Surf And Sand Resort

Fantastic, well....except no coffee in the rooms. I loved this place. We had a room on the 6th floor, in the middle of the main tower....beautiful balcony, sound of the waves, fantastic. Everyone was super friendly and nice, and bent over backwards to make our stay delightful.

I only give this a 4 for one reason.....there are no coffee makers in the rooms. This is 2011, and there is no excuse for this. The last thing I want to do at 7AM is walk or take and elevator and then walk to where they have free coffee. I travel frequently, in the USA and Overseas, and 8/10 of the time there's a coffee pot.

Other than that, loved this place…

Dishonest and Rude Staff. Due previous problems, we were offered a complimentary room for 2 nights and a reduced rate after that. We accepted their offer and booked a 2-week stay. We checked in to our first room, which was not facing the ocean. This room type is not listed on their website, so we had no idea that our view would be the parking lot. I contacted Pamela Hopkins (assistant to the VP of Hotel Operations), with whom I communicated prior to our stay, and I copied Joanna Bear (assistant manager). I shared with both our frustrations and asked if we would be able to, as we were originally offered, stay in our Oceanfront Towers King (OTK) room for the duration of our stay, since it was available. (The 2 complimentary nights were in an OTK room but the other nights were not.) My first email went ignored; after a 2nd email, Pam said she would look into it the morning of 7-30. Through the evening of 7-29, when I searched for availability online, 4 different oceanfront room types showed up. On the night of 7-29, we asked about availability at the front desk and were told that rooms were still available. But the manager, Lisa Silva, overheard our conversation and immediately told us that no rooms were available, which was a lie. I asked a friend of mine to call reservations the next morning, 7-30, before we stopped down. My friend spoke with Heather, and she told my friend that MULTIPLE OTK rooms were available. 15 minutes later, my husband went down to the front desk and spoke with Tammy, who said that NO OTK rooms were available. Tammy then said that one room was available for all but one day and she and Pam were going to see what they could do. But, a Seaview room came up on the online reservations system without restrictions for the entire range. When we still had not heard from Tammy, we called and were told that we could check into a Seaview room. On 8-1, the front desk manager (Elaine) gave us our key with a smug smile and said, it’s on the first floor. The first floor Seaview rooms have very little view of the ocean (due to the solid wall on the patio) and are perhaps the loudest because of the location directly next to the pool and Splashes. Bottom line: try the Montage, St. Regis or the Ritz, but stay away from Surf and Sand.…

great Hotel!. This hotel is gorgeous! We went here for a business meeting and didn't want to leave! When we walked into our room, we noticed the design - first class. However, the best part was when we walked onto our balcony... We opened the door (it was in the evening so it was dark out). To our pleasant surprise, we saw the beautiful ocean and the crashing waves - it was RIGHT outside our window! They hotel lit the beach up so you could see it at any time of the day. It's a pricey hotel... but if you have the money - you MUST go! If you don't.. save up for at least one night :-)…

A few unexpected quirks. THE GOOD: Fantastic location on the beach in Laguna Beach. Almost all rooms have unobstructed ocean views. The staff, even under high season conditions, was uniformly friendly and helpful. Every request was honored, and honored quickly.

The food is excellent.

THE BAD

No A/C!!! Big problem in July/August. Website doesn't make this clear at all.

The pool, the bar and the beach are far too small for the high season crowds: way too intense.…