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Ventana Big Sur- Alila - REVIEW MASTER THREAD

Old Jun 30, 2023, 9:42 pm
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Last edit by: SanDiego1K
Dinner reservations and activities: email [email protected]

Big Sur Smokehouse is closed at least thru end of July 2023.

Your stay includes all meals, whether in-room 24 hours a day, lunch on the Sur House Terrace from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., or dinner at The Sur Houseour award-winning restaurant that is open for dinner from 5-9 p.m. Please see our dining menus here.

Signature experiences:
Morning Movement (Tai Chi, Yoga, Meditation, Big SurCus Poi Dance)
Coast Ridge Hike
Bees and Big Sur
Falconry

Foragers Hike
Redwood Hike
Sur House Social
S'mores
Astronomy

July 2023 activity schedule:

https://www.ventanabigsur.com/pdf/JU..._AtAGlance.pdf


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Ventana Big Sur- Alila - REVIEW MASTER THREAD

Old Aug 23, 2021, 4:58 pm
  #1501  
Moderator: GLBT Travelers & Hyatt Gold Passport
 
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Originally Posted by aCavalierInCoach
Could you guys please move the tipping conversation to Omni? The philosophical debate doesn't belong in the Ventana thread.
I’ve just deleted numerous posts since they were off topic on tipping. get back to discussion of the property that’s the subject of this thread and take the discussion of tipping to another forum. Thanks!!!

peteropny - co-mod - Hyatt
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Last edited by peteropny; Aug 23, 2021 at 5:17 pm
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Old Aug 28, 2021, 3:38 pm
  #1502  
 
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Curious how this property is with cancellations on award stays within 14 days. Just in case there's a Covid related closure of if a fire breaks out in the area or a road closure happens suddenly? Anyone have any experience cancelling within 14 days on the award stay once you are the past the cancellation policy? Explorist tier here if it makes any difference.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 10:22 am
  #1503  
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
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Just wanted to add a few thoughts to the thread based on my recent stay.

Service was mostly good, but certainly didnt blow us away. Would be disappointed if paying cash. Food was very good for all-inclusive, overall Id give the food a solid 8/10. I highly recommend you try at least one lunch at the Smokehouse. Everything is included and the meats and sides were all great.

Resort is beyond breathtaking and the rooms are excellent. The views, gardens, and overall setting truly are magical. Was one of the most beautiful places we had ever been (no hyperbole) and we have traveled all over the globe. We didnt even see the sun for the first couple days because of the fog and it still didnt take away from the beauty.

Drinks add up fast $$$. I would recommend bring a bottle or two of wine along.

Admittedly the forest showers were a gimmick, but a gimmick we absolutely loved. Id pick that over the hot tub personally, mainly because there are two other great hot tubs on-site. I also much preferred the privacy of the patio on the forest shower suites compared to some of the other room types.

If you care to read about our one small annoyance, read on:
We arrived around noon and had to wait until 4:30 until our room was ready, but we were upgraded to a Big Sur Forest Shower Suite. We had to check out and then back in for our third night due to two separate bookings and they made us leave room by 11am and told us unfortunately our new room wouldnt be ready for a few hours which was a bummer. We asked them to reach out to us if our room was ready early and they said they would watch for us and let us know, but they seemed a bit irritated we asked? I noticed by 12:15 my phone showed a digital key available for our new room, but we just thought it was a mistake/it wouldnt work until later. By 3:30ish we were a little restless so I thought Id just try the digital key, and it worked. I texted the front desk asking for a second robe (one was missing) and they had seemed like they had no idea the room was ready, and our guess is that it was ready by 12:15 which made the whole situation a little irritating. On the plus side, we got another bottle of Prosecco for our anniversary


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Old Sep 1, 2021, 10:49 am
  #1504  
skj
 
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Originally Posted by Cmag211
Drinks add up fast $$$. I would recommend bring a bottle or two of wine along.
We brought a few bottles for our stay. We took one to dinner and paid the $50 corkage and enjoyed another bottle with dinner in the room one night (no corkage fee for that )


If you care to read about our one small annoyance, read on:
We arrived around noon and had to wait until 4:30 until our room was ready, but we were upgraded to a Big Sur Forest Shower Suite. We had to check out and then back in for our third night due to two separate bookings and they made us leave room by 11am and told us unfortunately our new room wouldnt be ready for a few hours which was a bummer. We asked them to reach out to us if our room was ready early and they said they would watch for us and let us know, but they seemed a bit irritated we asked? I noticed by 12:15 my phone showed a digital key available for our new room, but we just thought it was a mistake/it wouldnt work until later. By 3:30ish we were a little restless so I thought Id just try the digital key, and it worked. I texted the front desk asking for a second robe (one was missing) and they had seemed like they had no idea the room was ready, and our guess is that it was ready by 12:15 which made the whole situation a little irritating. On the plus side, we got another bottle of Prosecco for our anniversary
We had a similar situation where we had to check out of one room after two nights and move to a different room for the third night. I had advised the property we had 2 reservations for consecutive nights a few weeks in advance of our stay, but they still were unable to block a room for the entirety of our stay. This is really basic stuff for any property, much less one that charges $2K+ per night, and Ventana Big Sur seems to screw it up with some frequency.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 10:59 am
  #1505  
 
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Originally Posted by Cmag211
Admittedly the forest showers were a gimmick, but a gimmick we absolutely loved. Id pick that over the hot tub personally, mainly because there are two other great hot tubs on-site. I also much preferred the privacy of the patio on the forest shower suites compared to some of the other room types.
Did they proactively stock the outdoor showers with toiletries for you? When I've stayed in a shower suite there was nothing out there at all, which I found a little odd. I also didn't find that the water got very hot, which made it a little too brisk for a sunrise shower.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 11:00 am
  #1506  
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Aren't Globs guaranteed a 4 pm checkout here? That should also work if you're changing rooms.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 11:10 am
  #1507  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Aren't Globs guaranteed a 4 pm checkout here? That should also work if you're changing rooms.
It's a resort so the 4pm checkout benefit doesn't apply (or, at least, it's not guaranteed).
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 11:19 am
  #1508  
 
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Originally Posted by skj
We brought a few bottles for our stay. We took one to dinner and paid the $50 corkage and enjoyed another bottle with dinner in the room one night (no corkage fee for that )


We had a similar situation where we had to check out of one room after two nights and move to a different room for the third night. I had advised the property we had 2 reservations for consecutive nights a few weeks in advance of our stay, but they still were unable to block a room for the entirety of our stay. This is really basic stuff for any property, much less one that charges $2K+ per night, and Ventana Big Sur seems to screw it up with some frequency.
same room type?
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 11:42 am
  #1509  
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
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Originally Posted by coleslaw
Did they proactively stock the outdoor showers with toiletries for you? When I've stayed in a shower suite there was nothing out there at all, which I found a little odd. I also didn't find that the water got very hot, which made it a little too brisk for a sunrise shower.
Yes, there were toiletries in the outdoor shower (same ones as indoor shower, they smell amazing).

Our showers got plenty hot, but were sensitive to even the slightest temperature tweak so it always took some adjustment. Was nice to put a fire on early AM and step out of outdoor shower into a toasty room.

We are Globs and we didnt even get 12p checkout, they made us checkout at 11 and we sat around without our bags for 4.5 hours, and were also downgraded to a standard suite which was still beautiful, but we preferred the privacy and beauty of the forest view.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 12:18 pm
  #1510  
nsx
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Originally Posted by coleslaw
It's a resort so the 4pm checkout benefit doesn't apply (or, at least, it's not guaranteed).
I think 1230 to 130 is the best you're going to get especially with the required cleaning for Covid.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 1:50 pm
  #1511  
 
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Originally Posted by Cmag211
,
We are Globs and we didnt even get 12p checkout, they made us checkout at 11 and we sat around without our bags for 4.5 hours, and were also [B]downgraded [/B}to a standard suite which was still beautiful, but we preferred the privacy and beauty of the forest view.
How were you downgraded to a standard suite? Did you book a premium suite that was downgraded or were you upgraded to a premium suite on the first reservation and then moved to standard suite? If you did not book a premium suite, then you were not downgraded. Changing rooms is what I expect on separate reservations if upgrades are involved.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 1:55 pm
  #1512  
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
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Originally Posted by CIT85
How were you downgraded to a standard suite? Did you book a premium suite that was downgraded or were you upgraded to a premium suite on the first reservation and then moved to standard suite? If you did not book a premium suite, then you were not downgraded. Changing rooms is what I expect on separate reservations if upgrades are involved.
You are correct, technically we werent downgraded. To clarify, we were upgraded both times. I was very happy with both rooms they assigned us (and overall extremely happy with our stay).

It was just the way the room transfer was handled that we didnt like.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 2:01 pm
  #1513  
 
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Originally Posted by Cmag211
You are correct, technically we werent downgraded. To clarify, we were upgraded both times. I was very happy with both rooms they assigned us (and overall extremely happy with our stay).

It was just the way the room transfer was handled that we didnt like.
If you booked standard room and upgraded to premium and then standard suite, then that was great. I used TSU for both times we stayed at Ventana and were upgraded to premium suite both times.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 2:27 pm
  #1514  
skj
 
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Originally Posted by skj
We had a similar situation where we had to check out of one room after two nights and move to a different room for the third night. I had advised the property we had 2 reservations for consecutive nights a few weeks in advance of our stay, but they still were unable to block a room for the entirety of our stay. This is really basic stuff for any property, much less one that charges $2K+ per night, and Ventana Big Sur seems to screw it up with some frequency.
Originally Posted by myperks
same room type?
No. We had booked the base king room using 30k points for 2 nights and a Cat 1-7 Free Night Award for the 3rd night. This resulted in 2 separate reservations. When we checked in we were given a nice upgrade (presumably due to status) but only for two nights. When I pointed out we were there for 3 nights, they seemed surprised and we were told there was nothing available for the 3 nights we were staying, and it was unlikely we could remain in our room but they would try to work something out. When we checked later, we were told we had to change rooms under the same terms as Cmag211 - out by 11am and then a several hour wait until we could get back into a room. The second room was still an upgrade over the base room but the whole process sucked. This property makes a point of reaching out to guests a few weeks in advance of their stay for dinner reservations, booking activities, and any special requests. I informed them of our 2 reservations at that time and assumed they could handle assigning us a room for all 3 nights of our stay, but based on ours and other's experiences, this is beyond their capabilities.
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Old Sep 1, 2021, 2:36 pm
  #1515  
skj
 
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Originally Posted by CIT85
If you booked standard room and upgraded to premium and then standard suite, then that was great. I used TSU for both times we stayed at Ventana and were upgraded to premium suite both times.
This was our situation and it was far from great. Wasting the better part of a day waiting for a room is a serious screwup on Ventana's part. In our case, there was no attempt at any service recovery either while we were there or in response to the after-stay survey I submitted. The closest was the property offered to move our suitcases from our old room to our new room. Had I known we would be without a room for so long, I would have kept our bags so at least we could have changed clothes.
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