Lobos Lodge

This hotel was really cute and B&B-ish. The concierge was really helpful, gave us recommendations for restaurants and offered to personally open our bottle of wine at the front desk (since we didn’t have an opener) and he even gave us two wine glasses (he said wine tastes better when it’s drank out of the proper glass which you really can’t argue with).
The room was really nice, two beds like we requested with a tv, fridge, table, couch, big bathroom, & a porch with an ocean view.
The only «complaint» I have is that there is apparently a $ 10 fee upon arriving for your potential phone use that gets refunded after you leave (or something to that extent). This fee would not have been a problem if someone had told my dad and I (mostly my dad who was paying) that this fee existed. He saw a charge on his Mastercard — got an email — and we had to ask the concierge what it was for. Might be nice to tell the customers ahead of time. Not a huge deal by any means but just a suggestion.

We had a nice stay at Lobos Lodge. We came really late at night on a Friday and parking was almost filled. We had to park on the other side of the parking lot from our room. Also, not the best driving surface for lowered vehicles.
Thankfully our room was ground floor. Bringing two kids up some of those stairs would have been really bad. If you are bringing kids if special request a ground floor room.
Our room was large and spacious with a small couch sitting area, a dinning table and a fireplace. All be it decorated with some 90’s flare, it was ok. We had two double queen beds. They were comfy but they were on wheels and I noticed all through our stay that the bed was constantly being moved away from the wall. It bothered me because I was afraid my baby would slip into the gap between the head board.
Your stay does come with breakfast everyday. We had Croissants and Yoplait Yogurt & Juice. The second day was assorted Danish with Juices and Yogurt. My son loved it. I’m a bacon and eggs type of gal but my husband and son were happy.
The fireplace was nice in room but again, not so great with preschoolers. He kept wanting to mess with the buttons and at one point he accidentally bumped his arm on the hot glass. Nothing serious but not something you really want to have to deal with on a trip.
We loved our private patio. It was nice to leave the room door open and let our little guy run around and play back and forth.
An added bonus is that this place is close to everything. We could walk the town for lunch and comfortably walk back. The beach is within walking distance too.
I have mixed feelings about the kid friendliness of the place. I might explode other options with the kids. But, if I was just with my husband I’d come here again. Just food for thought for those exploring some options.

Because they don’t do online reservations, we were able to get a room here for the 4^th of July holiday weekend just a few days in advance! Plus it was definitely a good deal for Carmel (not cheap by any means, but nothing is here). Everything was great
SERVICE: They have really great service; whomever was at the front desk was always friendly and professional. There’s the standard room cleaning, but then in the evening (often timed while we were at dinner), they come in and lightly tidy up your room again (make the bed but take off the top cover) and put an Andes chocolate mint on your pillows. How cute.
LOCATION: Right off Ocean Ave, close to all the shopping & restaurants. On the lower part of the hill so it’s just a few blocks from the beach!
THE LODGE: Cookies, fruit, and coffee available all day at the front desk. I like that all the rooms are on different levels and it’s kind of like a cute little maze to get around. It’s a very homey vibe here. No outdoor common/​hangout space, but there are a few couches/​seats at the front desk area by the coffee. We would go to the LampLighter Inn a couple blocks down and sit in their common area outside with the fire — that was nice.
THE ROOM: Huge, nicely decorated!
— Outdoor balcony: but no view and was completely accessible by walkways going around the complex so it wasn’t very private, so get one on the top floor if possible.
— Fireplace: turns on with a lightswitch.
— No iron & board in the room, but they provide one if you ask (it’s a tiny board that you have to put on top of a table).
— Bathroom: really nice in that there’s a lot of counter space and there’s a separate door to the toilet
— Closet: however, the only closet available in the room was in bathroom by the sink. — - — Mini-​fridge: inside a small armoir, which also had a coffee-​maker on top.
— A bowl with apples that they refill every day!
BREAKFAST: Daily continental, with a newspaper. I’m really glad it’s not a huge buffet; we get pretty good quality stuff, don’t overeat, all enjoyed in the privacy of our room. We also set the time that they would bring our breakfast. We got a choice of drink (we chose juice), and the breakfast came with oikos yogurt, a pastry (toasted muffin, Danish pastry), a small vase of flowers.
Friday breakfast:
Saturday breakfast:
WI-​FI: The only con here. Really slow! You don’t have to be a heavy user or downloading — we noticed that basic webpages were loading very slowly. It was a little painful at times.