Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas

Loved this Hotel. We had a beautiful room on the first floor with a patio and a firepit. Facing the ocean You could sit outside and hear the ocean. Staff was attentive and helpful Restaurant was great food was good.

I recently stayed at Alila Marea for one night to celebrate our anniversary. Unfortunately, this was by far the worst Hyatt property I have stayed at to date and I do not plan to stay at this property again. 1. The room was poorly designed and lacked basic functionality This was the first hotel room I have ever stayed in that did not have a proper chair and desk. I had to call the front desk and request a desk simply so I could comfortably use my laptop. Without the additional desk and chair, there was essentially nowhere comfortable to sit in the room other than the bed or a small bench in the corner. That is a very strange and impractical setup for a hotel room, particularly for a property positioned as an upscale Alila resort. More importantly, the actual room looked significantly different from the room shown on the Hyatt website/app when I made the booking. I understand that room layouts can vary, but the difference in functionality was substantial. The makeup mirror was also broken, which was another disappointing detail that should have been caught before the room was assigned to a guest. 2. The room was unnecessarily loud The bathroom exhaust fan was extremely loud, and there was no obvious way to turn it off immediately. As a result, my wife had a very poor night's sleep. For a hotel stay, particularly one intended to celebrate an anniversary, having a constantly loud mechanical noise in the room is simply unacceptable. 3. The breakfast experience at Vaga was extremely disappointing The breakfast experience was probably the most frustrating part of the stay. As Globalist members, we understood that breakfast at Vaga was available from 7:00–11:00 AM. We arrived at approximately 10:45 AM and were told that the wait time would be around 20 minutes. What made this particularly frustrating was that there were numerous empty tables in the restaurant. I specifically asked whether we could sit at one of the empty tables and wait, but the host refused and asked us to wait at the bar instead. We waited at the bar for approximately 25 minutes, and we still had not been seated. When I followed up with the host, I was told, *“I thought you are okay to sit at the bar and have the breakfast.”* That was never what I said or agreed to. In total, it took approximately 30 minutes for us to be seated, despite the restaurant clearly not appearing busy. There were also more than five waiters working during this time. I simply do not understand why the seating process was so inefficient. At the very least, the restaurant could have taken our breakfast order while we were waiting so that we could begin enjoying our meal sooner. This was not simply a matter of being busy—it felt like a lack of organization, communication, and basic service efficiency. The team at Vaga needs to improve both the guest communication and the overall process. If staffing is the issue, additional staff should be considered; if staffing is not the issue, then the existing process needs to be made substantially more efficient. 4. Housekeeping knocked on the door before checkout time A housekeeping staff member knocked on our door at approximately 10:40 AM, even though the official checkout time was 11:00 AM. This may seem like a minor issue, but when a guest has not yet checked out, housekeeping should know that the room is still occupied. Being disturbed 20 minutes before the official checkout time is unnecessary and particularly disappointing at an upscale property. 5. The late checkout experience was disappointing I was only able to receive a 12:00 PM checkout. I completely understand that late checkout is subject to availability and that a hotel may be fully booked. However, for an Alila property, I expected a considerably better effort to accommodate a loyal Hyatt guest, especially given the other issues we experienced during the stay. ### Overall This was my first stay at Alila Marea, and unfortunately it will also be my last. I have stayed at many Hyatt properties, including higher-end properties within the portfolio, and this experience fell far below the standard I associate with Hyatt and especially with the Alila brand. The combination of a poorly designed and inadequately equipped room, excessive noise, a frustrating breakfast experience, housekeeping arriving before checkout, and a very limited late-checkout option made this an extremely disappointing stay—especially considering that we were visiting to celebrate our anniversary. This experience also makes me understand why the property currently receives relatively mediocre reviews on the Hyatt website. Unless these issues are addressed, I would not be surprised to see guest satisfaction decline further.

Nice property but not sure it's as luxe as other Alila resorts. Restaurant was fantastic. I liked the little luxurious touches in the rooms and the patio room. They didn't honor late checkout for globalist, and the suite upgrade was a bit weird -- they had given me a coastal balcony room in the app but checking in, it turned into a ground floor patio room. The room itself was fine, except that it's not secure, someone could easily jump over the seating from the sidewalk. Other than that, the views were lovely and the pool and whirlpool spa were very nice.

I am extremely disappointed with the stay I had at Alila Marea in Encinitas. There were so many issues and when I tried to discuss them with staff at front desk I was dismissed. Dining: Vaga was expensive and the food was not good. The rooms were not clean. Pool area was not clean, food on chairs and hair all over pool deck. Pool service slow, when I asked staff to help with an umbrella they asked me to move chairs. Children present at pool, though my understanding this is a kid free hotel. I should not have to ask at a luxury resort to have room cleaned and refreshed daily. Though they do not clean well anyway. Showers are not clean. Bed hard and uncomfortable. Beach chairs not ready and not available to set up. Specifically says this is a service available, there is a daily resort fee. Ebike not available multiple times when asked got to ride once. Resort fee? Valet was slow. But charging 60$ a day and on the day I left at 9am? Bizarre.

Hotel is beautiful but service is consistently terrible (and many amenities are mediocre- including room service portions/quality, toiletries, etc.). Given the location of this hotel, I have stayed many times on work trips, but I think I will now have to start staying at the Torrey pines lodge or elsewhere. Alila has disappointed too many times.