Ventana under new managment?

I%26#39;ve read that the Ventana Inn is now being managed by (or will soon be managed by?) a hotel consortium of some sort. Does anyone happen to know more about this and whether this will make for improvements? E.g. I%26#39;m wondering if perhaps the new management will be better about honoring requests for specific rooms. Thanks for any info regarding this matter.

Ventana under new managment?

We stayed at the Ventana in October for the third time unaware it was under new management, it didn%26#39;t take long to figure it out. The pools, soaking tubs and changing rooms were either in disrepair or filthy. The bathrooms were falling apart and the soaps and shampoos that used to be Aveda were now some brand more suited to an interstate motel.The breakfast was a shadow of its former self - ham rolled into tubes - what is that!!?? The final staw was when we used the public computer and asked the front desk for a pen. They said they didn%26#39;t have any.

Not going back - ever. A huge expensive disappointment

Ventana under new managment?

Whoa! That sounds horrible. My husband and I were there in August 07 for our third time, and it was heaven, as it always has been for us. Either things went terribly wrong in two months or you had some very bad luck!

Things must have gone wrong down hill fast. This was our third time there and the first two were amazing. This time it was just run down and ';value engineered'; to death: crummy soap, moldy bathrooms, scummy soaking pools. We had come from the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara - that was amazing! So good that there are tons of hotels out there to try...

Thanks for this in-put. I hope to hear more responses, but if Ventana is as described, I guess we%26#39;ll make reservations at Big Sur Lodge. (Wish we had the $$ for Post Ranch of course.)

Nancy, I%26#39;ve just sent an email to Ventana asking them to shed some light on this situation. I%26#39;ll let you know what I find out.

Haven%26#39;t heard back from Ventana yet, but I posted this same issue on the Andrew Harper forum. Someone replied that:

We were there just last week and it was wonderful. Service was great, the Big Sur Suite we stayed in was well appointed and clean. We highly recommend and are looking forward to returning in the near future.

I really do think you should go for it, Nancy. It%26#39;s a wonderful place, and I just can%26#39;t imagine that it%26#39;s gone downhill. It%26#39;s been so consistent for years, and I%26#39;ve never had a bad experience there.

I am always suspicious when someone joins TA only to post something negative. I think that boo3225 has an axe to grind.

I really hope someone ';reliable'; reports back from a recent stay Ventana Inn. I was considering it for my September coastal trip.

I just got another response on the Andrew Harper forum. It%26#39;s not good. :( Here%26#39;s what this person said:

******

They are under new management. We had a wonderful %26amp; great stay in Oct 2006 and a bad stay in early November 2007. I actually spoke to the new manager and they are doing some big renovations this year and training staff a lot. If you go, try to stay in one of the newer/recently renovated big sur suites and/or spa suites. I%26#39;m hoping for improvement by fall 2008.

********

But again...my husband and I were there in August 07, and another Andrew Harper member was there just two weeks ago. We both had wonderful stays. So I supposed it%26#39;s hit and miss right now, which is unfortunate. But Nancy, you%26#39;re not going until the summer, right? Hopefully, things will be smoothed out by then. It really is a wonderful place, but then again if you did splurge and had a poor experience, that would just be such a drag.

My bubble just burst :( I booked 2 nights for Sept. %26#39;08...celebrating our 25th. I%26#39;ll book another resort along with this one and watch the posts I guess. Any suggestions? Wish I could afford Post Ranch. Please keep us posted~