We stayed at the Ayres Costa Mesa many times about 10 years ago and considered it our favorite "Get Away." At that time, we would have rated this hotel equivalent to any 5-star hotel anywhere. The "raised" Queen Anne style beds were so inviting when you opened the door to the room (they matched the decor of the hotel), they gave free drink and appetizer coupons at check-in; and there were fresh, gorgeous apples everywhere you could think of to take at any time of the day. Now, the beds have been changed to those that you would find anywhere in any hotel (boring); not more free coupons; and the apples have been changed out for cookies at the check in during the day.
The staff was pleasant and helpful (gave really good restaurant recommendations). The room, however, had an unpleasant - not fresh - smell to it and once we got into the bed between the sheets, we immediately began itching. We eventually pulled the top sheet up and slept on top of it which helped a bit but the scratching had already created several sore areas on our bodies. It was very late by the time we went to bed and had to get up very early so we chose to stay in the room for the night despite the itching. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone without a thorough check of the room (bed) and do not plan on staying there again.

We stayed at the Ayres while in town for our daughters rowing regatta. The staff was excellent from the first phone call to make the reservations all the way up to checking out. The hotel was lovely, clean, comfortable, easy to find, and more than we could hope for. We will stay here again and will recommend it to others.

This was our second stay with our kid's rowing team. This hotel is wonderful, beautiful and so comfortable. Love staying here, just wish we had more time to luxurate in it. On this trip the only unfortunate thing was my room was not ready when I got there at 3:10 pm. I wanted to get checked in before the team got there and ended up waiting for 30 minutes for the room to be finished being cleaned. I was unhappy about that, but the room was very clean once I got in.

I went here for a business trip and conference. The hotel was very accomodating for our group of 70. The room was nice, clean, spacious and really nothing bad to say. I liked it. The grounds were quaint and staff was friendly.