Hyatt Carmel Highlands, Overlooking Big Sur Coast

This property is both a Hyatt Resort as well as a Hyatt Vacation Club. We stay here in the Hyatt Resort and in an Oceanview Townhouse Suite. We have been staying here at least once a year for many years. These suites (formerly Oceanview Townhouse Spa Suite) have been TOTALLY remodeled and brought up to date. Old "spa" bathtubs have been removed and there is now a large and separate bathroom with a large shower. Upstairs bathroom has been enlarged and has a large shower. These suites have a wonderful ocean view. I don't know how anyone can complain about the Globalist breakfast. The menu is very extensive so I can't imagine anyone needing to substitute anything. The "Point Lobos" crab benedict is outstanding. Dinner at Pacific Edge was terrific. Had the lamb chops and they were huge and cooked to perfection. We had a most enjoyable stay and can't wait to return once again. One warning- many, if not most, rooms and suites at this property have stairs and are not suitable for those with disabilities. __________________

We have been staying at the HVC Highlands Inn for six years now and the service has consistently declined. We have always booked two weeks there and always request the same unit for both weeks. We also verify this when we check in. This time we got a call on sunday morning at the end of our first week that we needed to be out of our unit by 11 am. We explained we were there for two weeks and had confirmed at checkin that we were in the same unit. Too bad, you have to move. They said they would expedite the cleaning of our new room and store everything until our new room was ready. We specifically mentioned perishables in the refrigerator and freezer. We finally got our new room at 3 pm but no luggage or perishables. We called and said they would deliver them soon. At 4 pm we called again, promised they were on their way. They were finally delivered at 5 pm and the freezer items were thawed and crushed. They said it was our fault because we did not tell them we had items in the freezer. So now we have wasted a day of our vacation and our ice cream, lasagna and pizza are ruined. No apology, no reason for telling us we had the same unit for both weeks then telling us we had to move. No follow through on promises to expedite our new room or refrigerating/freezing our food. This is it for us, we will not be returning next year.

In a single word, the state of this property is "Sad" . . . we have stayed here through the years - several times going back to the 1990's. Now, an overwhelming amount of deferred maintenance is obvious everywhere you look - tired deck finishes, peeling paint, sparsely decorated rooms (almost at a three-star level), room furnishings, etc.. The staff are relentless in trying to sell Hyatt timeshares. It will take millions of such sales, a sliver at a time, to bring in the funds required to upgrade the property to its current price points. We booked an ocean-view suite at full rack ($600 per night) and were horribly disappointed in the room quality and overall value-for-money. One day we were out until about 4pm, returned to find the room had not been serviced. A call to the front desk went unanswered (thirty or so rings). Housekeeping did respond and sent someone to make the bed and bring fresh towels. This level of service with very low occupancy in July which should be a high occupancy month. Sad.

THIS beautiful property which we have been coming to multiple times a year for over 20 years has steadily declined in service. When we bought a timeshare here over 20years ago it was run by Hyatt and had the fine service that the best Hyatt properties always had. Some years ago (maybe 5-10) Marriott bought the property and after it did so it kept trying to push time-share owners into converting to “points”which we resisted. Since then, we have noticed that the quality of service has continued to decline. First it was no longer servicing the rooms each day of a multiple day stay….. then it became harder to get service when requested — such as for new clean towels each day. On this stay we discovered that the fireplaces were no longer being set up to be useful for a fire; they stopped providing kindling and instead gave papers to try to start fires — which any campfire type would know makes it very hard to get a fire with just paper and logs. Today I called and asked for kindling and was told that they don’t provide kindling any more!!!! I told the nice lady on the phone that it was virtually impossible to start a fire with only paper and big logs. She called back and said that she discovered her first answer was wrong and that they do have kindling and that they would send it over. Three hours later, and three more phone calls asking whether the kindling was actually going to be coming, the same lady said that she had requested it several times but that they have a lot of calls for service; I asked were they all for kindling and she said that they were not, but that they had a lot of calls for service and she didn’t know when/whether I’d ever get the kindling. If you are thinking of coming to Carmel Highlands forget the Hyatt Highland Inn. Stay at the Tickled Pink In which is right next door to the Hyatt property and just as lovely with great views and far better service. We’ve strayed there a couple of times and it is a much nicer place with better service that now exists at the Hyatt property.

I rarely leave 1-star reviews, but this hotel completely missed the mark. Check-in took over 2.5 hours because my room wasn’t ready, which set the tone for the rest of my stay. I have food allergies and brought my own breakfast—only to discover there was no refrigerator in the room. I had to keep my food on ice for three days, which is completely unacceptable in any modern hotel. There was also no iron in the room. I had to request a steamer, which took extra time and effort. After a full workday, I came back at 3 p.m. and housekeeping was still in my room, making it impossible to rest or get ready for the evening. To top it all off, I was woken up at midnight by a strange, constant noise in the room that I couldn’t identify. I ended up sleeping with earplugs just to get through the night. The internet didn’t work in my room, so I had to go down to the lobby every time I needed to get online. For a work trip, that’s a dealbreaker. Also, the bathroom lights are motion-sensored—every time I got up in the middle of the night, I was hit with full, blinding brightness, making it nearly impossible to fall back asleep. Adding insult to injury, the front desk manager promised me 8,000 points as compensation for the 2.5-hour delay at check-in, but I was never credited. Then I didn’t even receive the standard points for my stay. The lack of follow-through on that promise only reinforced how poorly managed this hotel is. Between the delays, lack of basic amenities, noise issues, unreliable internet, and broken promises, this stay was frustrating and uncomfortable from start to finish. I won’t be returning—and I definitely don’t recommend this hotel.