We eloped on a Thursday and began driving North from Los Angeles on Friday for an impromptu honeymoon - no advance reservations! A friend had mentioned the location, and it was our best hotel experience out of 3 we stayed in. From the moment I called to inquire about accomodations from the road, to our final arrival, the service was exceptional. The staff were able to accomodate us at the last minute, suggested shopping stops along the way from Santa Barbara, and provided directions navigating a tricky turn from the 101 Hwy to the 1 Hwy at San Louis Obispo. They even reminded me about making advance reservations at Hearst Castle and provided all the contact info and some tour highlights to help us choose which of the four tours would be best for us, as it was our first visit.

I was thrilled to find the room had crisply laundered, fine linens on the bed, thick towels and terry-cloth robes in the closet. Not even the Century Plaza Hotel had robes ready for us on our wedding night - but the Orchid Inn did!

The Orchid Inn really shines. We'll visit again!

I always have trouble finding a place to stay as I want it to be nice. I stay at places with three stars and above. I booked the orchid inn though the hotel directly. I got a price of 170.00. We arrived and Shirley checked us in. She was very nice and let us choose between two rooms. We choose the one that we originally booked. The room was a little worn. The beds were soft with a center divet that I felt like I was slidding into. The linens were nice. The carpet has stains, The bathroom tile on the floor is cracked. The facets in the bathroom leaked and one was broken. The toiletries were the ones on the shower wall with a dispenser for shapoo, soap and conditioner. I could hear the people upstairs walking at night but it wasnt for long. The location is off the highway but if you want to walk on the beach you need to go down a ways. The evening reception had fruit and cheese but you had to buy the drinks. Coffee and tea are free. I guess that all the hotels on moonstone and san simeon are pricey but in the end I just didn't feel that my 185.00 was worth it. With a few upgrades like new bathrooms, new carpet and new mattress, this place could be a four star. Oh the pool was really pretty and spa like and the staff was really nice. The breakfast that came to our room with a little knock on the door was good too. The brought little muffins, cereal, bread, string chees, yogurt and sunny delight , milk and the coffee maker had a coffee grinder with it.

Staying at the Orchid Inn at San Simeon is the single worst hotel experience I have ever had. I have traveled extensively both domestically and abroad and have never encountered such rudeness from hotel staff. First let me be clear: I have stayed in San Simeon on two prior occasions and know what to expect from the area. I had no expectations that I would be staying at a Four Seasons class hotel. However, the website and reviews for The Orchid Inn at San Simeon led me to believe that this would be many steps above the typical San Simeon motel experience. I had every reason to believe that this would be a luxurious boutique hotel experience fitting for a romantic weekend getaway.

I researched The Orchid Inn on Hotels.com, Travelocity, Expedia.com, Orbitz, in addition to Trip Advisor.com and the hotel’s own website. In doing my research I learned that they have a sister property named The Traveler that they advertise as their low-budget alternative. They also describe this as the property often used by tour bus groups. In the end, I booked our room at The Orchid Inn at San Simeon on Travelocity for a nightly rate of $169 plus tax.

When my boyfriend and I arrived we were given a room in what turned out to be The Orchid Inn’s low-budget sister property, The Traveler. While it is obvious that The Traveler’s common areas have been recently upgraded, the room itself is disgusting. The furniture did not match, the bed linens look like a throw-back to1985 (and were well-worn to prove it—the bedspread was highly pilled and very thin). The bathroom was the worst: there was no shower—only a large tub that was quite dirty and in ill-repair.

We quickly realized that although we had booked a room at The Orchid Inn we had been moved to The Traveler. I immediately called the front desk at The Orchid Inn and spoke with Brian, the man who had checked us in. I explained that I believed we had been given a room at the wrong property and that I had the online booking confirmation paperwork which showed that we had booked a room at The Orchid Inn. Brian was extremely indifferent. He told me that the rate I booked was for The Traveler-- end of story. He said that I had to take it up with Travelocity. I explained that every online booking site I reviewed showed that rate for The Orchid Inn. He didn’t care. I asked him if there were rooms available at The Orchid Inn. He said there were. I asked him if he would please move us. He said no—not unless he charged me and additional $20. I asked if I could speak to the manager and he told me that she was extremely busy and would call me but it might be an hour or so.

We decided to walk back over to the Orchid Inn and talk to Brian, and hopefully the manager, in person. I explained to Brian that we were on our way to dinner and would miss the manager’s phone call (cell phones do not work in this area) and so we thought we would just pop over to resolve this. I couldn’t have been nicer in my approach. Brian immediately became extremely hostile and incredibly sarcastic. I asked him why he felt the need to be sarcastic and he dramatically threw his hands up in the air, rolled his eyes and said “I’m note being sarcastic”. I asked to see the manager, Shirley. He told me that she was too busy to see me. I must point out that I had not heard a single phone ring on either occasion in the lobby, no one was sitting in the lounge, there were no other guests at the desk before I arrived and you could hear a pin drop in the lobby.

Brian sat in his chair behind the desk, put his hands behind his head and told me that they would not move our room. He reiterated that this was my problem with Travelocity. I told him that if The Orchid Inn agrees to accept bookings form online sites this was their problem. He said that since he “owns” the hotel he doesn’t need to care about what I think. During this discussion another couple had walked in behind me so I offered to step aside so that Brian could help them while I waited to speak to the manager.

Finally Brian yelled for Shirley, the manager, to come out. She popped out of an office that was about five feet from where Brian had been sitting all this time. He said very sarcastically to her: “Shirley, this young lady doesn’t think that you are busy”. He also told her that I was driving business away by discussing my objections with him in front of the other customers. Shirley said “I’ve heard everything that’s been happening out here” and indicated to Brian to stop talking. Brian kept making sarcastic comments to me, including telling me that he’s been working there for 20 years. I told him in front of his manager that if I acted like he did at my job I would be fired. He replied that that’s why he doesn’t work at my job. I couldn’t say it better myself.

Shirley gave me a key to inspect a room upstairs at The Orchid Inn. It was exactly what I had booked—it was clean, up do date, the furniture matched, and there was a shower. I went back downstairs and told Shirley that it was lovely and thanked her.

We ended up staying, but the entire experience was unbelievably confrontational. What a horrible way to start a romantic weekend. The rooms at The Orchid Inn are nice but I would never, ever stay there again or recommend it to anyone I know. I learned from the bartender that evening that the hotel was very slow and not full. I find it shocking that a hotel would choose to yell at, and insult a customer rather than make a situation right for $20 on a night when the hotel was virtually empty. We sat in the lounge that night but the entertainment left before 10pm because we were the only ones there.

Anyone booking this hotel should be aware that you may be moved to their low-budget hotel, The Traveler, without any notice. Per Brian at the front desk, they are well aware that anyone booking online does not know which property they are booking. I cannot stress enough the difference between these two properties. I would commute to Hearst’s Castle from my home in Los Angeles long before I would spend a single night at The Traveler. And, due to the incredibly rude and aggressive customer service at The Orchid Inn I will book myself at The Best Western next time I am in San Simeon.

Where do I start with this hotel............

Firstly I can categorically say this is the first time I have been misled by Tripadvisor. This hotel is absolutely awful.

My girlfriend and I decided last week to have a weekend break up to Hearst Castle. We looked on Trip Advisor and saw the Orchid Inn was voted #1 in San Simeon. We checked on the rates, $170 (excl tax) seemed a bit pricey but not outrageous so we booked it. We had a look at their website too and the rooms looked great.

We arrived at the hotel on Saturday afternoon and checked in. The gentleman behind the counter (Brian I think) informed us we would be staying at their property 100 yards up the road. This was a surprise to us as we thought the hotel was sited on only one property. As we walked up to the to other property we noticed the sign for 'Orchid Inn - Traveler'. Nothing on our itinerary from Travelocity mentioned 'Orchid Inn - Traveler'. We walked into the property and found we were on the second floor. Helpfully there wasn't an elevator in the building (nor is there one in the main building) so we had to drag our luggage upstairs ourselves.

When we walked into the room we were confronted by very different decor than the rooms indicated on their website. I looked around the room and noticed the absence of a shower and a bath that looked at if it had last been cleaned in the 1990s. The jacuzzi jets were stained brown and clogged with dirt, the surround of the bath was also dirty. Not happy with this my girlfriend called the front desk and we were assured the owner would call us back to clarify the reservation.

It was at this point I noticed a hand out of the property which indicated the 'Traveler' property was for the budget conscious traveler. This is not what we had booked. We had booked a 'luxury' hotel with fireplace, king bed etc etc.

We walked back to the main building to speak to the man behind the front desk. I told him I was disgusted at the state of the bathroom and wanted to leave the hotel as they had clearly given us a substandard reservation in place of what we booked. Firstly he said it wasn't his problem but ours and Travelocity's. It wasn't Travelocity's fault as we had looked at Expedia, Orbitz and Hotels.com and all of them had exactly the same room descriptions. Not one of them mentioned the Traveler property. I don't know if this is intentionally misleading but there you go.

When I pointed this out to him he said he was too busy to talk to us and so was the owner. This was laughable, other than my girlfriend and I he was the only other person in the whole deathly silent lobby area. When I questioned him on his workload in this manic atmosphere he become highly offended and accused us of being sarcastic. I can't imagine why..

Having had enough of this treatment I told him we wanted to cancel the reservation and I would see if there was room at the nearby Best Western. Whilst I was away at the Best Western (who incidentally were lovely people and only too happy to help me) the owner of the Orchid Inn spoke to my girlfriend and gave us a room in the main hotel for the night.

The room itself (room 266) was far from the 'luxury' indicated on the website. Firstly the remote controls didn't work for the TV. The counter on which the coffee maker was positioned was peeling and the shower door in the bathroom refused to close. The TV closet in the bedroom also has a spike sticking out of it that I caught my arm on whilst walking around the room.

To call the rooms 'luxury' is a big overstatement. I've stayed in Embassy Suites and Double Trees that were for more luxurious than this. This is a standard large hotel room with bath robes and a 4 poster bed.

All in all a very disappointing experience. We shall certainly never be back and would highly recommend prospective visitors clarify with the hotel where they are being located before booking. If they mention the Traveler site I would recommend avoiding it.

Although San Simeon is a small place Cambria is a short drive and offers far more to anyone visiting Hearst Castle than San Simeon does.