Courtyard Salinas Monterey

Our stay was wonderful. We did stay during COVID restrictions, and the hotel does have hand sanitizing stations all over the place, which was really appreciated. The hotel did not seem crowded with guests at all, and the room was very clean (decor and design was really nice too!). Upon checking out of our room we drove away realizing we forgot a cell phone in our room! We called the hotel and headed back; staff was very friendly and helpful and found/returned our phone within minutes. Thank you so much! We stayed the night of our wedding, so if we had lost the phone, we would've also lost precious pictures. -Friendly, helpful, honest staff -COVID-safe stay -Full, spacious balcony with seating -free wifi, large tv -sofa/couch in our room -checkout time was 12pm (awesome!)

Checking in late in the evening, I was surprised to be told there was a $10 per day parking fee. This fee is shown on the Marriott website, however I booked through AMEX. The parking fee, is strictly extra profit as there is no secure parking or gated parking, it is just an unsecured parking lot around the hotel. Covid seems to have taken a toll on the cleanliness of the hallways and common spaces.

Courtyard Salinas Monterey kind of disappointed me because it was outdated, charged for parking, and some people hung around in lobby without masks on. The hotel itself was okay, but no breakfast was offered.

As a Titanium Elite member with Marriott I guess you could say I expect a certain level of quality and cleanliness. I have been to Fairfield properties and other Courtyard properties that are amazing and receive 5 stars simply because the room is clean and up to standards. I’m very happy the rooms here were remodeled because if they weren’t I would have never stayed here. Since they were remolded I thought we would give it a try. Staff was all very kind and helpful. The only problem was the room (220). First off the room was not cleaned properly. Hairs in several places in bathroom. Shelf in shower was falling off. Dirty around shower drain. Terrible water spots all over shower head and shower soap bottles. Top of toilet was not cleaned at all as it had like a green smudge on it. Dust in air vent/ceiling fan in bathroom. Dust on bed headboards. Fibers on chair in room coming off. Many other small things that show cleaning people don’t pay attention to detail. Second, whoever did the remodel did not do a very thorough job. Hole in wall with toilet paper in bathroom looks terrible. Rust in door frame going into bathroom. Bathroom floor grout was never cleaned. Caulking in bathroom on floor is non-existent especially under bathroom door where there is brown. Hard to sleep at night with bright blue light from air conditioning unit (I hope it has a new air filter), bright red light from alarm, and green spotlight from smock detector on ceiling between the beds. I know if this hotel had a manager to oversee and correct problems with rooms and cleanliness this hotel can be improved and be nice to stay at.

The service at this hotel was outstanding - that deserves 5 stars. The hotel itself was good not great - deserves 3.5 stars. It did bother me to pay that much money and still (1) be charged extra for parking, (2) not be offered at least a continental breakfast, and (3) not have a microwave in my room. The hotel shares a lot with Residence Inn, yet the two hotels charge different rates for parking. There is no breakfast buffet as listed in the ad - just an overpriced cafe (albeit with great customer service). I mean, they COULD just give us a voucher to go across the parking lot to the sister Marriott property that does provides breakfast. We were checked in around 11:30 pm by a clerk that was incredibly efficient and helpful. Our room had a strange and fairly strong smell; she was very kind and understanding and let us know which other rooms were available. The King Suite we ended up in had a barely noticeable odor, was spacious and had an attractive lounge chair that pulled out into a small bed. The bed was comfy and good size for two. The sofabed was ok for my kid, not really sturdy enough for a grownup. It had a fridge but no microwave - there was a microwave in the lobby (kind of motel-ish). The housekeeping worker(s) did miracles - they were really very good. And, after we had checked out, the housekeeping lady told the front desk shehad found my son's shoe. They called me immediately and I was able to turn around and pick it up. You just don't see a lot of people trying that hard to give good customer service. That bumps any 3 star hotel to a 4. Oh, one final thing - I was very impressed with the effort to be environmentally conscious. There was a blue trashcan for recycling in the room, they offered extra reward points for opting not to get towel and linens (or something like that), and instead of disposable bottles of shampoo and conditioner, they had dispensers in the shower. Bravo!