My husband and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary with our 115 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback, Macallan, by driving up the California Coast for almost 2 weeks. We stayed here at the RC Half Moon Bay for a 2 night award stay. We previously had a 5 night award stay at the RC Bacara Santa Barbara, 2 nights paid at Ventana Big Sur and ended with 3 nights paid at Calistoga Ranch in the Napa Valley. I stayed up north with 2 more nights at the St Regis San Francisco, as well. 

On booking, the RC Half Moon Bay website indicated no weight limit for its pet policy, and we had confirmed our dog would be fine over the phone. A few months before our stay, I had my Ambassador reconfirm that all was well with our stays--only to learn that this hotel had since instituted a 40 lb pet weight limit, even though that still hadn't been updated on the website. We pushed back, and the hotel eventually relented and allowed our dog to join us as originally planned. 

The property is stunning and in a remarkably stunning location, very reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands where we got engaged, actually:

Private dining room off the lobby restaurant area:

The Navio fine dining restaurantm, which also hosts breakfast:

Reception and concierge:

The outdoor terrace and bar:

The small set of buildings in the distance past the golf course are the Guest Houses. Our Ocean House was the one most visible, most to the left. Our room was just under the second gable from the left. 

The Ocean House Guest House:

The golf club and restaurant:

Small lake between the golf club and the Guest Houses and poolhouse:

The other Guest Houses (Cypress and Fairway) looked back onto the non-coastal golf course holes:

The indoor pool was under renovation, unfortunately, though it was adjacent to our Ocean House Guest House.

Check In

The gate guard on entry to the property congratulated us for our 9th anniversary, so we knew they were expecting us.

As a result, when we disembarked at the lobby and walked to the front desk, the Assistant Rooms Executive met us with keys in hand. He drove a golf cart and we followed in our SUV to the Ocean House. (Because we were staying in the Guest Houses with no valet, there also is no parking fee. We loved that--and the ability to just get into our car and go!)

I had known a good week before arrival that we'd been upgraded to the Ocean House Firepit One Bedroom Suite. I knew my Ambassador had worked her magic, and I also know that the Director of Operations at the RC Georgetown had contacted the hotel on my behalf. 

Room

The Ocean House was the only Guest House with an ocean/coastal view. Our Firepit One Bedroom Suite was wonderful.

Powder bath on entry:

A very spacious walk in closet:

The bath was surprisingly small for such a spacious suite:

From the living room, you could access the terrace overlooking the golf course, property, and coastal view:

My boys definitely like their fire and sun:

Shower pressure was solid. WiFi was excellent:

But even with the air con having been set to maximum and their engineers "maximizing" its output, the single air con unit couldn't cool the room below 69-70 F. Fortunately, the temps were in the 40s and 50s and night, and the location made it so quiet that we could open the bedroom windows, draw the blackout shades, and the room got down to 65 F as needed for my comfort.

That being said, air con in the Guest Houses could be an issue in the warmer months or during any heatwave. A Guest House regular room certainly would cool better than a Guest House suite, since they all have the same one air con unit. I've recommended strongly that the resort add a second (or even third) or stronger air con unit in the Guest House suites. 

Club Lounge

I don't care about lounges or Clubs, but I know many others do. The Rooms Assistant Executive was kind enough to let me check it out. It did look pretty impressive, I must say--certainly the nicest Club Lounge at any Ritz-Carlton I've yet seen, anyway. (I have seen maybe 6-7 Clubs?)

Service

Service was generally outstanding, but we had a few misses.

As had become apparently standard for our trip, we had a few calls to the operator or front desk go unanswered after 10-15 rings. It didn't happen again after my first complaint, but it shouldn't happen at all a luxury hotel.

We also had slow service at the Navio breakfast restaurant. It wasn't as painful as what we would later experience at Solbar in Napa Valley, but it could be a bit tedious. 

Our safe was broken...but it took until the second night to get it fixed. The gentleman trying to fix it didn't quite realize the extent of the problem, so it turned into a bit of a debacle as we were trying to get ready for dinner at 2* Baume. We finally had to ask him to leave without it ever being repaired, though he was wonderfully sympathetic. 

My husband had the car washed while he drove into town. He returned to find a gardener blowing grass/leaves against it only 10 minutes later--he wasn't pleased. Very stupid. 

The construction of the indoor pool and poolhouse near us did cause a surprising amount of noise at times--they parked a generator literally outside our door once, and we complained. That was just stupid. They moved it away and that made a huge difference. 

The biggest problem with service here is what I've discovered may be endemic to Ritz-Carlton overall: very formulaic and robotic service. It really became annoying when I'd ask the operator or anyone for anything, and they all felt the need to run everything by the Assistant Room Executive who clearly was looking after us. It caused needless delays and frustration for no good reason. No one seemed empowered to just do what I had asked or allow me what I needed. I would even speak to someone one minute only to have the Assistant Rooms Executive call me back a few minutes later--even though he was sitting next to that same person! Repeating onself isn't part of luxury nor good service by any measure. Yet it happened several times. 

One time too many, as it were--I finally asked the Rooms Executive to meet us at breakfast on our final morning so I could relay my frustrations. She acknowledged the problems and seemed to appreciate my frustration. In the end, she graciously comp'd the breakfast where we met as an apology. 

Overall, though, we thought the service was fine. The bar service was great, and the staff around the hotel were very friendly and helpful.

The Assistant Rooms Executive clearly went out of his way to try to help us in any way he could. He allowed me to bring my dog on a tour of the hotel, even though the current terms clearly preclude that. (I think their terms precluding pets on their outdoor patio and some of the lobby are a bit extreme, FWIW.) He also graciously took me on a tour of the hotel so I could see other room categories and the Club. He was also willing to try to move us to a new regular Giuest House room were I too unhappy with our suite air con--and I very much appreciated that. 

There are some bright spots for service here, and there is room for improvement. 

Dining

Dinng was good. We only had breakfast and a snack on property, and they were wonderful. 

Other room categories

The Assistant Rooms Executive was king enough to show me around the property so I could room types in the main building. 

REGULAR ROOM:

The bath was pretty similar to that in our suite:

ONE BEDROOM FIREPIT SUITE (ground floor):

Again the smaller bath like our suite:

DELUXE FIREPIT ROOM (ground floor):

Location

The location is sublime. Totally reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands, as I said previously. It's about an hour to downtown San Francisco, and it would be about 30-4- min to SFO. It took us about 40 min each way to drive to Baume in Palo Alto for our dinner. 

Overall

Overall, we were very pleased with the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay and can see why it's such a popular resort. We don't play golf, but the gold course looked spectacular, and the location is absolutely stunning. The accommodations were top rate, and our Guest House suite was amazing--even without the air con working to standard. 

We'd gladly return once we know the air con issue is resolved for the Guest Houses, or for a suite in the main building once we can confirm the air con is appropriate there, too!