The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe

My wife and I were married at The Inn 26 years ago. Since then, we moved away and had only visited once. It was not being run well at all by Marriott. After reading about the extensive and time consuming re-model, we booked a stay for New Year’s Eve. Immediately upon arrival, we could feel that The Inn had been lovingly restored. The landscaping was glorious, the new bar Bing’s was a classic at first glance, and our room was extraordinary, like something you might see in the French countryside. The shower might be my favorite in the world. Without question, this is the finest condition I have ever seen the Inn. The magic is more than back.

Wonderful, quiet and private room. Easy access from our private parking area, which I appreciated. TOTO BIDET toilets!!! Super comfy mattress, dog-friendly, great location, lovely amenities. Check-in was so nice - I was even given options on which room would best suit my needs. Already booked my next stay!!

This hotel and grounds are very pretty, but something went wrong with every aspect of our stay. First, we were put in a room right on the street. Perhaps not a huge problem, but the windows facing the street had shades with a one inch gap on either side. No privacy at all. There were no privacy shades or shutters, just blackout shades that didn't cover the windows. To make matters worse, the hotel had a large event going on right outside our room with a DJ. It ended relatively early at night, but the cleanup started at 4am, and trash trucks came around 6am just outside our window. The room only had a wall mount AC / heater that rattled the walls and the temperature could not be controlled. One faucet handle in the wet bar was broken. The shower plumbing wasn't done correctly and required some random combination of handles to shut off. Funny that I read another review complaining about the toilet. They're automatic and ours sometimes did not flush. It closed automatically as much as five minutes later (not great for late at night.) We went to the restaurant at a little after 6 for a 6:30 reservation and asked politely if we could be seated early. Some people were already seated but the hostess hemmed and hawed. She suggested we go to the bar and have a drink. Sure... I asked her if we needed to check back with her to which she sarcastically answered, "Yes, At six thirty!" Despite our asking multiple times, we sat at our dinner table waiting for our bottle of wine and bread for forty five minutes until we had to ask for the manager. To his credit, he comped our wine and the food was good. We tried to book tennis (available on the web site through a local club) but the front desk knew nothing about it and said their pickle ball courts could be used for tennis - sorry, but they were re-painted. The next night we had inedible room service, then went to an evening event. When we returned, everything in the village and at the hotel was closed. We tried to go to the bar where 10-15 people still were seated only to be told they were closed and we had to leave, giving us no option. Unfortunately, the hotel and village shuts down at 9PM on a Friday and the hotel does not make any effort to accommodate. We got to bed only to be woken at 5 am by supercars revving engines right outside our room This is a regularly scheduled even happening within feet of our room that the hotel knows about in advance. There's really no excuse for a hotel of this price point and calibre for even putting us in this room. The attention to detail is lacking, and the hotel should consider more services for guests later than 9PM.

I had a delightful weekend stay at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. The hotel has been totally renovated to the highest standard and is now a tropical paradise located in the heart of Rancho Santa Fe. The hotel is an incredibly relaxing place to stay and the ambience is charming and the grounds incredibly well maintained and beautiful. It really is an oasis of tranquility and I thoroughly enjoyed staying here. The hotel is incredibly well run and I was immensely impressed to see the manager Vikram present in person early on a Sunday morning as I sat but the pool. The staff are immensely professional and provide a warm and genuine energy to the hotel, which comes naturally, and in a relaxed manner. Tamara on the front desk is the epitome of professionalism, exuding a natural understated charm, and immediately makes you feel at home. Iona on the breakfast terrace was kind, thoughtful, and engaging. The swimming pool is a perfect place to relax, with charming green and white-striped cabanas, and the rooms are beautifully decorated with floral wallpaper, natural wooden beams, sofas, and paintings, all of which look like the setting of an interior design magazine photo shoot. The hot tubs of course is of course another welcome feature. I highly recommend this place, which is also clearly also a popular destination for parties and weddings. I will be back!

The property is lovely, and the rooms comfortable. We ran into issues using the chromecast (which was apparently an IT issue that impacted the two other rooms around us as well), and the fireplace (which may have been user error, we lit it ourselves because we wanted to enjoy it late). We also ended up self-parking but being forced to park on the side of the road due to wedding guests. On the bright side, despite being a wedding weekend, we got very little noise from the wedding itself, and none in the spa (despite having a massage at the same time as the wedding).