One of the most expensive hotels in the Hyatt umbrella, the Alila Ventana Big Sur wows with excellent service, delicious food, and a calming atmosphere.

View other posts in this series:

• Simply Spectacular: The Immaculate Alila Ventana Big Sur (this post)
• Enjoying Breakfast at the Alila Ventana Big Sur
• Satisfying Lunch at the Alila Ventana Big Sur
• Delicious Dinner at the Alila Ventana Big Sur
• Alila Ventana’s NYE Dinner at The Sur House: Absolutely Delicious
• The Paid and Free Activities at Ventana Big Sur
• Comparing Miraval Berkshires With Alila Ventana: Which Is Better?

Booking

Jenn and I have been trying to come to this Alila for a few years. This was our third booking of the hotel, but only the first time that we were able to make it out here. Mostly, that’s because we had some problems getting the kids comfortable enough to survive a few nights without us. While we have done separate trips with the kids with only one parent present, it took a while before we could fully sneak away. We’re thankful to be able to finally have a refreshing trip without the kids.

I booked this hotel using Hyatt points, a cost of 45,000 of them per night. The hotel is a Category 8 property and though there are supposed to be low and standard seasons, the pricing seems to reflect high season year-round. On top of the points used, I also used a Suite Upgrade Award to make the stay a bit more special.

To our pleasant surprise, the hotel further upgraded us to the Vista Hot Tub Suite room. That ended up being quite the treat, especially since we were here over New Years with the property quite full.

Looking to stay here on cash? That will run you north of $2,000/night for a standard room. If you’re lucky enough to get in the Vista Hot Tub Suite, that room will cost a whopping $4,000/night. Quite frankly, I’d prefer not to pay those cash rates but I recognize others might. Based on my valuation of Hyatt points (2 cents/point), the 45,000/night point cost means we’re effectively paying a reasonable $900/night. That’s a cash rate that I would absolutely take, if offered.

Earning World of Hyatt points

Full disclosure: in this section are refer-a-friend links where I may earn some points for referring. There is no requirement to use the below referral links to apply but note your offer may differ when going directly to the card issuer.

Chase has a couple of cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points that can transfer to Hyatt at a 1:1 rate:

• The Chase Sapphire Preferred card (refer-a-friend link) has a limited-time offer of 100,000 points for spending $5,000 in the first three months. It has a $95 annual fee.
• There is currently a limited-time offer (refer-a-friend link) on the Chase Ink Business Unlimited that gives an excellent 100,000 points for spending $8,000 in the first three months. There is no annual fee.

The Hyatt personal credit card (not an affiliate link) offers a 30,000 point bonus when spending $3,000 in three months. On top of that, you get 2X earnings during the first six months until you reach $15,000 in spend. At most, this is a 45,000 card for spending $15,000–and most certainly not the 60,000 bonus it claims disingenuously claims. But, on the bright side, if that $15,000 spend happens within the same calendar year, you’ll also get six elite night credits and a Category 1-4 free night certificate.

The small business version of the Hyatt credit card (refer-a-friend link) offers a 60,000 point bonus when spending $5,000 in three months. The main appeal here is the easier path towards earning elite status (5 elite night credit for every $10,000 in spend per calendar year), but it also gives up to $100 back on Hyatt purchases.

Arrival and First Impressions

We were originally wondering about driving up to Big Sur from Southern California, but the repairs were not complete along Highway 1. Rather than drive up Interstate 5 and cut back southbound on Highway 1, we figured it was better just to fly to San Jose and drive two hours south to get here. While there is a closer airport in Monterey (half an hour away), flights were prohibitively expensive for the holiday season.

The drive down to the hotel is simply breathtaking and worthy of a follow-up post of its own. Once we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by a simple rustic gate and a speaker box. We pressed the button, mentioned our name to the receptionist, and the gate magically opened for us. A short winding path later we found ourselves at valet and the short path up to the front desk.

Checking in

The front desk is known as the Social House, which doubles as a recreational room. You’ll also find some small snacks and drinks here throughout the day. We were immediately greeted by a representative who thoroughly went through all the details of the property. He also mentioned that the website did not have the most current hours of the facilities (and neither did the printed map), so he marked up the times. That’s a bit confusing if the hours don’t all align.

For those who don’t know, the room rate includes all meals. It doesn’t matter if you paid cash or used points, which is awesome. This isn’t like your typical all-inclusive because the food is high-quality and oh-so-scrumptious.

After checking in, the front desk offered us a ride over to our room in a small but cute cart. Since the front desk suggested we should take it, we did. But it totally wasn’t necessary since it was a rather short ride to our room. You could always call up the hotel and ask for it to take you around the property, but we preferred exploring on our own.

The Room

Our room for this stay was #2, which was our personal lowest-numbered room ever.

Once inside, we found plenty of space for the two of us. Of course, despite the room being called a “suite”, there was not a separate living area from the bedroom. Given it was just us two, we didn’t have a problem with that.

Directly in front of us when entering was a table that we both used to work. Yeah, we’re both nerds who didn’t fully disconnect while here.

The hotel did provide a nice welcome gift for us: a half bottle of wine and a cheese and cracker plate. Also on the table were two reusable bottles of water. Unlike the water bottles provided at other hotels, these are high quality and have instantly become my preferred water bottle when out and about.

Just to the left of the entrance is a sink and a coffee machine. The water coming out of the sink is already fully filtered (and comes straight from the mountain). Having incredibly fresh water at our fingertips in our room sure is convenient.

Underneath the sink are some light snacks and drinks. These are complimentary and are restocked daily.

Just to our right was the bed. We found it quite comfortable–not too soft or firm. The one downside of the bed was the frame surrounding it. I wish I took a picture to help illustrate the point, but if you wanted to watch the TV while in bed, the thick frame got in the way.

In the other corner, you’ll find a TV mounted above a (real) fireplace and a couple of chairs. We didn’t use the chairs all that much. But we did use the fireplace quite extensively (more on that later).

Also located in the bedroom is a record player. You got me if kids these days know what a record player is, but this one does work. Just go to the Social House and look through their stash of records to figure out what you want to listen to.

The first night we were here, Jenn wanted to listen to none other than Christina Aguilera. Go figure, after choosing the record and handing it to me, she ran off. Another hotel guest walked by and started talking to me about the choice. He certainly had a lot to say about the Christina / Britney feud from over 20 years ago. Thanks, Jenn.

That said, the records failed to give clear audio. I don’t know if it’s because there were no cleaning tools or if other guests damaged them. But whatever the reason, I’d say just skip the records.

The bathroom

Next to the bedroom is a rather large bathroom. As you might guess, there’s more than enough space here for just the two of us. The first thing to greet us was the double sinks at the vanity.

To the right of the vanity is a shower and a separate soaking tub. From our time here, we ended up wishing for three improvements.

• There isn’t much lighting, which made it a bit troublesome to take a shower late in the evening.
• The hot air from the shower dissipates quite quickly. Since there is no enclosure above the shower trapping the heat, expect to be a bit cold.
• The shower also had a bit of wasted space. With a shower head so small, you’d think that perhaps they would have installed two shower heads or a shower wand.

These weren’t deal-breakers by any means, but for a property charging such a high cash rate, is it wrong to expect it to get the small stuff right?

The toiletries were Ventana-branded, which were fine.

The hotel also provided bathrobes, which is also nice to use when visiting the pools around the property. But it would have been nice if the hotel provided more durable slippers to go along with them. The provided slippers were quite flimsy. As you would guess, they fell apart quite quickly after getting out of the pools. That resulted in some people just walking around barefoot if they didn’t bring their own from home.

Outdoor area

Walking out onto the outdoor deck, we found a nice section packed with different seating options. As it was rather brisk in late December, we chose not to relax out here all that much. But if we were here in warmer months, I could see myself staying out here more than just sitting indoors.

Also outside was the room’s namesake: a private hot tub. Now, I know what you’re all thinking–how much privacy do you get while you use the hot tub? While you’re in the hot tub, no one can see you. But see those privacy slats immediately behind it? Those slats are turned the wrong way. Anyone in the guest rooms could potentially see you because the slats open up towards their outdoor decks. Whoops.

The view from the room was pretty, with only nature visible as you looked out to the horizon.

The fireplace

One feature I’ve liked in these outdoorsy hotels is the in-room fireplace. Right next to the fireplace is a collection of kindling and logs. Just toss one bag onto the pit and light it some matches to get two hours of fire. Just make sure to burn the handle of the bag first or you’ll burn through your matches quickly.

Once again, the Social House has everything you need to make smores in your room. The only problem is finding enough room in your stomach to eat after each dinner. That was our problem and only did it the first night here.

Each night with turndown service, housekeeping staff left a small gift each night. Two of the three nights we were here, we received the spirit of sage. Tossing this onto the fire gave the room a slight aroma.

Around the resort

The Ventana resort is absolutely stunning, completely surrounded by nature. While there were many things that we loved about the resort, this was one of our favorites. Just stepping outside the room and smelling the fresh air and hearing birds chirping was quite seductive.

Unlike other rooms, ours did not come with a hammock. But no worries there–we did use a communal hammock.

You’ll also find a few wooden bridges around the property. While there is a fitness center on site, frankly walking around the property is so much more engaging.

And for those wondering, there are plenty of electric vehicle charges. You’ll find eight Tesla superchargers, one Tesla destination charger, and a third-party charger. You don’t need to be a registered hotel guest to use them.

Daily happy hour

Up in the Sur House between 4PM and 5PM, hotel guests get a complimentary beverage. The complimentary drink each night was the Marine Layer, which had a neat bubble on top of the drink simulating the marine layer enveloping the area each day.

If you chat up the bartender, you might also find out that a small appetizer plate is also available. The choices were a cheese board, some fries, or cashews. Naturally, we chose the cheese board. This was a nice treat, but totally unnecessary since all meals are complimentary at the hotel. You’re not going to go hungry here.

We preferred to enjoy our drinks outside, but if you chose to remain inside you’ll find a nice cozy corner in the restaurant. There are a couple of board games to pass the time too.

I’ll also throw this in here. After enjoying dinner at The Sur House, please take the short walk back to your room and just bask in the light of the heavens. There are so many stars visible here and we loved all the stargazing. We pulled out our phones to use the Star Walk 2 app that we learned about from our time at the Ritz Carlton Maldives.

Ventana camping site

Jenn and I did venture down into the Ventana camping site as we were curious about the situation. The Ventana campsite is the only one that earns Hyatt elite night credit for pitching your own tent. The area is nicely maintained, with separate sections for empty lots and glamping tents.

The glamping sites provide a large bed. We saw some staff changing the sheets inside the tents while we wandered around here. There’s also a creek that fills the air with sounds of running water. It’s pretty relaxing and we’d consider coming here. Unlike the Ventana resort, the campsite allows kids to stay the night here.

There is a bath house available for campers. It’s protected by a keycard reader, so we didn’t take a look inside. From all the camping I did as a child, I know that some campgrounds don’t include a place to shower. So it’s nice that this one provides a nice enclosed space to bathe.

You’ll also find some toilets around the campground. These sure are nicer-looking than a porta potty.

Oh, and you might wonder if campers have access to all of the amenities up at the Ventana resort. Nope, that’s not allowed. The hotel has these keycard scanners on the paths between the campground and the resort. Though it should be noted that it’s pretty easy to just walk around these doors. It’s more of the symbolism than anything else.

Recommendation: Yes, but I recognize it’s not for everyone

As mentioned above, the resort grounds are incredibly special and make you feel like you’re in a different world. The service here is simply remarkable and everything we expected it would be. Having all meals included–and quality meals at that (more on this later)–is generous. There is a lot here that the hotel has going for it, including some complimentary and paid activities (more on this later too). The only problems I found were minor quibbles and nothing that should stop anyone from coming here.

Where might others decide not to come here? First is the price, which is quite expensive at 45,000 points/night or cash rates that top $2,000. Second is whether you enjoy nature-based vacationing. Some people prefer to be in the city and that’s not this at all.

We simply loved our stay here and would be thrilled to return. That is–if we can just find another opportunity where the kids will let us get away from them.

Stay tuned for the next post in the series where we will take a deep dive into the breakfast choices.