Had a weekend stay here recently and enjoyed it. Based on this visit, I think I prefer CVR to Alila Ventana Big Sur with the important caveat that my stay was during CVR's offseason so cash rates were pretty reasonable. I would not spend 45k points per night here nor would I pay their cash rates during spring - fall, but during the winter, I'd much rather pay cash here than pay 45k points a night for Ventana. On the other hand, because it was their offseason, they were doing quite a bit of work around the property. There was some construction around the tennis and pickleball courts (all courts still usable, just had to walk further to get to them), there was landscaping being done around the rooms, and the restaurant and grounds around the River Ranch were also undergoing renovation. None of this really affected us, though, but I guess if you had your heart set on eating at the restaurant at the River Ranch you'd be disappointed. There was a food truck there instead. If you'd rather not walk from place to place and don't want to drive either, there is a free shuttle that can take you around the property.

I booked a Prive rate and used a SUA as well and was upgraded to the "Hilltop Ranch with King Bed and Outdoor Tub". We liked the room but didn't have any interest in using an outdoor tub, so can't comment on whether that's good or not.

What I really liked about the property was how big it was and how many things there were to do, albeit many of them were paid extras. We enjoyed walking around the property, taking some of the complimentary fitness classes, playing pickleball (guests can reserve 1 hour of tennis or pickleball court time per day), hitting some golf balls (guests can use the driving range for an hour per day), and hiking some of the trails. We did some of the free activities (meeting the various animals who were all extremely cute and surprisingly clean looking, a honey tasting) and some paid ones as well (golf lesson, pickleball lesson).

It should be noted that CVR is basically a country club for the area, and they have a good number of locals who are members and take fitness classes, play golf, eat at the restaurant, and use the fitness center, pools, and courts. If you take a fitness class or pay for a group lesson, there's a pretty good chance the other members of the class will be local members. For the fitness class we took, well over half the class were members who were regulars at the class.

Food at the Valley Kitchen was actually a lot better than what I was anticipating. I overheard a regular mention that they had a new chef and that they were a lot better than the old one. The food we had was all very good. We ordered off the menu for breakfast most of the time, including getting juice (an eye-watering $13) and coffee and also tried their weekend buffet breakfast one time ($44 per person). I think the a la carte menu is definitely much better than the buffet. None of the breakfast charges appeared on our folio so everything was completely covered.

We also had dinner at the Valley Kitchen twice and everything we had was very good. I personally liked it more than Ventana's food even if we had to pay for it out-of-pocket. As a Globalist, they gave us 2 free drink vouchers redeemable at the Valley Kitchen and as we were celebrating a special occasion, they comped us a dessert as well one night. Service at both breakfast and dinner was great and very attentive. For example, we ordered a number of appetizers and one entree one night. We didn't say we were sharing, but our server clearly noticed that we would be sharing and had the kitchen split our entree evenly on two dishes for us, which was very appreciated. It did take a bit during one dinner to get food and drinks, but the restaurant was also packed that evening. The food was always pretty prompt at breakfast and food came very quickly the other night we had dinner there.

Oddly, we were told at check-in that we could have our breakfast at the restaurant or as room service, but while we were there, their online ordering stated that room service was only available Monday-Thursday. We preferred to dine in person anyways, but found it odd that they didn't have room service 7 days a week.

Already booked a return trip for next winter.

Photos in spoiler: