Recent award stay as a Platinum Elite (IHG cc). Room was upgraded to a partial ocean view facing the inner courtyard on the second floor. Some noise issues from an event going on the second floor patio, but otherwise, great room and happy with the upgrade.

Very little traffic/convo on this property; does anyone have any recent feedback?

We're hunting for a getaway NYE weekend, and have an expiring AMB weekend night cert.
Looking to stay within 2hrs effort (drive or fly) from SAN, and this came up as an option alongside IC SF & Mark Hopkins.
And a surprising non-stop on Alaska right into MRY local airfield.

Stayed there for two nights end November. Great oceanfront suite, Alma cart breakfast for up to 25 USD for RAs. Great location, very pleasant staff. We really enjoyed it there.

Stayed recently in a partial Ocean View with balcony. Nice but bland room, gas fireplace was a nice touch. Public areas of the hotel and the hotel restaurant were the products of uninspired suburban office park designer.

The bed, however, was horrible. I've never complained about a bed before and I'm not that picky, but this one was for whatever reason built up high in the middle so it sloped down at a steep angle on both sides. It was like sleeping on the side of a hill. I didn't dismantle it so I'm not sure what was going on under the sheets.

Didn't complain at the time - at midnight when you're getting in to bed you don't want to call down to the front desk and wait an hour for a bunch of maintenance engineers to come up to your room.

I complained at checkout and they didn't want to do anything - IHG.com reservation was prepaid and they said the valet and hotel restaurant were independent entities so they couldn't do anything. I pressed and the front desk agent went in the back room for several minutes. Came out and said the supervisor had other things to do and that's it. I pressed more and he went in the back again and then came out and said they'd take $50 off the valet and restaurant charges. They could have also thrown some bonus points at me, although the cash discount was better.

I rather like the design and found the beds very comfortable. It does always feel like being in a Westin though, the whole interior feels like that

Stayed here recently for two nights for a "mini-moon" as my wife and I are taking a delayed honeymoon in May.

We booked a king bed partial ocean view. I am a Spire Ambassador, but I also reached out in advance to see if there was availability for a complimentary two-level upgrade to a junior king suite with partial ocean view. Gabriela Garcia, the assistant front desk manager, was wonderful and accommodated. She also offered a luxury oceanfront king suite for an extra $200 plus tax. I bit on that offer and it was worth every penny. (We were actually on one paid night and then a uncapped IHG Select card night - my last one :( - and Gabriela upgraded us the second night as well at no additional cost.)

The luxury king suite is fresh with plenty of natural light We didn't use the living room much, but really enjoyed the balcony. The views were spectacular! You're literally directly over the water (see second photo below). We were in Room 401 and I would highly recommend requesting it. Far from Bubba Gump's...very quiet and tranquil.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a650f1f657.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6061960058.jpg

(Edited to answer some of my own questions)

• Are there any service reductions due to COVID? Did not see anything on website.

No services. No food, no restaurants, no pool, no gym, nada. no daily room cleaning for stays <5 days.

• Can you get a rollaway bed for a child? Would prefer to book a King rather than 2Q

Yes $40 per night.

• Are there any nearby parking options or am I stuck with the absurd self-park fee?
• Any suggestions on room location? I definitely don't want tourists peering in from the boardwalk (as hinted above).

Just stayed here again (last time was a few years back), and they are just as friendly as ever. Booked two rooms for one night, both on IHG free night certificates (looks like this may not be possible anymore). They re-tooled some things - some notes below:

• I called in advance, knowing that valet parking is probably suspended. The location of their separate garage is on 700 Wave Street (nearby). I saw a lot of guests in the very cramped drop off area and would advise for a short stay...just self park right away and walk over. Good news, they dropped the parking cost to $25 per night, unlimited in/out. I think a lot of people were annoyed about the parking situation for the going rates at this hotel...
• Extremely well kept interior - rooms still looked very new, extra amenities stocked. Clean sheets, wonderful (if slightly soft) bed. Not sure if these are the same mattresses used at the ICSF, but it was still nice. 4P late checkout for both rooms. One room was upgraded to partial ocean view, which was nice.
• Restaurant and bar are closed - but we knew this going into it. They did allow both rooms to use a $20 minibar credit, but we had to ask since they had no AMB welcome letter. 600 points in lieu of drink voucher (no bar anyway).

Usually, for the price point of this hotel, we decide to stay elsewhere in Carmel Valley or Napa/Sonoma where there is a real pool. It was still a nice one night getaway and there are many things to eat and do nearby. I must say the Cannery area was very crowded. Great use of the IHG free night cert.

Any place to self-park for free nearby?

Hoping they don't stick us in the crappy building on the other side of the skybridge.

I've stayed there a few times, not too recently, and always found metered street parking nearby. Not free and you have to watch the time as the parking tickets are outrageous, but fairly simple if you are going to be running around anyway. And in the evening it's pretty easy to find a spot, not too far, but still a little bit of a walk. Read the signs and make sure of the time.

Any recent stays as things start to open up?

Remember this is California, pandemic restrictions continue to flourish in California. I just had a large private hotel meeting for early September in Monterey canceled due to the continued restrictions on large groups, regarding meeting and dinning.

Thanks yes, I have been to California in the past few weeks and know properties vary in how they are operating under existing regulations. It would still be helpful to know if anyone has stayed since October 2020 and what their experience was like

Stayed here last week for 1 night on Chase award. The property was nice. My fear became real when they confirmed I was in the "other building". I asked to switch and they accommodated with a room looking out to the little square in front of the property, and if you poked your head out of balcony, you could see the waters. That was nice enough of them as I know they can be very stingy and may treat Platinum members with a Chase credit card just a notch above criminals.

Plenty of metered street parking nearby, which was the option we took. Also if you don't mind walking 10-15min along the shore up into Pacific Grove, there are many free street parking spots there too.

Beware of the low temperatures around this part at night. It was pretty cold and I had my shorts on from the afternoon. Bring an extra layer.

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" attributed to Mark Twain, also applies to the Monterey Bay Area.