Portola Hotel & Spa at Monterey Bay, Monterey

My night at Portola was miserable.The room was alright but the noise around my room was unacceptable.I actually had a very drunk person climb up on my balcony and was screaming at the top of his lungs to the people below and when I called the front desk they said they would send somebody up to take care of it.Nobody ever came so I finally went out and pushed the crazy guy off of the balcony myself after waiting a half hour for the hotel to help me out.The front desk also had an attitude about the whole thing and told me that "this is downtown and we cant do anything about it.".I finally called the police and at about 3 in the morning they were able to put a stop to all that crazy noise and loud music.I should not have had to go through this as I paid $165 for the night spent here.It is obvious that the hotel does not care nor will take care of a situation like this.If you are looking for a good nights sleep I suggest that you find another hotel.For the money I paid it was a total disaster.By the way I did ask for a different room but the person at the front desk refused to to that..And when I wanted to leave at 2 in the morning because of the problems the hotel let me know that I couldnt get my money back.Dont stay here people as there are a lot of other places in the area for a lot less then $165 that you can stay and have some peace and quiet.If you are looking for a good nights sleep forget it!I It wont happen here.

All great hotels are expensive. So, its not really a complaint. We got room service a lot and ordered movies so that kinda added up. But, other than the price, it was FANTASTIC! When we woke up every morning some seagulls were waiting on our balcony. When we got there, we wanted to upgrade to a room with a bay view, and we did. Our room was cleaned and the only thing i would have changed was to have free wireless internet, but they didn't unfortunately. Overall this was a great hotel and I would recommend it to anybody, whether you're travelling with kids or just adults or whatever, you should stay here. its very nice! CHECK OUT CAMBRIA CA TOO. ITS BEAUTIFUL THERE IS A CASTLE THERE CALLED HEARST CASTLE

We arrived at 8:00 in the morning so we could enjoy the whole day and did not expect to check in so early but the person at the front desk was very nice and got us checked in right away. We loved the location which is within walking distance to everything we wanted to see. The Jack's restaurant was nice and cozy and had excellent food and service. Spike (our bartender) at the bar was very friendly and gave us alot of info about Monterey. Something that everyone should stop in and see is the history of California right behind the hotel. There is a walking tour that is very interesting. We didn't notice it right away. The only negative thing about the room was that is has no air conditioning but we were on the 6th floor and at night it cools off so we left the sliding glass door open and got a nice breeze. We weren't in the room during the day so it didn't affect us that much. We would definitely stay here again..

We stayed here for 4 nights for our mini-moon. We very much enjoyed every part of our honeymoon except for this hotel. Lets see - they couldn't find a gift that a friend left for us, put us in the wrong room at first (an ugly view of the building next door, not the courtyard/ocean view we reserved) they called us at 7:30 *AM* on our first morning there to ask about something, and then again at 8:50, didnt clean our room one day, didn't have amenities listed in their book in the room, many little things. They get 2 stars because they did upgrade our room and send champagne to the room. But overall I would never recommend this place or stay there again. They claim to be a 5 star place, but are no better than a Ramada Inn. They claim to be so cheap but really it's because they nickel and dime you for every little thing. Internet was $10 a day, but free up the street at the Motel 6.

We were charged twice for $17.00 parking and $50.00 for something we didn't use . The people behind the desk can't seem to get it together . We are still waiting for our refund . The next step is Channel 7 and letting them try to get an explanation on the overcharges . The doormen and parking attendants were very helpful and courteous , I give them 5 stars . Even though the elevators were out of order our man walked down three flights of stairs with our luggage , under his arms and around his neck . We thank him for the extra effort . I really don't think that they read the reviews , so this will probably fall on deaf ears .

Extremely bad customer service Deluxe room below average Undervalued guest experience Expected a romantic getaway with the miss's but instead left with frustration and unsatisfaction. No problems during check-in which was the only positive out of our experience. To start off, we were charged for self parking ($17) even when I had decided to go for the free street parking which the person at the front desk who checked us in had suggested we should do. It was as if they just slapped a $17 charge just to see if we would say anything. The frustrating part was not just the inappropriate charge, but having to ask not once but twice to have the charge removed. Received a $35 credit for food and beverages and would rather have been able to use this towards the room, which was clearly not a deluxe room. The only standout from any regular room that I have been to in my past is the balcony and 'partial' ocean view past buildings and half a mile away. In addition, we were charged for the tip that was left at Jack's restaurant when our meal amounted to just under $22 on the check. We decided to leave a gracious tip using the remainder of the $35 food credit. When it was time to checkout, we had a charge of $25 to Jacks restaurant and an additional charge of $13(the tip). In the end somehow we still had to pay $3 out of our pocket when my assumption was that a $35 food credit would INCLUDE the tip...apparently not. How annoying is it when the person at the front makes it sound as if she's doing us a favor by crediting our money back, yet that's what SHOULD have happened in the first place. She had the audacity to say, " I really shouldn't be crediting this back" When really we shouldn't have had this problem in the first place! And why did I still have a $3 charge?? Is this to prove a point?? Or is the hotel really hurting that bad?? Beware if you must come for a convention and get away from this place as it is certainly not of the kind where you can let the staff take care of you. Didn't try the spa and didn't need to, we will NOT be recommending this place to anyone!

the hotel is at a great location, walking distance to the pier for food and sightsee. besides this convenience, the room is too pricey for it's worth.

We originally checked into The Monterey Hotel, and it was AWFUL. We left before we even stepped in the room and called Portola Hotel to see if they had any rooms available. They did and the prices were very reasonable. The room was great, the staff was great. The hotel was very pretty. I would stay here again in a heartbeat.

I am absolutely shocked that anyone would say that they had a less than wonderful experience at the Portola Hotel. Not being too familiar with the Monterey area, I relied heavily on the online hotel reviews and because of negative reviews, I actually cancelled our reservation and then re-scheduled at the last minute, deciding based on photos, to take a gamble. I AM SO GLAD I DID! The Portola Hotel was absolutely beautiful! We had a GREAT time! We stayed March 21st-23rd 2008 for my husband's 40th birthday in a deluxe room overlooking the courtyard/ocean on the 6th floor. The room was awesome; from the comfortable bed, the cleanliness, the decor (which was NOT standard hotel decor)both red and white wine waiting in our room upon our arrival, along with a selection of complimentary chocolate candies, nightly turn-down service which included fantastic homemade oatmeal choc.chip cookies..The list goes on and on! The food at Jacks was awesome - the Crab/corn chowder was incredible. All of the hotel staff - from the massage therapists in the salon, to the front desk clerks, the bell hops and valets, ALL were very pleasant, helpful and genuinely seemed to enjoy their jobs. It was also really cool to be able to leave our screen door open at night and be able to enjoy the sound of the harbor seals and the fog horns in the early morning - something distinctive to the area which makes it so quaint and wonderful. The location of the hotel offered easy access to many fun things to do during the day and great nightlife at night. Even though the spa is currently being renovated/expanded, the the spa staff still took wonderful care of us and we enjoyed every moment of our massages! I HIGHLY reccommend The Portola Hotel - we are already planning to go back - but this time we'll be taking our whole family!

PROS: My Friend and i stayed there for a little weekend trip to M-Bay. I am so glad that i ordered a deluxe room (More pricey, but well worth it!!) The rooms were nicely decorated, and clean. We really enjoyed the hotel and the cookies at check in were a great treat! I loved that they had a great variety of PPV movies. Centrally located, within three minute walk of Fisherman's wharf, and a few driving minutes to Cannery Row and Aquarium. The staff was amazing. They were all more than helpful and polite. (Except for the staff at the hotel restaurant Jacks, avoid if possible) Overall CONS: Parking structure initially hard to find and get into. No AC, only one fan in a corner over one bed, not centrally placed, so one bed hot and the other cold. Could hear the seagulls crying through the closed door. Over priced!!! $15.00 parking charge per day. Rooms $259.00 per night. TIPS: Call ahead and find out the cross streets for the parking structure. Make reservations well in advance. Standard rooms are horribley located. Get nothing less than a deluxe. Overall I loved my stay. This is my hotel whenever staying in Monterey Bay.