Post Ranch Inn

Yes, breathtaking! Customer service is high on our checklist and the staff does not disappoint. Truly spectacular service. I wish we could bring you every where we stay. Gracious and attentive without suffocating us. PRI is perched overlooking the pacific ocean. Yoga in the mornings. Massages in the room. Growing up in California, gazing out onto Big Sur is always a spiritual experience. We stayed in an exquisite upper level Pacific room. The fireplace, the soaking tub on the balcony were impressive. Tip: If you favor expensive wines, suggest you BYOB to the restaurant and pay for corkage. It can get pretty pricey. Read less

My husband and I stayed at Post Ranch Inn for a night during our trip down the West Coast from Seattle to Los Angeles.  We had heard how beautiful Big Sur was and thought Post Ranch Inn looked like the perfect place to take in that beauty.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the luxurious experience we had expected. We arrived just before sunset and were taken into the lobby while the valet unloaded our luggage from the car.  The woman who checked us in was friendly and polite, and provided us with refreshments while she processed our check-in.  There seemed to be some confusion regarding who would be escorting us to our room as one employee mentioned his shift was ending shortly but confirmed to the woman checking us in that he would be taking us to our room.   The woman escorted us out to the SUV in which the gentleman was taking us to our room. We greeted him with, "Hello, how are you?"  but he didn't respond.  Ok, maybe he's not having the best of days.  He took us around for a short half-hearted tour but it was helpful that he pointed out where Sierra Mar was, as we had reservations that evening.  He didn't get any friendlier as we arrived at our room but we tipped him just the same when he was finished with our luggage. I will say, the room itself was spectacular.  We had reserved an "Upper Coast Tree & Ocean View room."  When we arrived, there was some serene spa-type music playing.  We entered the living room, which had a beautiful fireplace.  The room opened to the bedroom area straight ahead.  The little kitchen area was on the right with the sink and mini-fridge.  The closet was to the left, as well as the entrance to the beautiful large bathroom which had a lovely stone-tiled jacuzzi tub and a separate room for the toilet and sink.  There were doors to the balcony beside the bed.  The balcony overlooked the trees down to the edge of the property where you could see down to the water.   It was very spacious with two lounge chairs to relax and take in the view.  We were able to catch a lovely sunset before heading back in to get ready for dinner.   The booking process for Post Ranch Inn was a bit odd in that we weren't charged when we booked it but after a call from their team basically reiterating the details of our reservation and confirming.  We also received an email with some pre-check-in options like making dinner reservations and optional amenities upon arrival.  We made a dinner reservation and ordered a fruit and cheese plate for our arrival as well.  As soon as we were settled in our room, we noticed the fruit and cheese plate had been left for us on the counter near the sink.  It was crawling with ants!  We noticed a few on the metal plate cover that was placed over the plate and scurrying around the surrounding counter and area (all the way to the floor). When we lifted the plate cover, we saw ants covered nearly every bit of food on the plate. We've stayed in luxury hotels that had no fourth wall and were open to beautiful tropical jungle foliage and never had an issue like this with bugs.  Since the room was seemingly completely sealed, I can't imagine how early they had left it out to attract such a huge number of bugs all the way indoors, away from the doors/windows.  It was disgusting!  We called the front desk from the house phone who said someone would come to address it.  It took them nearly an hour to come, and all they did was take away the old plate and bring a new one.  No one came to clean up the absurd number of ants that had invaded the surrounding counter and kitchen space.  My husband ended up cleaning it up because we didn't want them potentially spreading around the room.  I was flabbergasted that Post Ranch Inn's staff thought it was acceptable. to leave it like that! We barely picked at the new plate and ended up throwing most of it out as it just wasn't as appetizing after having just cleaned up a ton of ants from our room.  They also didn't even remove it from our bill.   After the ant debacle, we got ready and headed to Sierra Mar for dinner.  Sierra Mar wasn't a terrible experience but it wasn't anything special, and it certainly wasn't worth the price.  When we arrived, we found out they had us down as celebrating a birthday (no idea where they got that, it wasn't on our reservation at all when we made it).  It wasn't a big deal, though, just an odd mix-up. The pre-fixe menu was extremely limited.  We've gone to many places where there's a pre-fixe menu, often with limited seasonal ingredients to provide the freshest, most unique dishes, but this was even more limited than we expected.  Some dishes were good, others were less so.  Neither of us particularly liked our drinks.  The service was fine but not as attentive as one would have expected for a $400+ meal.  We returned in the morning for the "gourmet breakfast," which would have been ok if it had not been swarming with flies.  There was a chef preparing fresh omelets, which is what we ended up getting since the ingredients seemed to be the only ones that didn't have bugs around it.  It was very disappointing. The room rate was $1,750 plus $185.75 in taxes.  We paid $25 for the ant-covered cheese plate and an additional $730.49 for dinner and some small items we purchased from the gift shop (including their amazing pine-scented hand soap).  We had no issue with the price of the resort - we've stayed at similarly-priced resorts and have always had amazing experiences but Post Ranch Inn simply wasn't worth it.  Their resort is absolutely beautiful and serene but the service and overall experience didn't match. The resort is a beautiful concept but it's poorly executed with a lack of attention to detail and a lack of emphasis on quality service.  A gorgeous location and design are pretty common at this price point but I've usually seen butler or majordomo service to match.  Nothing claimed they offered that level of service, so we definitely weren't expecting to be waited on in that manner, but we expected friendly, helpful service committed to giving guests a nice experience in their beautiful resort.  I wish I could say Post Ranch Inn is a place we would love to return to but we're simply not willing to pay nearly $2700 per night for a beautiful room with ants and service that doesn't seem to care much about the guest experience.  Read less

This was a splurge for us. A bucket list kind of stay. Totally worth it in every way. We stayed in an Upper Coastal room and saw whales and pods of dolphins from the balcony. The weather was off and on rain which made the fireplace even more cozy. We hiked the trails and soaked in both hot tubs which we had to ourselves. The garden tour was very interesting. We ate in the restaurant both nights of our stay and enjoyed the food and the service. The breakfasts were great. Such a peaceful, pampering, relaxing stay. Truly a getaway from the hectic pace of life. This was a bucket list stay but now I want to go back every year. Read less

Spent the first two nights in a tree house. Loved watching the dawn break and light the unique windows from the comfort of the bed. Very peaceful and just a great place to relax with a book and reconnect with my wife. We moved to another spot the last night as the tree house wasn't available. This spot was named Edwolsen and was amazing. The mountain views were gorgeous. The outdoor jacuzzi was relaxing. Truly awesome room The delicious buffet each day was a great start to the morning with perfectly prepared omelettes to supplement the numerous other tasty treats. Found all the staff to be delightful. Also, enjoyed watching the turkeys around the property and the deer. Lastly, greatly enjoyed the hike around the property on the property perimeter trail. Very expensive, but a real treat and we will return to get recharged again in the future. Read less

Wow, what an experience at Post Ranch Inn. From the moment we arrived we knew we were in for a treat. The staff at check-in were fantastic and it just continued from there. We opted to stay in a tree house, but were surprised when our tree house also had a view of the ocean (ask for unit 100)! The property is just amazing -- from the two infinity hot tubs, to the views, to the walking trails, to the garden, etc., etc. Also food was delicious -- both breakfast and dinner. This place is really 5-stars ... they have all the little things down - mini-bar free of charge, cars to drive you around, etc. The telling thing for me about this place is that everyone we met there had been many times before - sign of a great experience! Definitely not cheap, but worth it once (or twice) in a lifetime! Read less