Ventana Big Sur, An Alila Resort

There were so many wonderful pieces to our weekend getaway. Every person we encountered was friendly and welcoming. Michael in the spa, Angel at the Sur House, and Riley were exceptional! There were a couple of things that were disappointed with. 1. Construction at 8 AM in the morning on...

There were so many wonderful pieces to our weekend getaway. Every person we encountered was friendly and welcoming. Michael in the spa, Angel at the Sur House, and Riley were exceptional! There were a couple of things that were disappointed with. 1. Construction at 8 AM in the morning on a Saturday in such a serene environment is not ok. Customers are there to relax, not listen to upgrades going on. 2. The food at The Sur house is hit and miss. My halibut was so overdone that it was the consistency of chicken. I was unable to send it back because my server didn’t return to the table in time. The Hen Of The Egg appetizer sounded amazing, but ours came with popcorn instead of polenta. 3. The bed was rock hard and the extra blanket that they gave me had someone else’s hair on it. Don’t get me wrong, we had a relaxing weekend. For the amount that you are paying for rooms here, I expect perfection!

The all inclusive operation is amazing. The rooms are fantastic. Special treats are added throughout stay. The service is top notch. The grounds are fantastic. The views are hard to beat. Highly recommend for the most romantic occasions.

We had an excellent time here. The level of service we received was beyond what we expected and we were so surprisingly pleased. It was above what was expected for a resort in the US (and we have been to many high end hotels). I would say equivalent to a...

We had an excellent time here. The level of service we received was beyond what we expected and we were so surprisingly pleased. It was above what was expected for a resort in the US (and we have been to many high end hotels). I would say equivalent to a luxury hotel in Mexico. After reading reviews, I was a little worried, but we were using Hyatt points for our anniversary celebration and booked this about 8 months ahead of time, so thought we'd still give it a try. So glad we did! Our first impression was excellent. From the gentleman manning the gate to the valet, they all made a point to wish us a Happy Anniversary! They also asked if we would like our electric car charged. Check in was relaxing and efficient and were asked if we wanted our room serviced and turned down in the evening. She also noted we didn't bring our dog (we had been intending to, but with the rainy weather, we decided against it at the last minute especially since dogs aren't allowed in the restaurant unless you're sitting outside) and took that charge off our bill immediately. By the time we finished check in and got to our room, our bags were already in the closet! We have never had such seamless service in the US. Dining was excellent considering the food is included. You could have one entree and multiple appetizers if you so desired. I love octopus and it's so rare to find a kitchen that can prepare it well and this kitchen did it very well. Tender and soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. I had it the next two days as an entree. We didn't even have to ask - our waiter offered to call us a shuttle at the end of dinner. It was these little touches that made a huge impression. Alcohol and any other drinks from the bar not included. In fact, all meals here were very good with lots of choices. Only the dinner menu rotated. Hen egg was also very good as well as the scallops (but only 3 of them, so maybe not if you're really hungry) and the short rib (they cook it for something like 24 hours, if i heard correctly). Breakfast had options like an amazing french toast, mushroom tartine and avocado toast. of course, dessert is offered at every meal. Do yourself a favor and get a room with the hot tub, especially if the weather is chilly. We used it every evening after dinner, and it was wonderful. The water is kept hot with a cover you have to remove and put back on yourself. Our room was turned down by the time we got back from dinner. Would have been a tiny bit better if we could have adjusted the temperature to a tiny bit hotter. Rooms well stocked and came with walking sticks, umbrellas, two refillable Alila water bottles and a mini bar stocked with sparkling water, nuts, dried fruits, and two bars. Plus, the usual tea and coffee. That was a pleasant surprise. Housekeeping was always quick and efficient and never had a hiccup. They also left us little gifts on our pillow every evening. Our fireplace also came with lovely kindling sacks that lasted an hour or two each and we were usually stocked up. We ate so much that we never made it to the smores they did every evening. The grounds are beautiful and relaxing and it's never apparent how full the resort is until you go to the restaurant. Maybe no one stays on the property during the day? We left one day to do a few small hikes - McWay falls and Partington cove and Cooper's Cabin, but was back by lunch time. Otherwise, due to the weather, we just hung out. The texting service with concierge was also excellent. A couple of times, we texted asking for a ride to dinner and expected to wait 5-10 minutes and were really surprised when 1-2 minutes later, they were knocking on our door! Talk about service! They were also as accommodating as they could be when we asked to change dinner time or spa service times. By happy accident, the day of our departure, our car happened to be charging at the restaurant. Our plan was to pack, go have breakfast and leave immediately from there. So we called the bellman, who showed up within a minute of my text. Loaded up the cart with our luggage and asked for a ride to breakfast. He asked if we were returning and we said no, so he told us that our car happened to be at the restaurant (because all the other chargers were taken and we had asked for our car to be charged up before we left). We swung over to valet to pick up our key from valet, and he dropped us off at our car and helped us load our luggage. Such service and efficiency! Either that our they were dying to get rid of us! ha! If I had to be really nit-picky: I was really looking forward to the Japanese baths as i had seen them all over Instagram, but they were a little disappointing. While the water was wonderfully hot and a great temperature, it was very small and cramped for what i was expecting and a little awkward with more than one couple in there and the same time. Men go in one side and women go in the other (to a large changing/bathroom type area) and there's a small hot tub area on each side that is gender specific and the small middle portion is co-ed. I can't imagine if there were more people in there at the same time. It was a little weird because we would be staring at another couple in the co-ed area so we kind of hung out on the mens side, but i was worried if someone were to want to come in (since it's clothing optional) - so we went to the infinity hot tub located near the spa and the sundeck to check that out. While it was relaxing, the water was not hot by any means. My husband said he could feel the cold water coming back into the hot tub at the bottom (from where it ran over). It WAS really windy and maybe that kept blowing the heat away, therefore we didn't stay very long. It wasn't very large - there were two other couples in there and that already started to feel a little cramped. Golden hour food service stopped at 4pm sharp even though they say its 3-5pm. At around 4:03, my husband was on his way back from getting a massage and asked if he could take a to-go to our room so we could snack while we sat in our hot tub, and they declined! saying that dinner service stopped at 5:30. Was very disappointed we couldn't get a pre-dinner snack 3 minutes after they closed the food service, which he was only asking for the meats and cheese plates, especially since dinner might not happen until 7 or 8 depending on your reservations. We kept moving ours because we were so full all the time. It's amazing how something so small has the potential to put a damper on all the good feels from before. The room they host it in is very cute though. There are tables and chairs and board games like chess and monopoly as well as a large fireplace. Gym - is very small, but it wasn't too bad, since there was no one there. Three peleton bicycles, a peleton rower, one treatmill, dumbells up to 50 lbs and kettlebells up to 50 lbs plus yoga mats and some balance balls. if you want to use the peleton option, i believe you need your own account. Only enough room on the floor for one person to use a yoga mat and maybe enough room for one additional person to lift weights. One weight bench. Also, if someone is on the peleton closes to the wall, you can't hang your raincoat or jacket. Water and Ice - You DO have to fetch your own water and ice. Ice was never present in our room after turn down service and the map makes it look like there's only two water refill areas in the resort, but there are more. It's also not apparent where these extra water refill/ice places are unless you go looking. If I had to be nit-picky, i would say it would be nice if there was something that could tell you where the closest ice machine to your room is or if they asked your preference at check in. Or maybe the service was so amazing before, I expected this to be exemplary as well. Restaurant - experience, we learned, really depended on your waiter. I didn't realize that anything from the bar was an extra charge, even if it was non alcoholic. $18 for a mixed fruit punch with no alcohol was a little pricey IMHO. Also, had the tuna appetizer and it ended up being really spicy but the waiter didn't say anything. Didn't stop me from eating it, though =D The husband availed himself to a massage but he said there was no nuts/snacks or flavored water that you usually find in resort spas. He said there WERE tea bags you could make but that's about it. I wish you could make scented sachets of lavender or whatever to take home with you. The hot sauna, which was outside, initially wasn't on, and could only fit two people. A little awkward if those two people are not there together. There were no other indoor amenities to the spa which I'm sure is ok when the weather is nice, but not so great when the weather is cold. But overall, service was excellent and would definitely return.

This is avery special relaxing reset retreat set in the beautiful coastal redwoods of California's Big Sur coast. This is a 5star luxury resort, and in rating it against other 5 star properties, I had to give it a 4 after staying at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands. Alilia is a...

This is avery special relaxing reset retreat set in the beautiful coastal redwoods of California's Big Sur coast. This is a 5star luxury resort, and in rating it against other 5 star properties, I had to give it a 4 after staying at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands. Alilia is a place to reset your life- nestled in the magic of the coastal redwoods, with 2 great pools, and our room had a private hottub on our deck which was super nice and we used it a lot. Meals were in the restaurant, and you picked items off the menu (no breakfast buffet, but you could order as many items as you wanted. We enjoyed the naturist pools and the Japanese bath house, which had most excellent hottubs with great jets. Definitely recommend for anyone stressed by society and looking for a reset. Namaste