Initially we were looking to book one of the higher priced hotels/B&B's in Carmel but decided for the price we really wouldn't be making enough use of the room as we would be out and about so we opted for the cheapest option which was the Clarion Carmel (£50).

I expected to find a slightly run down, musty smoke smelling place which we were willing to accept given the price compared to other hotels etc in the area but we were wrong to judge.

On arrival the girl on reception greeted us with such a happy face that you couldn't help feeling excited about something, she was great, had us checked in immediately and told us all about the area where to go for shopping and restaurants etc.

We made our way to the room and were surprised to walk into a lovely, fresh soap and flowers aroma. The room was a good size, much bigger than we were expecting. The decor was quite floral, very cutesy with little knick knacks around the room like small pottery pots that they had put little candy sweets in. The bed (most importantly) was a very comfy double, the bed covers felt and looked clean.

The bath room had a lovely shower and some very useful and thoughtful amenities including the usual shampoo, moisturiser and also sachets of toothpaste and make up removers.

8am Breakfast Basket Arrived with Orange Juice, Cereal, Cinnamon Horns, Bananas, Milk, Chocolate Chew Bar, Peanut Butter Bar and Milk and a US Today Newspaper.

The hotel was a 1-2 minute walk to Ocean Avenue.

This hotel is amazing value, you can't beat it for location and price.

My husband and I just returned from CA-we stayed at the Clarion Collection for 2 nights. Great location-within a block walk to restaurants and shopping and the gorgeous beach is a few blocks away! Staff was pleasant during check-in (they even let us park there after we checked out-a plus in Carmel!). All the rooms are accessed via an exterior "corridor" (carpeted on the 2nd floor), which they were vacuuming at 5:35 am on one of the days. I must note they do not have ceiling fans or a/c and you cannot leave your window open at night because it is too noisy from guests returning to their rooms etc. Rooms are clean and breakfast basket is decent. A good value for a place to sleep and shower.

The rooms have been upgraded recently and they did a decent job. The rooms were clean, bed was comfortable, and the location convenient. The staff when booking was not that helpful. Breakfast was a basket delivered, cereal, milk, oj, apple, granola bars and sweet bun. Nothing fancy but fine.

The beds are old and horrible. I would never stay there again. They are still in the 80's. The hotel is old. The service was ok. And the location is ok too.