30 AM) with my 8-month-old son and an SUV packed with gear. The staff unloaded my car for me immediately and I had no problem checking in early (I had requested an early check-in). The staff was incredibly friendly & helpful. They sent up a refrigerator & microwave within about 15 minute and always had our car waiting for us at the valet by the time we got down from our room. Our room was great! It was a large corner room on the 4th floor so it had lots of windows and sunlight. The bedding and décor must have been recently updated and I thought it was very tasteful & actually kind of cute. Not the typical polyester brown flowered bedspread I was expecting. There was plenty of room for my son’s stroller, pack n play and a large blanket on the floor I had brought for him to play on.
The location was very convenient for what we were there for. My son & I walked down to the aquarium – it’s about 1½ miles and a very pleasant walk. In the mornings, I’d take my son out and we would go to Starbuck’s about 2 blocks away; there was also a Walgreen’s across from the Starbuck’s, which was great b/c I forgot some essentials, and there were restaurants & brunch places within a couple block radius as well. The rehearsal dinner was at Montrio (someone else mentioned this in a review) and I agree it was quite good.
My only complaint is that I was woken up the first night (a Friday night) at 1 AM when the bars got out. I could look out the window and see some people loitering in the street a block or so away, but since my husband and his friends were probably part of the crowd I didn’t get too upset about it ;o)
One other annoying thing is that parking at the hotel is $15/day. In my mind, I just told myself that my room rate was $15 more and parking was included. I'm not sure why they don't just tack on $15 to the room rate and say "free parking", but whatever, it wasn't worth it to me to look around for cheaper parking anywhere else.
It seems after reading the reviews on this hotel that all the rooms are not on par with each other. I was very pleased with our experience and would stay here again although I would probably request our same room again - #486.
Good Location
by TripAdvisor Member yellowpony
Good location in downtown area. Hotel was older, but was well kept. We ate breakfast at the hotel which was good, although a little on the pricey side.
Staff was friendly and helpful with area restaurant recommendations and directions.
Would consider staying here again, but would not stay for more than 1-2 days at a time.
Great place to stay
by A TripAdvisor Member
The location is great it is across the street from the trolly which will take you to all the major attractions.The rooms have been updated, we stayed at several hotels from LA to SF (including Disneyland's Grand California) this was are favorite.
Disappointed
by TripAdvisor Member Skieofnight
First off I should say that I did read the reviews and should have payed attention. In short, staff was friendly, but we were not impressed with the room at all. The lighting was terrible, they had those flourescent bulbs sticking out of what was supposed to be recessed/flood lighting and when you turned on the light it didn't get bright for about 3 minutes. There was also no hot water in the shower..plenty in the sink, but not in the shower, and the drainage in the shower was very sluggish which is kind of gross in my opinion.
Monterey itself wasn't all that. Kind of ghost townish and abandoned. The best thing about the trip was 17-mile drive..absolutely fabulous.
We ate dinner at El Toritos which had a cool view over the bay. The food on the other hand...m-i-c-r-o-w-a-v-e. And..they had no lemons!! I ordered iced tea and the girl brought me limes, I couldn't believe that a restaurant did not have lemons, and it wasn't that they "just ran out," it was like I was from another planet because I was asking for lemon.
I plan on visiting the coast again, but this time I think I'll pay more attention to reviews...happy traveling!
A decent well-positioned place to stay
by A TripAdvisor Member
I just want to weigh in a little with the previous reviewer, yeah, its not the
Ritz-Carlton, but its a pretty nice place to stay in a great location. It's close
to every Monterey attraction most people visit for, and a nice spot for walking
along the waterfront. It is an older building, but has been refurbished well.
Staff is excellent, well-trained and very friendly/helpful. Try dinner at
Montrio, about a block away, superb, and its probably a good idea to stay away
from the El Torito, despite its lovely view.
Not worth the money
by A TripAdvisor Member
This hotel is certainly not worth the money. It has a nice location, but the hotel itself is unacceptable.
The rooms (at least the one they assigned to me) are extremely small. The room itself smelled like smoke. When I inquired about why they had assigned me a smoking room, one of the staff told me the entire hotel is smoke-free, but sometimes people don't follow the rules. Next, the room was entirely too hot, and when I turned the air conditioning on, only the fan worked. I inquired about that as well, but it was never fixed.
I travel a fair amount and stay at plenty of hotels. I wondered if a Marriott room at $220 + would be worth the price for a vacation. I now know it's not. Stay somewhere else where you'll get a better deal.
Noisy and over-priced
by A TripAdvisor Member
We went on a trip over a weekend to Monterey and decided to go for Marriott since we liked the location and thought the brand would not let us down.
Turns out that Monterey is quite a busy small town during Saturday nights, and the hotel has little or no sound insulation. We were on the 6th floor, and it was like we were sleeping on the breakdown lane of a highway, with the music from cars in the neighborhood keeping us up well into the night.
For the price range, this hotel is definitely not worth it. There are lots of smaller cheaper inns in Monterey and Carmel that are probably a better choice.
