There is my report and pictures here already...

What a terrific set of photos, Big_Foot.

Upcoming Visit
 

My wife and I are booked to stay here June 17-18 as we begin our trek down the Central California coastline from San Jose to San Luis Obispo.

I'll post when we finish our vacation and try to take some pictures, as well.

Edit: I am an Ambassador, so I will also be posting on that, as well.

Stayed there last night.

Teething problems. They are nice and try hard, but staff has not all gone through their InterContinental training.

I was very underwhelmed with my RA upgrade to a "deluxe sea view" room. I think it's the same size as reserved and, though it was supposedly a "4-category upgrade," it seems they have a million different categories, as this room was distinguished by a) a view over the Bubba Gump Shrimp and "Taste of Monterrey" wine tasting room, b) a fireplace although seemingly no controls or instructions, c) a desktop little Japanese rock garden/sandbox, d) a teddy bear type toy of some sea mammal, and e) a balcony overlooking the entrance to the hotel. Since there is no Club in the hotel, I was expecting an upgrade to a suite. And the upgrade wasn't pre-determined; it was given when I checked in. In hindsight, I don't believe the check-in clerk knew what an RA is.

And my room didn't have the fruit basket. I asked several hours later, and after I came back from dinner, it was there. Nice fruit, and fresh local strawberries and raspberries, among others. And a 1/2 bottle of a Monterey Chardonnay, and 2 tubes of sparkling VOSS water.

Minibar is reasonably stocked including 2 1/2 bottles of white, 2 1/2 bottles of champagne and 2 1/2 bottles of red. One of the whites is Conundrum by Caymus, a tasty one. 4 beers, 8 minibar bottles of spirits, and assorted soft drinks.

I called Instant Service to give them a courtesy notification that I was checking out at 4; it seemed like they had no idea this was a free benefit and acted like they were doing me a favor; they were quite nice about it but it's as if they didn't know about the Ambassador program.

Upon checkout, my movie wasn't comped, my minibar wasn't comped. They were similarly very nice but unaware, except the manager.

The restaurant is OK; quality of food better than that of the "Duck Club" which is its competitor. However, there are way too many families with children and strollers; perhaps they should have a "screaming" and a "non-screaming" section. Service was friendly but clearly uncoordinated among the staff. The uniforms are about the most hideous ones I've seen in a long time; even people working in a Mexican restaurant or TGI Friday's would find them tacky.

Nice hotel, character fits the Cannery Row area. It does seem a bit empty in the area as the streetside (hotel straddles 2 sides of the street) shopfronts are yet to be rented. Reasonable value for money compared to the other hotels in the area; only a small premium to the HIX; for any A or RA, a no-brainer!.

As promised...
 

My review of the IC Clement Monterey:

On June 17, I arrived early at the IC, shortly after noon. I handed the car over to the valet, not expecting to be checked in, but realizing that there was plenty to do at the hotel and along Cannery Row within walking distance.

To my surprise, a great front desk agent named Jaeson checked on the availability of the room and let me know it was available right away. I was upgraded based on my Ambassador status to a 2-room suite with a view of the Bay, with 1 3/4 baths. If you want to see it, look at Big_Foot's pictures. I thought we had the same room until I realized that his suite was on the third floor and mine was on the second. For those who care, this was an accessible suite with a roll-in shower.

The rate booked was AAA at $207.00 + fees and taxes midweek. Valet parking (virtually mandatory here) is $20 and Internet Access (wired or wireless) is $9.95.

As you might imagine, the initial impression was very positive. The temperature on arrival was in the 60s and the waves were very calming. We slept with the balcony door cracked on the first two nights (more later) without needing air conditioning, though it was provided. The first minor blip came almost immediately on arrival, since the guest bath toilet handle was disconnected from its chain, so no flushing occurred. I fixed this myself in about 30 seconds without even bothering the staff, so there was no real pain here.

When we came back later in the afternoon from exploring Cannery Row, a fruit plate and a full bottle of Ventana Pinot Noir were provided with a note from Lucille, the concierge. More on her later. It was also a nice touch that IC bottled water was replenished each day.

The first night was uneventful.

On the second morning, we took advantage of a room service breakfast, which was delivered promptly. I had the Cinnamon Raisin French Toast, which was good, but was served only with a few berries, so the dish itself seemed unfulfilling. My wife had an omelet (crab and veggies) with country potatoes and toast and found it fantastic.

On the second night, we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, the C. I had the pork chop, which was large and flavorful. The potatoes were good, too, but I avoided the chard. My wife had the sea bass and found it too fishy - no fault of the restaurant. Service was a team effort, with a different person providing water service, ordering, and delivery of food. This was confusing at the beginning, because the person who brought our water sure looked like a waiter. The view from the table was almost as good as from our suite's balcony.

After dinner, we took advantage of a couples massage we had booked the day before. Even though the Energia Spa is not yet open at the hotel, the concierge, Lucille, was able to book two of the future Spa staff to provide us with massages, which were excellent. Lucille took care of everything and kept us updated every step of the way. The massages took place in a temporary massage room just down the hall from our suite. They were as expensive as you might expect in a hotel, $175 for 50 minutes (per person) or $235 for 80 minutes.

During our two-day stay, we realized that we loved this hotel. We had reason to be in Monterey again just a few days later, so we talked to Jaeson at the front desk to see if the same suite was available on Friday (yesterday), fully expecting to pay a much higher weekend rate. With managerial approval, Jaeson booked the same room for one additional night, but as a courtesy, provided it at the same rate as the previous nights. We had one night in between one stay and the other several hundred miles away, so these will post as two distinct stays.

As we left, we noted that a minor ceiling leak was dripping water onto the carpet, so we reported it to the front desk at checkout.

On arrival for the third and final night, another fruit plate and a half-bottle of Ventana Chardonnay were provided, along with another note from Lucille and two bottles of Voss. On the third night, we watched a movie in-room. On checkout, the movie was not removed from the bill, but since we planned to purchase the in-room plush sea otter, it was a quick matter to have the movie removed and the otter added to the bill. The otters are also available at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Both locations sell the otter for the same price, $19.99.

During the third night, we needed to use the air conditioning, since the Central Coast has been experiencing record heat the last few days. We were taken by surprise that the A/C came with the sound of flowing water every few minutes. We were never able to determine why we could hear that, but the A/C worked well and the water sound appeared to have no major effects.

On the whole, this was a fantastic stay. The staff are all very, very nice, and certainly attentive. The restaurant and corresponding room service menu are both very upscale, but relatively limited in terms of choice. I would get really tired of this food over the course of a long stay and would probably walk out to get a plain old cheeseburger. The room and view were beautiful and the location was quite good.

I would recommend this hotel to anybody who is comfortable with the rate, and I will certainly be back in the future.

My wife and I stayed there June 14 and 15 and can basically echo the above - a beautiful hotel, nicely appointed with a few minor glitches - bellman left with our room keys, 12:30 am fire alarm, slow breakfast service, wrong martinis @ $32 for 2.

We paid the $207 rate and were "double upgraded" to a 4th floor room with a quarter view of the bay and Bubba Gump's roof and seagull herd :eek:. We got a fruit plate, two bottles of Voss water and a Chalone Merlot based on my PC Platinum status - beats the heck out of the bottle of water an Fritos at the last HI we stayed in.

Sounds valuely like the same room I had. Difference is I had a Chardonnay; you had a Merlot; these are the two "Pamela Andersons of wine" ...

Someone on this thread mentioned doing a 'do here ... I'd be up for one; I would expect by a second visit, that the various glitches would get ironed out and ship-shape ...

I just came back from a weekend at the hotel, and I really enjoyed it. I had 2 rooms booked, one requesting a king bed and one requesting 2 doubles. The king bed room got upgraded to a 1 bdrm luxury suite (the highest room category). I looked up the details online the day of the reservation, and it showed the upgrade. The luxury suites have a balcony directly facing the Bay and the view is fabulous. It even comes with binoculars in the room so you can get a closer look at the seals, sea otters and many birds in the Bay. The double bed room overlooked the entrance (and you could see the Bay only if you stuck your head out the window). However, it was a corner room and slightly larger (though the extra space was mostly in the hallway leading to the main room area). It probably did represent a several category upgrade from the booked room. Both rooms had Elemis toiletries.

There are only 18 rooms (6 per floor) that have a balcony directly facing the water, and these are definitely the prime rooms in the hotel. Of those, 12 are large suites and the remainder are probably listed as the "junior suites."

The public areas of the hotel are lovely (I especially liked the jellyfish "tunnel"). The hotel also has a free business center with one computer and printer (great for printing boarding passes). The staff was great and obviously very proud of the hotel.

I had a few quibbles with the room/service during the stay but nothing significant. For example, the double bed room didn't have any trash cans in it at all. I called housekeeping and they sent someone up with the room trash can, but not one for the bathroom. When I asked about it, the person said that he didn't think the bathroom normally has a trash can, which obviously isn't the case, but I didn't bother to press for it.

We ate at the restaurant, and the food was good (with some nice touches) but not uniformly outstanding. The service was great though. I would still eat there again if I'm staying at the hotel. I also ordered room service breakfast (to take advantage of the suite) and that was very tasty.

The hotel is lovely, and I will definitely stay here again during future trips (even without getting the suite upgrade!).

Monterey Upgrade Policy for RA’s.
 

Following an e-mail to management, the following is the Monterey Upgrade Policy for RA’s.


F = Fireplace. B = Balcony. "n” = No.

Note to Ambassadors: They are also offering one breakfast for two, per room and per stay.
Offer valid 1 August through 31 October 2008. [Link]

Seems they've been overly generous with some As and very grudging for some RAs. Luck of the draw in spite of their policy.

As a platinum on an award stay on Sept.27/28, we were upgraded to Ocean view nF nB, a nice spacious room, great furnishings and fantastic bed. Our check in was a bit of an issue-Priority Club had advised the hotel that we were suppoed to pay $50 per night for the room, which was very surprising. The front desk staff were very helpful in helping resolve this, except that by the time we sorted everything out and spoke to Priority Club we probably spent about half an hour of our limited time to find out that there was no $50 charge.

Staff throughout the hotel were very friendly and helpful, all in all a great stay, despite the very foggy Monterey weekend....

After my stay I found a US$80 charge on my credit card bill for what turned out to be mini-bar charges (now resolved).

Not only should this charge have been waived (RA status) - but I didn't even receive an invoice for this either electronically or by mail.

So just worth reviewing your CC. statement on your return!

Last time I was here alone and was upgrade to a one bedroom suite with a balcony over looking the ocean. Great view and room, but didn't spend that much time in the room.

This time, there is three of us(they are charging me $20 extra per night for the third person!), so I have booked a room with 2 beds. Is there a suite at this property with 2 beds? Or the upgrade will simply be an ocean view room?

Thanks.

I booked a free night there since we have a season pass to the aquarium. Great timing on the opening! Thanks IC!

I just came back from holiday travel. I stayed at IC Clement Monterey on 3rd July. 4th July can't be booked due to the motorcycle competetion. Rate was 499$, but I booked with my priorityclub point. It was a really great deal. I didn't expect any upgrade because I'm just gold member, and my stay was just award stay. But, at check-in, I was upgraded to a great room having partial ocean view and fireplace (Rm 452..) Room was huge, and bathroom was also good with separate shower booth. :) I paid only $20 for valet parking with in/out previlage. Really nice property, it looks like a new property. (Am I right?) And, gym was also very clean and had brand new machines. Swimming pool was small, but jacuzzi was pretty good to relax with fresh and cool air.. :)