Briarwood Inn - Hotel in Carmel-By-The-Sea - San Carlos St between 5th Ave and, 4th Ave, USA

A lot of negative reviews recently on this place but the Briarwood Inn was exactly what expected when booking: A quaint inn with great walkability within Carmel. It is a 5 minute walk to the centre of Carmel for shops and restaurants and a 10-15 minute walk to the beach. The room I stayed in was spacious and spotlessly clean with the amenities you would expect for a midrange property. Parking is not included for all rooms so check before you book. It is also worth noting that the inn is not where Google Maps says it is! The Inn is on San Carlos Street so make sure you check that when setting your GPS.

Absolute DUMP. Every aspect of this place is a total fail. The concept of hospitality is nowhere to be found at this pathetic excuse for an Inn/hotel. The front desk attendant is not only rude, but also appears to be mentally challenged. Insisted that I manually fill out the same registration forms twice and when I questioned this threatened to call the police unless I complied. The rooms are run-down and poorly maintained - like something from a bad 1960's horror film (see photos). Every morning you are awoken by loud, blaring construction noise 10 feet from your window (see video). On top of the horrendous experience, they charge $400+ per night. Absolutely one of the worst travel experiences that I have ever had

We picked the Briarwood Inn because it was slightly cheaper than other hotels closer to the water. But we were very impressed at the quality we got for this price! First off, the woman at the front desk was very accommodating and gave us some great recommendations around the area for food & coffee. There were some issues with the toilet in our room, but she got that fixed very quickly. The room amenities were also very impressive. We stayed at the St Anne. It was a private room upstairs in what felt like our own little house. Our assigned parking spot was right underneath which was so convenient. We had a jetted tub, a large tv and my favorite, a gas fireplace! It was spacious and so comfortable. I wish we spent more time in Carmel By The Sea so we could have enjoyed this room for a little longer. Overall, this was a great stay and I would definitely recommend friends and family to stay here, and to stop by this adorable town while driving up the coast!

Do not stay here--Unrealistic Tried to cancel a reservation (made months in advance) as I had Covid and management would not let me cancel two days in advance as they had a 4 day cancellation policy, even though I was too sick to travel. They charged my credit card for a 3 night stay, and then resold the room ( I tracked it) and collected double revenue. No hospitality here--they are in the wrong business! Don't stay here!!

Tried to cancel this reservation (made months in advance) as I had Covid and was not safe to travel. After multiple emails back and forth with hotel management they refused to cancel reservation as it was within their 4 day cancellation policy--they charge my CC for the entire stay. Totally unrealistic cancellation policy. I tracked the room I had reserved, and they had the nerve to rent the room to someone else--collecting double revenue!|No hospitality here-----stay somewhere else!

Every room is unique here but it's hard to imagine a worse room than S-5. If this hotel was anywhere else, it would be $75 a night. Approach with caution.

This is an okay little place, but if you rent one of their units without onsite parking included, don't rely on the staff to help you with parking. The person I spoke with during my booking told me it was easy to park on the streets near the hotel, but neglected to tell me we'd be there during a major golf tournament. Since I don't follow golf, I had no clue. When we arrived to find the streets overrun with vehicles, the staffer on duty provided little help to us to find parking and no empathy. My daughter, sister-in-law and I had to figure out the parking rules and drive around and around to find parking. Turns out the City of Carmel has good information on overnight parking rules and events on their website. TripAdvisor won't allow me to link to those sites.

The parking was very cramped. Could barely get out of your car. The office hours were 10 to 7. Could not open 2 of the windows and there was no air conditioning. Great location.