Carmel Valley Ranch, Hyatt Unbound Collection is an all-suites resort in Carmel Valley, California. We stayed 3 nights in the off-season (February) at a cash rate of slightly over $300 per night through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts. By booking this way, we received early check-in, $100 property credit, $60 per day breakfast credit, and a room upgrade.
Carmel Valley Ranch Bottom Line Review
Excellent high-end yet unpretentious California resort. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed Carmel Valley Ranch. We booked a junior suite, but were upgraded to a large and very comfortable 1 bedroom corner suite. We were impressed with the beautiful property itself, the solid and unpretentious service, and the delicious food.
Our bedroom unit didn’t have much in the way of views: our deck looked out only at trees and other units. Elsewhere around the resort, though, there are gorgeous views of the property and surrounding valley. That said, it’s worth noting that if you’re looking for ocean views, you won’t get them here. You’ll have to drive about 10 miles west to find some of the most stunning ocean views in the world.
- Points Price: Category 6, 25,000 points per night standard, 21,000 off-peak, or 29,000 peak
- Location: Very good
- Resort Dining: The main restaurant features excellent but pricey food. A little market offers a small selection of tasty and reasonably priced sandwiches (including breakfast sandwiches). There are additional food options at the Golf Clubhouse and the River Lodge (activity center), but we didn’t try either.
- Bedroom: Excellent. Lots of space. Comfy bed. Comfortable couch and chair in living room.
- Activities: The resort has several free activities and quite a few available for an extra charge. Free activities include guided hikes, farm & nature talks, evening S’mores, and various exercise options (yoga, etc.). The only paid activities we opted for were the Whiskey tasting ($20) and Falconry ($135). I highly recommend both.
- Pet friendly: We didn’t bring a pet, but there were many dogs on property and they were clearly treated very well. I wish I had taken a photo of the amazing looking breakfast that was served to a dog in the restaurant!
- Service: Excellent
- Turn-down service? Yep, but they didn’t include mints or any other treats.
- Resort fee: $45 per day, includes parking. Keep in mind that Hyatt doesn’t charge resort fees on award stays, so you can save extra money by booking with points.
- Misc:
- Welcome gift: We had notified the resort ahead of time that we would be celebrating a major anniversary and so they delivered a bottle of Swing Pinot Noir from their own vineyard. We enjoyed it and appreciated the gesture.
- Surprise gift: On the second day of our visit they randomly brought us a small bag of chocolate chip cookies. I assume that they do this for all guests, but I’m not sure why it only happened once on a three day stay.
- Recreation center: The resort includes a recreation center called the River Lodge which includes sports like tennis and basketball, kid-friendly pools, games, exercise options, and more. Unfortunately, the River Lodge is quite a hike from the main part of the resort where the guestrooms and main lodge are located. You can drive to the River Lodge or request a golf cart ride.
- Hyatt Elite Benefits: I don’t know. We used Fine Hotels & Resorts which offered excellent elite-like benefits. I expect that Hyatt Globalists will get free daily breakfast, waived resort fees, a suite upgrade, and probably a welcome gift.
- Would I stay again? Yep! If I return I would probably mix a few nights here with a few nights at an oceanfront property such as the nearby Hyatt Carmel Highlands.
Photos and captions follow…
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[…] available at many more hotels including some very popular Hyatt’s such as Ventana Big Sur, Carmel Valley Ranch, and Grand Hyatt Kauai. H/T Point Me to the Plane. I looked at what was included at Carmel Valley […]
[…] wife an I stayed here in late February and really enjoyed it. You can read my review here. While we liked our stay at the adults-only Ventana Big Sur even more, Carmel Valley Ranch is […]
[…] because the meeting she had been invited to was cancelled. Instead we vacationed in California at Carmel Valley Ranch and Ventana Big Sur. The former was excellent, and the latter was magical. As an added bonus, I […]
Just 35 miles south is Ventana Big Sur which is now part of Hyatt at 30k per night and is an absolutely magical property. We stayed with our 2 English Springer Spaniel puppies and were warmly welcomed with a Globalist upgrade to a 2 story suite, complimentary breakfast, free parking and free Tesla Supercharging, and no resort fees. Globalist is the secret to happiness on the road!
Yep, magical is a good description for Ventana! While Carmel Valley Ranch was excellent, Ventana was next level. https://frequentmiler.com/ventana-big-sur-hyatt-bottom-line-review-awesome/
I was excited to see this post. We booked this resort on points for a stay in April. We will be celebrating our wedding anniversary too, although not a milestone year but really isn’t every year a milestone! I saw the falconry activity and definitely want to book it, it looks amazing! Did you have dinner at the Valley Kitchen? The menu looks great, I definitely want to try it out one evening. I’m looking forward to this getaway!
If you had to choose one for your next stay, would you choose Carmel valley ranch or Highlands inn?
That’s a tough question. I’d like to do both: Carmel Valley Ranch for the activities and the Highlands for the ocean views and nearby Point Lobos State park (which is awesome). If I was forced to pick one I might choose the highlands but it would be a really tough choice.
Greg, I’d point out those two things, visiting Point Lobos Park and the views from the Highlands Inn restaurant, can be had w/o staying at the Highlands Inn, not that I’m knocking the Highlands Inn.
Thanks for posting the breakfast menu. Honestly, I was expecting the food would be pricier than that. With the $60/day breakfast credit, I’m guessing you didn’t go hungry.
Definitely didn’t go hungry!
On that $60 per day credit how does Taxes work on that ?? I had Taxes @ checkout on resort fees 16% !!
CHEERs
I enjoyed my stay here a few months ago as well. I forgot to book with the FHR or Hyatt Prive, so didn’t get the free breakfast/resort credit. Next time! Rooms were nice. When I went, I think it was a Joie de vivre hotel. I guessed they changed management because it’s an unbound collection hotel now. I guess I have to go again. But this time on points to avoid the resort fees.
The brand change wasn’t due to a management change. It’s due to Hyatt not knowing what to do with its newly acquired Joie de Vivre brand.
This place looks awesome. But I’m so fed up with resort fees that I’ve been aiming to avoid all places that levy them. That’s putting a crimp in my travel options, to be sure, but it’s such an odious practice, compounded by how obnoxiously disingenuous hotel executives are when asked about them (ranges from “our guests love what they get for this fee!” to “this enables us to offer amazing amenities that are a great value!”
Just once, I want a drunk exec to blurt out, “We know it’s bullshit, but all the other hotels do it, so we can’t afford to just absorb the cost. Plus, most of the OTAs are hilariously wimpy and don’t charge commission on the fees. SUCKERS!”
Just book this one with points and then there are no resort fees
Yep, I saw that point (no pun intended) in your post, but sadly, not all of us have that many Hyatt points layin’ around. Then again… Chase transfers… hmmm! 🙂
That said, it’s still the principle of the thing. It’s sad enough that it’s primarily (only?) Americans that put up with dishonest crap like this :\
I enjoy the Hyatt Place in Santa Cruz. Fits a family of 5 with a large room and a respectable breakfast. 15k points. Love the sun set in Carmel beach. Makes for amazing pictures of family, dogs and kids.