We stayed in the family suite which has two rooms and sleeps six (it's supposed to be their nicest and largest room). I would say overall it was just okay. The place is clearly old (as most places in Carmel are), but I do think the place could benefit from some basic facelifts in the rooms. My issues were this:

1. The walls are paper thin, so you hear everything. There's a stairwell for housekeeping next to the family suite we stayed in and we heard stomping up and down the stairs well after midnight. Also we could hear the people upstairs walking around all night.

2. They still use those comforters that I assume never get washed on a regular basis. We had to take it off each night before bed since we were unsure if it was washed after every guest or not and the inside had some clear stains that never came out. I'm fine removing it but there really weren't very many warm blankets on the bed after the removal of the comforter.

3. They place could use a fresh coat of paint and new carpet.

4. The weirdest thing was when you walked by the lamp and tv in the master bedroom the lights sort of lickered....which was weird.

Some of the good things:

1. The front desk people are really nice. When I complained about the noise upon checkout she did give me 30% off ONE night. (I felt since we were kept up all night we should have gotten 30% off our total bill, but oh well.)

2. Location is good.

3. Bath and body products in the rooms are great.

Overall, our room was average. Keep in mind we stayed in the family suite...I am unsure of what the regular rooms look like.

I've read everyone's review to date here on this place, and sorry to say - the naysayers don't have my "vote" whatsoever. This place may be old, but it is VERY WELL kept. The rooms are clean as in VERY. The beds MOST comfortable. The noise was non-existent. Took a lovely bubble bath and tub was plenty big and THEN some. Lindsay at the front desk? A real angel in all respects! The morning continental coffee and amenities were great. There is, PLENTY of good parking. -And walk across the street and you're right "in town". My only constructive criticism is that the armoire that holds the tv? -The doors don't swing out far enough. That's it.
Had NO trouble with closing the door or opening it; or bolting it adequately at night.

So what if it's an older building? So what if it doesn't have the "latest and greatest" of every little thing that so many newer places provide these days? I spent $150 for one night and you won't find a better deal in Carmel, I promise you that!

To be truthful, I think the Carmel Lodge is just average in a town that tries hard to be very good. However, given the combination of great price (comparatively speaking), size of accommodation and location, I rank the Carmel Lodge a very good and might even move it a nudge higher. Would I return? Absolutely, assuming I could put together the same combination of room and rate I just enjoyed this past weekend. We booked this room on a discount promotion that CL ran in the SF Chronicle offering 30% off their regular rates. For $170 we had a deluxe fireplace room, specifically room 145 upstairs on the Mission Street side. While one might argue that the bathroom needed an upgrade and the room's location made it a bit noisy from the "staggering home at midnight" crowd, it was spacious, well appointed with an excellent quality king size bed. The room had superb cross ventilation (especially loved the dutch door!) and was flooded with morning sunlight. The bathroom, while extremely dated, was also spacious -- a aircraft carrier sized double vanity, huge closet and separate bath/toilet -- in its day quite sumptuous and, again, all very spacious. There was even the delightful bonus of a small butler's pantry with a microwave and coffee maker -- its own separate room! Probably would NOT have enjoyed the same room on the first floor (although a peek at it suggested the paint was fresher), nor one of the smaller inside rooms that would have been spared some of the street noise. Nope, Room 145 was a keeper. Then there is the location. You could roll out of the room (or more importantly, roll back into the room) from Casanova (see the separate reviews, but do not miss this Carmel institution). Only two short blocks from Ocean Avenue and 1/2 block to Katy's Place, yet firmly entrenched in the motel zone, the Carmel Lodge simply could not be in a better location (yes, I'm sure something in Carmel has an ocean view but I have yet to stay in it). There are unquestionably more updated, better appointed and slightly more plush locales, but I doubt they score all the same points the CL did for us.

We recently spent the night in beautiful Carmel on our way to Los Angeles. As we arrived late afternoon we didnt have a lot of time to find accommodation. We were happy enough with this hotel in that the location is very central so we didn't have to drive again when we went out for dinner. As our room was upstairs we had to carry our suitcases up an old wooden staircase so had to make two trips. The room itself was extremely small there was barely any space to move around the room once we opened our suitcases. It was certainly much much smaller than the photos on the internet that I've seen. The girl at reception wasn't very friendly at check in but we were only there for 1 night so didn't really care. There was a continental breakfast provided but it was in the reception area which was tiny so people were trying to toast their bread etc. while other people were checking out etc. We took one look and left without having anything. All in all, a very average stay but the room was clean.