HR Monterey should absolutely be avoided. (The Carmel Highlands property is a decent property ; HR Monterey is terrible.) Everyone's got opinions. Look at review master thread for details.

For a suite my first choice would be a city where I wanted to actually visit. To me, the city is far more important than the hotel. With that noted, I've had very good suites and excellent stays at Grand Hyatt Denver and also Hyatt at the Bellevue in Philadelphia.