South Coast Winery Resort & Spa

I recently stayed at South Coast Winery Resort & Spa and was disappointed by several aspects of my experience. The most concerning issue was being charged a $100 smoking fee after checkout despite the fact that neither I nor anyone in my party smoked inside the room. My partner and I stay in hotels frequently, often two or more times per month, and in all of our years of travel we have never been charged a smoking fee. We understand hotel policies regarding smoking and would never be careless enough to smoke in or around a guest room. During our stay, we found cigarette butts left behind by a previous guest outside the room. We cleaned them up ourselves and placed them in a brown paper bag before disposing of them in the room's trash can. When the housekeeping supervisor informed me of the smoking charge, I immediately explained that the cigarette butts had been found outside the room and were brought inside solely for disposal. Despite this explanation, I was told that the presence of the cigarette butts in the room's trash can was sufficient evidence to assess the fee. I found this policy and its application to be unreasonable, especially considering that there was no evidence that anyone had actually smoked in the room. At no point was I shown photographs, documentation, or any other evidence demonstrating that smoking had occurred inside the room. Our stay also got off to a frustrating start due to inaccurate information provided by the front desk. We arrived around 8:00 p.m. on a Sunday evening after traveling and were very hungry. A staff member named Michael advised us that although in-room dining was nearing closing time, they would still accept our order if we left a voicemail. We followed those instructions and left our order approximately 30 minutes before service ended. After waiting more than an hour and a half with no food and no return call, we decided to try another option that Michael had recommended—a speakeasy across the street that we were told served food late into the evening. When we arrived, we discovered that it had already been closed for about an hour. As a result, we spent a significant portion of our first night searching for food because both recommendations provided by the hotel turned out to be incorrect. I also had an issue involving personal property. After checking out, I spent some additional time enjoying the pool before leaving the resort. During that time, I realized I had left several suits in the room. Housekeeping informed me that they had recovered the suits and returned them to me. However, a brand-new black tie that had been hanging with the suits was missing. When I asked staff about it, no one could provide an explanation for what had happened to it or where it had gone. What makes these issues particularly disappointing is that we were staying in one of the resort's private villas and chose this property expecting a premium experience and a higher level of service. While the grounds and overall property are beautiful, being charged a smoking fee without clear evidence, receiving inaccurate information from staff that directly affected our stay, and having personal property go missing without any meaningful follow-up fell well below the standard I expected from a resort of this caliber. I hope management reviews both the smoking fee assessment process and its lost-and-found procedures to prevent future guests from having similar experiences.

During our stay, our vehicle was broken into and my wallet was stolen. Based on the timing of the incident, the nature of the purchases made using my cards, and details that were known about our attendance at a wedding, I have serious concerns about the security of the property. What was especially troubling was learning that there are no security cameras covering the Villa 2604 area. In this day and age, a lack of surveillance in guest parking and villa areas is unacceptable and leaves guests with little protection or recourse when crimes occur. This experience was extremely upsetting and significantly impacted our stay. As a result, I would not choose to stay at this property again and cannot recommend it to others who value safety and security.

Overall it was such an amazing atmosphere, cleanliness, and experience to have. The restaurant and food was awesome. All the staffs were nice, polite, and helpful at all times. I would definitely recommend it to everybody to at least experience it once in their lifetime.

We stayed for a wedding.. the accommodations were nice and the wedding was wonderful. We had a villa and the patio was the best part.. it was secluded from the other villas and the view was amazing.

Slow service, did not hold up to its name. Did not have enough cutlery and spoons! we received plastic spoons in your expensive restaurant and were told you all were completely out of spoons! Completely unacceptable.