Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa

This was a family trip for us to celebrate my mom's birthday. We were really looking forward to our time in Monterey and were excited to be staying at the Monterey Plaza Hotel. That's why it was so terribly disappointing to have our stay go so badly. Our first night, I have no complaints. Our rooms overlooked the dolphin plaza and out onto Monterey Bay. This is truly and beautiful view and we left our windows open all night so we could listen to the surf and the seals barking. Saturday night was a nightmare. There was a large wedding out on the plaza and we were quite relieved when the noise stopped and the participants moved inside. But that was just the beginning. Once the music started our rooms were turned into a dance club. The noise level was so high that we could here the disc jockey and every song they were playing. I kept calling down to the front desk and they kept promising to contact banquets and get them to reduce the volume but that never happened. As it got closer to 10pm and my calls were getting more irate the front desk switched to ""well, the music will stop at 10."" The music did stop at 10 but then the participants spilled back out on to the plaza and we were treated to screaming kids and drunks for the next several hours. Now, obviously, you can't blame people for enjoying their wedding and whopping it up. But I do blame the hotel for renting out those rooms over the banquet hall when they knew far in advanced that a wedding was booked directly below. We had such a short time in Monterey and I really feel that the hotel disregarded our concerns and certainly did not provided us with the experience that we payed for. I can't in good conscience recommend that anyone stay here. It's a beautiful building, and a wonderful location but if you're there when there is a party or convention, you're just going to have to live with noise. This hotel doesn't seem to value the individual traveler or family as much as it's banquet and convention business. I wanted to update this review. I received a phone call from the hotel and they apologized and are working to address my issue. more

We are pleased to announce that our new air conditioning system is completely installed! This state-of-the-art system is now in all guestrooms and represents an investment of more than $3,000,000.\r \r Over the years, the lack of air conditioning has caused some guest complaints, due to the room temperature and occasionally from street noise when guest left their windows open for fresh air. We are happy to report that our new system has eliminated these issues – thank you for your feedback and support\r \r Sincerely,\r \r John V. Narigi\r Vice President and General Manager\r more

The Monterey Hotel & Spa is a hotel with an enviable position on Cannery Row. No other hotel in Monterey has such a position. The hotels in Monterey are generally poor and of the two or three star variety. Because of this the Monterey Plaza is unrivalled in it's position and star rating. However it is badly managed and is owned and staffed by managers with extremely bad attitude with no willingness or incentive to resolve guests complaints. Only stay there if you can afford the top end of their room packages. Do not expect the service they claim to provide and eat and drink outside the hotel. If you do have a complaint do not bother to speak to anybody or you may risk damage to yourself and your property like we did. You have been warned.\r We had the great misfortune to stay in the Monterey Plaza Hotel in the last week of May 2007. We were on a 16 night flydrive holiday and had stayed in some of the best hotels in California, Nevada, and Arizona. We were looking forward to staying at the Monterey Plaza but the visit turned into our worst nightmare. We were to stay the last three nights before returning to the UK. First impressions were good. The hotel was in a lovely location and as we drove up there were plenty of staff to relieve us of our luggage and car, valet parking. Reception was empty so we were shown to our room within a few minutes, this is when the trouble began. As soon as we walked into the room we could not help notice how warm it was even though the outside temperature was in the mid sixties. The ceiling fan was already on and there was a portable fan already placed near the bed. We checked the wall Pros: Location Cons: No air-con, bad management and staff, expensive. more

My wife and I stayed here for a romantic, local getaway from the kids while Mother-in-law was in town. Even though it is a larger hotel, the rooms and amenities are luxurious enough that it is a great spot for an anniversary or in our case - just a romantic getaway. Aside from the rooms (ours had a tremendous ocean view with balcony), we had drinks at their bar (suspended over the ocean) and dinner at the nearby Sardine Factory. There is a spa (we did not try it) with several treatment rooms and an outdoor hot tub overlooking the ocean. All luxury. We know of some people who have stayed here and used a local service (Romantic Room Designs) to decorate the room prior to their arrival with rose petals, candles, romantic gifts, bath products etc..and they were very happy with the results (a romantic gift for both of you!). You can also walk to heart of Cannery Row in about 5 minutes. Pros: Great views from several places, luxury rooms/amenities, walk to Cannery Row Cons: $18 Parking more