Hyatt Carmel Highlands, Overlooking Big Sur Coast

Decades ago, this hotel used to be a wonderful resort. No longer. I would not recommend the Highlands Inn in Carmel to anyone. It needs to be closed for major renovations and reopened under new management. My family and I stayed here in early October, 2024, and had one of the worst hotel experiences of my life (and I am a frequent traveler). We were returning guests. My husband and I stayed here 16 years ago and had a wonderful experience. My husband's parents stayed at this hotel 30 years ago and also had very fond memories. The hotel currently is nothing like what any of us remember from our past stays - but it is deceptively marketing itself as a luxury hotel and charging premium rates. My overall impression was that the hotel seemed run down and in bad need of repairs and renovation. The rooms were musty and dated. The pool was closed for repairs. A section of the hotel near the pool was covered in tarps and sandbags and I saw a county condemnation sign on the door of one of the rooms saying it was unfit for habitation. Cell phone reception was terrible and WiFi was weak and unreliable. The resort appeared to have cut many services since we stayed there 16 years ago. There is no longer an in room dining option. No gift shop and the hotel spa offers such limited services it is not really an on-site hotel spa and should not be marketed as such. All this hotel still has going for it is the spectacular views. If these were the only issues with our stay I would simply say the hotel is past its prime and not worth the money it is charging. However, we experienced several other much more serious issues during or stay that led to us checking out in the dark of night halfway through our stay and switching hotels. On the first day of our planned four day stay, one of our rooms flooded likely due to some nearby hotel construction work that implicated the sprinkler system. Several inches of water suddenly appeared on the floor of the bathroom area. Although staff came to clean up the room, there was a complete lack of urgency about the situation. Staff informed us they would send someone to clean up the room later that day - never mind that during this time the bathroom was functionally inaccessible due to several inches of water on the floor. Thankfully, none of our possessions were severely damaged, the flooding did not spread to the carpeted area, and we planned to be out of the rooms for most of the day anyway. The next day, the water was cut off to our other room - again, likely due to nearby hotel construction work. We found out when we returned to the rooms after being out all day. We had only an hour and half to shower and get ready for dinner - with no water in the room. The hotel restored it; but again, staff treated the situation like a minor inconvenience saying not to worry that water would be restored "in a half hour or so." The conversation made me think that the hotel knew the water was going to be cut that day and simply never informed us. That same evening, we returned to the hotel late evening after dinner to find all the power had been cut to our entire block of rooms. No lights, no WiFi, no hot water, no heating or air conditioning. This time, the hotel staff waived a piece of paper in our faces saying that it wasn't their fault, PG&E cut the power to parts of the hotel because of nearby road construction and that we were notified. We were emphatically NOT notified that the rooms we had booked were going to be without power for one night of our stay. If we had been notified, we would have made alternate arrangements. Nor did it appear that any of the other guests in nearby rooms had been notified as we were not the only angry guests in the hotel lobby at 10:30 pm with flashlights wondering why there was no power to their room. We found out from the staff at the front desk that the hotel KNEW PG&E planned to cut off power to portions of the hotel a week prior to our stay. Despite this knowledge, they did not call us before arrival, inform us at check in, send a text message or email, or even leave a notice on our door or in our room (like the piece of paper they waived in our face at the front desk) that we would be without power for a night. The attitude of some of the staff appeared to be that the situation was no big deal - it is only a night we were told, the power will be restored in the morning. Aside from the fact that we paid for these rooms and expected power would be included (as well as water), one person in our family uses a CPAP at night requiring a power source, and another is elderly who should not be maneuvering around this resort nor her room in complete darkness. We simply could not stay there without power - which is why if we had known in advance, we would have found another hotel. It was unsafe for us. After a lot of back and forth, slowed down by the fact that the general manager of the resort had opted to stay away that evening and leave his front line staff alone, with little decision making ability to face the anger of guests who did not have power to their rooms (which is inexplicable to me if the hotel had forewarning this would occur - senior level customer service people should have been available on site), the front desk found us rooms at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey for the remainder of our stay in the area. Although the Hyatt in Monterey lacked the spectacular views of the Highlands Inn, it was clean, comfortable, well run, and had both power and water. In short, not only is the Highlands Inn a shadow of its former self, it felt unsafe and we felt defrauded. The resort should not accept reservations for rooms that they KNOW may lack basic necessities like water or electricity during the pendency of a guest's stay. If we would have been informed of the power outage in advance we would have found alternate arrangements in advance. In retrospect, based on the reaction of staff I also think the hotel knew that ongoing construction work on the resort would also cause intermittent water outages. The hotel was happy to take our money and the money of others for the full cost of the rooms knowing that if people knew in advance the potential problems most people would make other arrangements and/or ask for refunds. I believe the hotel made a calculated choice to not make any effort to notify guests of known major problems to preserve as much revenue as possible at the expense of the comfort and welfare of its guests. Even if some of the problems we encountered were not foreseeable, such as the sudden flooding of one of the rooms, a hotel still has a responsibility to its guests to provide safe, clean, functional rooms - or help guests promptly make alternate arrangements. The Highlands Inn completely failed. The state of disrepair of the hotel and the level of service we experienced was unacceptable from any hotel, let alone one that markets and prices itself as a luxury hotel. Our stay ended with our family packing up and leaving in complete darkness at 11pm at night to switch hotels guided only by the lights on our iphones because, to add insult to injury, the in room flashlights provided also stopped working. Be forewarned about staying at this hotel.

The view was amazing....but that's about all this hotel has. Our room was dated and had a strong musty smell. The bathroom was AWFUL with no storage or place to put your things. Luckily, we were not in the room much, so we managed. I would not stay here again.

Our recent stay at the Hyatt Highlands Resort in Carmel, CA, was exactly the much-needed getaway and quick vacation our family was hoping for. Traveling with my husband and kids, we appreciated the creature comforts and convenience of having the extra space of the two-story townhouse we stayed in. The just wish the unit had a 2 queen bed unit vs. one king + sofa bed. The included full kitchen, equipped with a microwave and dishwasher, was a thoughtful touch. While we didn’t cook this time around, it was great to have a space to bring home leftovers from the delicious local restaurants and reheat them when the kids were suddenly hungry. That happens a lot in this house. One of the highlights of our stay was breakfast at the onsite restaurant, Pacific's Edge. My teen son absolutely loved the Point Lobos breakfast, a decadent dish featuring Dungeness crab and creamy avocado, topped with perfectly poached eggs and rich hollandaise sauce. The freshness and luxurious flavors made it a standout meal of our trip for him. For me - it's all about the location and the views that go on for days! Dining on the outdoor patio, with the majestic Pacific Ocean as our backdrop, made the experience even more special. But time with my family - is always priceless. After breakfast, we headed to Point Lobos Park for some hiking and to soak in the stunning views even more. My kids brought their sense of adventure, water bottles, and loved checking out nature, the crabs, and seagulls in the distance. We were hoping to see otters, but maybe next time! The proximity to the park made our stay at Hyatt Highlands even more special, blending luxury with nature in a way that few places can. It's a definite win in our book. Our time at Hyatt Highlands Resort was wonderful, and we look forward to returning for another family getaway. Highly recommended for anyone (kids or no kids) looking to combine relaxation and the perfect place to recharge.

This was our first time at this hotel. The room was dated, moldy, mildew, and a musty smell. The stench was awful. We saw black mold on the baseboards in the bathroom . The ocean view from the front balcony was beautiful. The view from the back balcony was a disgrace... a closed fenced/ blocked off pool and a mud slide with a purple tarp & sandbags to hold back the mud . Also, there were sandbags on the ground everywhere. My husband and I spoke to the manager on duty. We expressed how disappointed we were with the room. We decided it was best to get a full refund and find another place to stay.

We were in the area for a wedding and stayed at the Carmel Highlands for the stunning ocean view and the restaurant overlooking the beautiful cove. We drove to the town of Carmel and parked to walk around and see the storybook cottages, dine and shop. We easily found parking. Note that the Highlands is a little retro-dated in decor but really clean. It fits with the ocean vibe and the breathtaking iconic view.