Throwback Trip: Pebble Beach 2014 – Hotel Planning (Monterey Area)

After booking the two nights in the San Francisco area to start the trip, we needed a place for the next two nights before our stay at the Inn at Spanish Bay was to begin. We were still on the “budget” portion of our trip so we needed to find a place that was reasonably priced. Specific location wasn’t a big concern and price was the main driver, but we were looking to be in the Monterey area which is the town near Pebble Beach.

I had spent the points I had so I would be looking at finding the lowest paid rates, even looking at non-refundable rates which at the time I was not as averse to as I am now. I hadn’t learned from my mistakes yet!

Searching

I left no stone unturned looking for the lowest rate. I looked for coupon codes and checked AAA rates. I looked at neighboring towns to see if I could find a better deal, but in the end I went with Hotwire.

If you haven’t used Hotwire it’s a site that doesn’t tell you the name of the hotel, only the price, gives a star rating of the hotel and tells you the amenities of the hotel. You know the hotel room can hold the number of people you specify though you don’t necessarily know the bed size or configuration. You know it’s somewhere in the area you specify as well. Based on that information you can determine if the hotel will generally be adequate and that’s what I was looking for at the time. Once you pay for the room it will tell you which hotel it is and give you all the details, but the rates are non-refundable for if you don’t like the hotel, you’re out of luck.

I took a chance on a rate that was about $50/night per room for 2 rooms for 2 nights in Monterrey.

Booking

Once I paid for the Hotwire rooms, it revealed that we’d be staying in the Clarion Hotel Monterey. The location was as short drive from the main attractions in Monterey. It had free breakfast and even had a pool and hot tub.

Once I called the hotel directly to get details I learned that the hotel rooms we booked only had one bed which wasn’t what we wanted. I was told we could upgrade to rooms with two beds for an additional $30/night per room. This wasn’t ideal, but was better than booking somewhere else and forfeiting what we had already paid.

The hotel was not a luxury stay by any means, but we were saving our pennies for Pebble Beach which we knew was going to be a fantastic hotel. In the end, while the hotel wasn’t as cheap as we had initially hoped due to the room upgrade, it was still pretty cheap at $80/night per room including breakfast.

Next up finding a hotel for the last night before returning home.