Rancho Valencia Resort and Spa

Outstanding resort with superb accommodation, excellent food, ample activities and a well trained and managed staff. The room was a Casita suite with oversized bedroom, large, circular tub, walk in closet, comfortable den/sitting area with gas fireplace and free non-alcoholic drinks and snacks in the mini-bar. The suite had three over-sized flat screen TV, comfortable bed and linens and lots of drawer pace. The room amenities are rare these days even in fine hotels - over-sizd umbrella, wooden clothing brushes, Dyson hair dryer, portable iron and coffeemaker The spa is beautiful and open for all guests to use without extra charge or paying for a spa service, it had a relaxation room with hot tea and snack, and multiple health and fitnesses classes throughout the day, The large property size gives you a feeling of space everywhere with crowds visible in the public spots. This is an American Express listed resort property so it comes with some extras we certainly appreciated - noon check-in, 4 pm checkout, free breakfast for two for each night in the room, a $100 resort credit and possible room upgrade if available (don’t know how our room could have been any better. Another nice feature is no need (or cost) for valet parking. Guess parking is right adjacent to each Casita with an assigned spot for each casita. It was a great getaway.

Having read all of the positive reviews about Rancho Valencia, my husband and I were really looking forward to our 4 night stay at this 5 star resort. We had hoped to spend a fair amount of time at the spa relaxing. For reference there are 2 pools at the resort. A family pool (only for resort guests) and an adult pool which is located at the spa. To start off, check in was smooth and we were taken to a lovely 1BR suite. Dinner that night at The Pony was very good. The trouble started on our 2nd day. My husband and I ventured down to the spa in the afternoon hoping to relax at the pool before our massages. First warning there was something wrong was the spa parking lot was completely packed and there were flow over cars parked up and down the roadside. As a guest of the hotel, you could easily walk to the spa, so something didn’t seem quite right. We walked over to the adult pool in the spa and it was packed to the gills. An arrogant, young blond female employee at the entry informed us that there was a wait list for chairs at the pool and there were 3 couples ahead of us. She could provide no estimate of how long that wait might be. We told her we were hotel guests paying quite a large nightly fee and this was not really acceptable. Her surly response was “everyone here is a guest of the hotel and I don't see what the problem is”. When I asked her name, she quickly covered up her ID badge and accused me of being “aggressive”. I came to discover the true fact is, the resort has sold large quantities of family memberships to the public and also for the purchase of a simple spa treatment, you can use the spa facilities for the entire day. You, however, as the high paying resort guest have no priority here. The other amenities: sauna, steam room and hot tubs were equally packed. The locker room was uncomfortably full and there were no attendants. It was difficult to find an empty locker with a robe. All of the showers were in use. The seats in the waiting area for the treatments were also full. After complaining to the hotel manager, she did arrange for us to have seats at an empty cabana later in the afternoon following our treatments. Of course by then it was late afternoon, the crowds had significantly died down and my mood unfortunately had soured. The spa was basically a rat race. Not at all relaxing Perhaps we were super unlucky, as it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. This place has SOLD OUT to the public hoping they won’t get much resistance from their out of town, high paying resort guests. Our massages were excellent, but loud groups of young women in the waiting area could easily be heard during our treatments. For a true relaxing experience, go elsewhere. If you still want to have a day at the Rancho Valencia spa, it would be more economical to stay at a cheaper local hotel, book a treatment at RV spa and then spend the day there. Get there early so you can get a locker and seat at the pool (sigh, ridiculous but true)! It was

We loved our stay at RV. Tennis & spa were excellent. Amazing customer service. Tennis clinic with Denny was a great experience.