The Meritage Resort and Spa, Napa

What a terrible disappointment. I was so fooled by their website, which seems to advertise a place in the middle of a vineyard, not a place in the middle of a corporate park. This place is more a Marriot/Days Inn type place than the paradise between vineyards advertised. Ok, so the ambiance was lacking, but we decided to make due. We went down to talk to the concierge and got the worst service ever! Greg, the concierge, was so weirdly rude I was almost convinced it was an act. Although he was mildly helpful, he rushed through the information and seemed only interested in selling us things the hotel had partnerships with. Including a freaking time-share. The cave area was ok, tho they only carry the wine the hotel owner produces. Another indication that they are NOT interested in the best service for you, but selling you products that make them more money. Oh and Greg was not the only rude concierge (it seems like a pre-requisite to being hired there is "do you hate people and life?" "hired!") We came down around 5:30 to get the free shuttle and this lady is sitting in front of her computer, ignores us for a few minutes, this was our interaction: Us - "Hi, we want to take the shuttle to downtown Napa for dinner" Lady - "yeah 6pm" (doesn't even look up) Us - "Do you recommend any restaurants? Lady - "you don't have a reservation!!!" (rolls her eyes) "good luck" (turns back to computer an ignores us. WTF! A helpful concierge would have told me about 5 restaurants that are great and then offered to make us a reservation. "good luck" lady this is your JOB! Both concierges felt the need to scald us for not planning ahead. Something as a guest I don't appreciate. Added bonus, we checked out and had an extra room service charge on our bill. We didn't make the charge, and it took 20 minutes to sort it out. I'm glad we checked cause we would've ended up paying so much more for the bad food and drinks we did have. I must say, the guy at the front desk was nice and apologized profusely, but that just the cherry on top of a ruined romantic weekend. If you are looking for fake charm, overpriced small rooms, an obnoxious clientèle and rude concierge service all in the middle of a parking lot and no where near anything in Napa (inspite the "centrally located" advertisement on their site) then the Meritage is the hotel for you.

Hotel was average, however when we checked out the hotel charged us more than 3 times the amount our stay was supposed to be. Jason the front desk person said he had it all straitened out when we left, but the problems continued. Spoke to Elisse the front desk manager the next day, she said she would take care of it, and immediately charged $1,500.00 more on our card. Hotel manager Sean Dempsey said he woud take care of it, and call us back that day, plus send us a detailed description and breakdown of all charges and credits by e-mail. He never did either.LOts of talk about follow up and helpfullness, but never any delivery.

The staff was excellent, had some good Breakfast and lunch options, and wait staff was very friendly. This is a little off the beaten path, but the hotel runs a prompt shuttle service into downtown every night and many of my fellow conference attendees utlized it with no problem. Some posters do not like the remote location, but it is very accessable to Route 12 and 29, if you want to go over to Sonoma or up Napa without going through Napa. You can also get it to Silverado Trail without going through town. So for our winery days, we actually liked not trooping through town. Nice pool with bar service and great patio for day and evening. The Spa was very nice, and priced reasonably. Rooms were average, No problem with noise and exercise room had more machines than users. Overall a nice hotel made better by great staff.

The Good: Very friendly and great staff! The suite was a great room clean, classy décor, comfortable beds, a very nice multi head big shower, Jacuzzi tub and full kitchen, with all the amenities and atmosphere you would want to move in here… The Bad: if you’re downstairs you can hear the upstairs people walking about. They need more insulation in the ceilings. The Ugly: We both got food poisoning from an appetizer we had before dinner, sick for five days kind of ruined the whole Birthday plan. When the wind blows it was Very noisy, due to an improperly installed external dryer vent rattling all night long, I called around 1:30am, they sent a security guard to check it out, they never called me back. I tried to call them back and the phone system failed. Then at 2:30am in the wind and rain I went to see the front desk night staff to find out what they could do about the noise. The night desk guy said the phone system goes down. 20’ for rebooting every night. I found out there were no maintenance people on staff at night to fix the noise. I waited for the guard to come back, and then took him to see the problem causing the noise, I stuffed a towel in it at 3am, finally we could get some sleep] The Bottom line: The following people like Angel at the check in, who actually reversed the charges for the room for our trouble, Jessica in the spa, the dayshift restaurant manager Trugch personally delivered some champagne and a note from his staff and is supposed to still reverse the charges for the dinner. They all really pulled out the stops to make up for problems. We would stay there again once they get the rattling dryer vents fixed and avoid the restaurant! K&C

The location was terrible (off of Napa Valley Corporate Way, the name says it all). The staff wasn't very accommodating. We were stuck in a room with no bathtub, just a handicapped accesible shower (despite the fact that neither of us are handicapped. The room was pathetic, nothing on the walls, completely closed in balcony, no natural light. This place was the most cheesy, touristy hotel I have ever stayed at. With the multitude of places to stay in Napa you would have to be a fool to stay here. Choose a B & B or a hotel that is actually in wine country, not some industrial park south of Napa.

We stayed for 5 nights. First night our AC went out - the tried to fix it to no avail. FINALLY moved us after two nights without air. Management was very rude - they actually told us to "just open the window". I have never been treated so poorly...it will never happen again (at least at this place) OH YEA - you better have a rent car. It's 15 miles south of Napa. 45 minutes to the vineyards...

The rooms are large and somewhat clean, accept for a couple of things left in the room from people before, it was just okay. I was most disappointed with the restaurant, Siena and the service as it was slow for yet a second time! I will never go back. The food by Chef Jeff something wasn't as great as I thought and we met local friends there. How embarrassing. The Bar in the front of the hotel was crowded but the bartender gave good service. Went to the newly designed wine cave and had a great experience with Lisa. Even though she was busy with several customers, she gave us her utmost attention and sold us plenty of Trinitas wines. The Spa Terra booked our appointment incorrectly and gave us a 30 percent discount on our next visit. Very disappointed.