We recently stayed here while attending an event and visiting friends. The hotel was in excellent condition and our room was very clean. All staff, from front desk to bellmen and valets were friendly and efficient. The view from our room was beautiful and the breakfast we had was delicious. We are anxious to,return!

When I read negative reviews on hotels, I generally look for repeated comments on one of the following: a) Outdated/Unclean rooms or property; b) Thin Walls/Noisy; or c) those dissatisfied with front desk/customer service. I often assume that some people are just way too particular & tend to ignore those if other reviews paint a different picture. I really should have paid more attention to the repeated bad reviews of the front desk staff/management as their callousness & ineptitude was really surprising and frustrating for a supposed '5 star resort'. My bad review here has nothing to do with the room or property itself, but rather is solely based on my experience with the front desk management. The property itself is lovely and I would have rated it much higher on it's own but the atrocious customer service cancelled out anything that was good about the resort itself. I'll try to keep this as concise as possible but need to provide the details. Upon check in, I notified the front desk that I had not received an email confirmation for our 3 night stay reservation and verified they had my correct email address. They did have it correct and apologized for the oversight. I then proceeded to extend my stay for 2 additional nights which after checking with her manager, was confirmed that our stay would be extended at the same rate. I asked for an email to confirm that, which I was again assured would be forthcoming. I never received that email. I received a call on the afternoon after our 3rd night saying we never checked out. When I reminded them that we had extended our stay for 2 additional nights, they told me they had no record of that. After being put on hold for several minutes, they said they could extend my stay but I would need to stop by the front desk to get new keys. I cut our afternoon excursion short to handle that as I didn't want any further issues. At this point, just another minor inconvenience but strike 2 on the front desk. The 2nd to last night of our trip, my wife came down with a nasty virus...she informed me the next morning that she had been up all night in the bathroom with a hacking cough, fever, heavy congestion, bad headache, etc. and needed to go home. I told her to lay down for a bit and try to get a little rest and if she still wasn't feeling any better in a few hours, I would notify the front desk that we had to leave a day earlier than planned. Well, needless to say, she only felt worse as the morning progressed so at around 9:45 am, I called down to the front desk and asked to speak with the manager on duty. I was told she was busy but would call me back shortly. An hour went by and no one got back to me so I packed up the family and went down to the front desk. I spoke with the manager on duty and explained the situation. She said unfortunately, I would still be charged for the night as hotel policy for any cancellation is 24 hrs. I told her I understood that but explained this was extenuating circumstances and I needed to get my wife home and to see a doctor. Again, I was told there was nothing they could do. I asked if I could speak with her supervisor and was told that she wouldn't be in until the next day but she would leave a message for her to call me and gave me her name (Jazmin). I also asked for a copy of my portfolio/bill to be emailed to me...which I was assured it would be. It's now 4 days later and I still haven't received it. I have no doubt there is something devious going on with the charges given their complete ineptitude in sending a simple email that any 2 or 3 star hotel does automatically. When I did not hear from Jazmin the next day, I called the resort 3x before I was finally connected with her. She coldly reiterated there was nothing she could do. I again stated that I understood hotel policy and that they don't want people to take advantage with last minute cancellations but given the circumstances, I would hope they would have a little more compassion...especially when spending upwards of $650/night on top of the thousands of dollars I already spent at the resort. Not only was I repeatedly told in a robotic manner that 'unfortunately, there's nothing I can do'...I said I would assume there had to be circumstances where they was something they could do and in a very condescending manner, she said 'well, had you rushed your wife to the hospital emergency room, then I would be able refund you for the 1 night.' WHAT? Did I actually hear her correctly? So I'm being penalized for not having to call 911 and have my rushed to the hospital?? I was appalled! Instead of getting upset or furthering this conversation with a low level assistant office manager who is clearly very new at her job and should not be dealing with guests, I asked if I could have her supervisors name or whoever was in charge. She refused to give me a name or contact information but said she would pass along my message and have them get back to me. I was able to gather online the GM is Cindy Bacco and Front Desk Managers are Natalie Liera & Kendal Ruvalcaba. Of course, 3 days later, I'm still waiting for that call. I also asked again for a copy of bill/charges - still haven't received it. This is truly feeling very shady. Being an extensive traveler for both business and personal and having stayed at some wonderful hotels around the country & world, I have never been treated like this, let alone at a high end establishment. After reading some of the other negative reviews, I see that the consistent response from the resort management was to please reach out to fdmanagement@balboabayresort.com with any issues and allow them the opportunity to address any issues or concerns. Because of that, I thought I'd give them the courtesy of reaching out before writing any negative reviews here and elsewhere as well as taking to social media. Give them the opportunity they are requesting, however canned and insincere that may be, in the hopes of making any sort of amends. NOT EVEN THE COURTESY OF A RESPONSE. Even a simple 'we are in receipt of your email and someone will be in touch soon' would have been nice. Just know that their response to those negative reviews to 'reach out to us' is clearly NOT SINCERE and is simply to dupe those who read these reviews into feeling otherwise. I'm happy to amend this review IF I ever actually do hear from anyone who actually cares, but I'm not holding my breath. There are just too many other great options in the area at a similar price point - The Resort at Pelican Hill (beautiful property and top notch customer service); The Pendry; Montage; etc.. Those properties are beautiful resorts AND have wonderful customer service.

Friendly staff who love what they do! It’s the best to be around happy people when you are working. The rooms are very comfortable with a beautiful plant and delicious coffee. The food for our large group was delicious for every meal. The views are relaxing and the outdoor spaces worked well for break out groups. Work WOW.

Hello We were disappointed in a few ways. Right when we checked into our suite, there were old, used water bottles in our fridge. It was not a good feeling right when we checked in. Customer service was great at this point as we were offered food credit. We then later found a hair on the towels. At this point our family decided not to say anything out of courtesy. But then we asked for another set of sheets and there was blood stain on the sheets. Overall, it was very disappointing with how dirty it was. We tried to be optimistic and enjoyed our morning with in room dining. Then as we were checking out, we asked for bell service to help with our bags, no one showed up. We waited 35-40 min and no one came so we lugged everything down ourselves. We also called again as a reminder but still no one came. We will not be going back or recommending to others.

I enjoyed a top notch experience in every aspect. Clean, beautiful accommodations with an incredible view of the bay, gracious staff from desk to restaurant to housekeeping (especially the housekeeping), shopping, spa and easy access to nearby sightseeing and eateries. We had one issue with a clogged and leaking sink which was swiftly managed with a short time after notifying maintenance.