Background:
I needed a hotel for a night in the Monterey area before heading up to my stay at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay. I was able to get a Tuesday night for under $200 at the Monterey Marriott. I’ve stayed here before as a kid about twenty years ago, and had a good experience then, so I was excited to try it out again. Of course, I made sure the rooms have been refreshed since then, and they have been renovated in 2020 🙂
Booking:
The Monterey Marriott is a Category 7 property in the Marriott Bonvoy program. Currently, that means a night will cost 50k points off peak, 60k standard and 70k peak. In March 2022, the Marriott Bonvoy program will eliminate its existing award charts and transition to “Flexible Point Redemption Rates”. This means that prices will go up and down on a daily basis to reflect current room rates.
Cash rates can start as low as at about $200 a night depending on the dates, but in 2022 seems to average out in the low $300’s.
Arrival + Location:
We arrived around 6pm, and were quickly helped by the valet. The hotel has valet parking for $27 a night, and there is no self-parking option on site. You can parking in a nearby city lot, or try to find street parking if you want, but for convenience for our one-night stay, we opted to valet.
We mainly used this hotel as a road trip stop, but it is conveniently located in the Downtown Monterey area. We walked a block over to Alvarado Street for some ice cream, and there are plenty of restaurants to choose from as well. The Old Fisherman’s Wharf is just a 5 minute stroll away too. The other popular part of Monterey is Canary Row, which is a little over a mile away.
Check-In:
The hotel was pretty empty during our stay, so we were quickly helped by a very friendly front desk associate. Our original room was a 2 Double Beds room, but I noticed they also had a 2 Queen Beds room type. I asked if we could have 2 Queens instead, and he was able to find one for us. It’s nice when 2 people are sharing one of the queen beds as double beds can be tighter.
Front Desk
Lobby
The Room:
We were assigned a room on the 4th floor, and while the hallways were a bit outdated, the room thankfully was quite updated.
2 Queen Beds
There was a desk area, as well as a chair and side table. The room felt quite spacious, with plenty of walkway space. The room was very clean as well.
The beds were quite comfortable, and pillows were of good quality. I got a solid night’s sleep.
There’s a mini-fridge for personal use, and tea and coffee were provided. In room technology was good, with plenty of charging ports and USB ports. You could also connect to your favorite streaming content (Netflix, YouTube, Hulu) on the TV.
The only thing that looked a bit historic was this luggage rack lol. It looks like it needs a refresh as it was stained and didn’t look clean, so I did not use it.
“Vintage” Luggage Rack
We had a view of a downtown building, and the surrounding area which wasn’t too bad.
Room View
Bathroom:
The bathroom was very functional, with the sink being outside of the shower and toilet area, allowing multiple people to use the bathroom at once. The sink had plenty of counter space. It was a bit of an interesting design, with a 3/4ths wall separating the sink area from the bedroom area. The gap in the wall did make it a bit noisy when someone was using the sink and someone else was trying to sleep.
Bathroom Sink
Shower Area
The shower was nice, and water pressure was very good. Additionally, the TP quality was very good, even better than the Ritz-Carlton I’ve stayed at the following night.
Toiletries were provided by ThisWorks, and they were made in the USA. Not the biggest fan of the scent, which is a very strong Eucalyptus.
Amenities + Dining:
I didn’t have time to visit any of the amenities, but there is a fitness center on the 2nd floor that is open 24 hours and the hotel has an outdoor pool as well.
The on-site restaurant Fin and Field is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, from 6:30am to 11:00pm, and serves a menu of farm-to-table dishes.
The Verdict:
Overall, the Monterey Marriott was a solid Marriott property. A perfect hotel for exploring Monterey, or with my needs, a perfect place to stop for a road trip. I will definitely consider staying here again!
Have you stayed at the Monterey Marriott before? Comment below!
Safe travels,
Ty
Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
SO no full door separating the bath area from the bedroom??? Not a big fan of that.
That’s correct, open access to the sink, only a slider door to the shower/toilet area.
I stayed at this hotel in July-2021 and got a room on the 4th floor facing the ocean. For me, the view makes a huge difference on my hotel stay experience. If you stay at this hotel, I highly recommend getting a room on a high floor for the best view, otherwise, anything else will be a disappointment.
Thanks for reading and for the tip! I’ll try an ocean view next time!
i enjoyed your detailed article. Very helpful in making a decision to stay there or not. From your article it does appear to be a very good property to stay. I do agree with the other comment that while the luggage rack may have been “Historic” & “Vintage” … that I would still use it as long as it was clean and in working order. However, I do understand that if a hotel does renovate their rooms, they should make sure to have all items in the room brought up to the same new standards. Little details can make a… Read more »
Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed the post. I should have been a bit more clear or used different words to describe the luggage rack haha, as it didn’t look too clean being stained and dark.
I’m confused by your comment about the luggage rack. Needs refreshed and you didn’t use it. Was it dirty? Were there bugs on it? I see luggage racks like this quite often. As long as the work and they are clean, what’s the big deal?
It was quite dark and stained, didn’t look too clean. Thanks for reading!