Alila, Ventana Big Sur

I have stayed at this property too many times to count over the years, and have seen it change ownership multiple times. The treatment I received recently was unacceptable, and I feel compelled to document my experience. I made the reservation with Ventana several months ago and at the time of the booking, paid the entire fee for a three night stay - $7,600. Earlier this week, I heard from a colleague who was booked at The Post Ranch a week after my anticipated stay that the Post Ranch called and emailed to inform him about closures on Hwy 1, which completely cut off access to Big Sur. My initial thought was this can't be correct. I have traveled up to Ventana on several occasions during road closures, and was always able to access the property. I immediately attempted to contact the hotel with no success - no one was picking up on any of the lines. After multiple attempts, I left a message on the reservation line, but did not hear back from the property for several hours. I called the hotel again and finally got a person on the line - Marissa, who confirmed Ventana was indeed closed. I asked her if the property intended to reach out to people with existing reservations, or if we were supposed to find out on our own the hotel was closed. She informed me until recently, the hotel was under the impression the roads would open, and they would be able to welcome guests starting on April 19th, - I reminded her my reservation began on the 18th! She continued to repeat the same statement over and over and made no effort to justify the hotel's lack of concern for guests with existing reservations. I let her know I made this reservation several months ago for my birthday, and had a very small window for travel due to work commitments. I let her know the unprofessionalism demonstrated by the hotel and management team left me with little to no time to come up with alternate travel plans as my arrival date was four days away. She could care less. I asked to speak to a manager and she informed me she was in charge of guest relations. Admittedly, I was extremely upset with the situation, but she made no effort to apologize for the situation, and the longer I was on the phone, the angrier I became. I realize my short vacation was insignificant in terms of the overall economic impact Big Sur is experiencing due to the current road conditions, but my treatment by this individual was a joke - she has no business working in guest relations. I wonder when the property was planning to reach out about the closures as I had to find out on my own... It saddens me to have such feelings toward a beloved property I have frequented more than 15 times over the years. As I mentioned at the top of my review - ownership has changed multiple times. I fear now that Ventana is owned by Hyatt, the treatment of guests who have a long history with the property is no longer a priority. The room rates continue to escalate, but the customer service has dipped to a new low. Incredibly disappointing. Read less

Stunningly poor institutional handling of a challenging situation. We were in Big Sur when Highway 1 eroded to the north of the property. ~2,000 people were trapped in the Big Sur area overnight (with hundreds sleeping in their vehicles), and while we were able to convoy out the next day based on CalTrans assessing that the portion of the highway that hadn’t eroded was stable enough to support traffic, there was a real possibility that everyone would be stuck for a week+ ahead of an alternative evacuation plan. Through all this, the Big Sur community rallied. They supported stranded visitors, distributed food, offered shelter, and worked hard to support those in need. Everyone except the Alila Ventana and its restaurant, the Sur House. The Sur House is open to the public, and its lunch and dinner service is commonly frequented by visitors to Big Sur. While not staying on property, we had both lunch (pre-collapse) and dinner (post collapse) at the Sur House the day of the highway collapse. While the food was fine, what really stood out the day of the collapse was the kindness and grace of the staff members during dinner, as many of them were also trapped in Big Sur for the night, away from their homes. They made room for stranded visitors in the restaurant (it became a hub as it’s one of the few places in Bug Sur with reliable cell service and WiFi) and were extremely supportive given the circumstances. That all changed the next day. We arrived at the Sur House for breakfast on Sunday morning, along with several other weary stranded patrons, expecting to purchase a warm (and overpriced) meal and get some much-needed connectivity to get critical information about emergency response next steps. We and others were completely shocked to be curtly informed that the Alila management had made the dangerous and misguided decision to ban non-hotel-guests from eating at the restaurant. Total 180 from the night prior, and while the rest of Big Sur opened its arms amidst the crisis, the Alila slammed shut its doors. Interestingly, while we were there, alongside others who’d just spend the night huddled in their vehicles, processing that we were effectively being told to leave, despite the emergency situation, a State Park officer arrived to tell the hostess that he’d received complaints they weren’t serving food to non-guests (not from us). Before he could finish, the hostess erupted into a diatribe about how it’s their right to refuse service as an “all-inclusive” (as an aside, it’s not all-inclusive) resort etc. etc., which the officer rightly agreed with, stating that as a private business, it’s their right to refuse service to anyone, but he just wanted to inform them of the complaints. While it is absolutely their right to refuse to feed paying would-be customers in the face of an emergency, the Alila’s management’s decision to exercise that right while the rest of Big Sur rallied to support community members and visitors alike tells you all you need to know, and this particular Alila staff member was incredibly unprofessional. As an institution, the Alila (and its management), with its vanity room prices of ~$2K per night (despite the fact that literally ~75% of its guests are staying on points 😂), made it very clear to us and dozens of others that it operates under a very different definition of community than the rest of Big Sur. Save your points, and if you’re considering spending your hard-earned money to stay in Big Sur, look to Post Ranch Inn or Deetjen’s. We’ll never be back. Read less

We've stayed at this property several times over the past few years and I can definitively say that a stay here should be on everyone's bucket list. The service is as spectacular as the pacific ocean views. There are hiking and other excursions to fill your day, or you can simply hang out in a hammock and do nothing. The meals are incredible and staff aim to please, regardless of the request. There isn't a bad room on the property so do yourself a favor and book a few nights. Read less

We use our Hyatt points and globalist benefits so our review on value may be skewed as we've never paid in cash for our stays, points only. We LOVE this property and have gone 3 years in a row always to celebrate a special occasion. Property is beautiful, relaxing, quiet and adults only. Luxury experience from start to finish. Staff is all friendly, helpful and always accommodated all our requests. The last 2 years getting lunch to go on our departure always took longer than planned but that is my only complaint about our experience. Everything else was wonderful. We usually stay 3-4 nights in the spa suite and will go off property for 1 meal (the Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn). Hardest thing is planning all your meals and ensuring you're hungry enough when the next meal comes around :) We try to plan it so we can even order from the late-night menu but were only able to do that once. We love all the food and drinks. We live near the beach so appreciate being amongst all the trees in Big Sur. We love walking to the restaurant as you get to wind through nature, bird watch, see deer, etc. If you cannot walk or don't want to, they have a cart to take you door to door. Extra paid activities we enjoyed: Falconry ($$$), Axe throwing ($), Cocktail making ($). We LOVE birds so getting up close and personal with some and learning about them was a real treat. Was afraid of axe throwing but turned out to be really fun and we were good at it too :-D We learned a lot about honey, herbs and the surrounding area during the cocktail making class. I don't have much to add that others have not said, but I highly recommend this property, you need at least 2 nights, 3-4 if you have points or can afford it. Read less