Rebecca Rothberg

Review of Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

A lot of things happened at the Ojai Valley Inn. L...

A lot of things happened at the Ojai Valley Inn. Let me start by saying the staff was phenomenal.
Now for my experience. We checked in early because we had an early check-in through the Amex booking. We got there around 1:00 and was checked in by a friendly front desk. He told us he would immediately have our upgraded room cleaned. He was sending someone over immediately. We went to town to grab lunch. We waited for the text message from the front desk including our room number. It never arrived. So I called the front desk. they gave me a run around about my room. They said someone was still cleaning it at 4:00 p.m. when standard check in was. so our room wasn't ready even at the regular check-in time. I was told that somebody was going over to inspect the room and that it was finally done at around 4:10. We get back to the property go to the room and find someone still cleaning it. they told us they were pretty much done and we're on their way out. While they were still in the room I noticed an empty water bottle just sitting on the ground. Upon looking down I noticed how filthy the floor was. The cleaning staff did not vacuum, did not tidy up, did nothing other than change the bedding. there were large chunks of dirt all over the floor. And possibly some leftover vomit from the prior person staying in the room. All of this was very obvious and noticeable without looking up close. I immediately called the front desk and asked them to send someone to clean the room. all of this was a disappointment as I was told the room would be ready shortly after our 1:00 p.m. check-in, however by 4:15 the room was still filthy. nobody came to the room, and after calling front desk again and sending a text to the number that sent me the room number, I finally got the head of rooming, or some manager. They ended up giving us a bunch of different credits, comping our meal, as well as the room for the first night. That was great, except all we wanted was a tiny room when we checked in.
We ate at the oaks the first night and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. The salmon and the steak were fantastic, as was my mixed vegetable salad. Because our meal was comped, we ordered an extra dessert. The cheesecake was fantastic, the lava cake was delicious, and the bread pudding was to die for. All of the staff, again, still fantastic. We go back to our room, get ready for bed, set the air conditioning to our desire temperature, climbed into bed and tried to sleep. Both of us were drenched with sweat and a woke at around 1:00 a.m. because our air conditioning was not working. We immediately called the front desk and asked for them to send someone over immediately to fix this issue. The gentleman at the front desk offered to comp another something, but we told him that's not what we were looking for, we just wanted our AC fixed. They sent someone over immediately. he fixed it temporarily, however the next evening we had the same issue. We called the front desk and asked them to send someone over while we were out at dinner. They never sent anyone over. but we didn't know this until we tried climbing into bed. We have the same issue. Woke up in a sweat. This is not what should happen when you spend what we spent on our rooms. Between the mess when we arrived, the AC not working, and all the comping, we realize this must be a regular situation that they just rectify by giving free things back.
We aren't the type of people to just ask for something to be comped because of an issue. We just want things to go smoothly right off the bat. This hotel did not provide that experience.

Review of the Spa: I had a facial and a massage. Everything was perfect. The women's locker room was lovely, very accommodating. we were able to utilize the spas pool, which was lovely and quiet. We were regularly checked on by staff. Everything about the spa was perfect.

I wish I could write a positive review about this place as the room was lovely outside of the issues. The view we had was spectacular. But every step had major issues. And I cannot justify anything more than 2 star