Hotel Carmel

After a six-month renovation in 2016, the Dolphin Inn re-opened as the Hotel Carmel, a cozy spot that feels a bit like a boutique motel-B&B hybrid. Enter the so-called lobby, and you’ll feel like you’re entering a friend’s spacious and stylish living room, with window-side bench seating stuffed with accent pillows, a leather couch, and a slew of homey accents. Parquet furnishings, rustic wood boxes, cloche jars, woven baskets, and wooden farmhouse blinds give plenty of personality -- not to mention a wall of vintage cassette tapes, which are played during the free daily wine hour. The outdoor space feels just as homey with a covered porch and brick patio where Adirondack chairs surround a fire-pit and cushioned seating is gathered around an outdoor fireplace. It’s pricey, but that’s due to the region, not the particular property. Despite all it's chic trappings this is still a rehabbed motel -- rooms are accessed via open walkways rather than interior hallways -- but it’s a stylish refurbishment for what was once a dated inn.

Hotel Carmel is situated on a pleasant, tree-lined street surrounded by other lodgings and residences as well as the attached tavern. Though the street itself is fairly quiet, there’s plenty in walking distance. Ocean Avenue, the heart of downtown Carmel, with it’s restaurants, tasting rooms, and boutique shops, is just a five-minute walk away. Carmel Beach is a five-minute drive (it’s also an easy 10- to 15-minute walk, though it’s uphill on the way home). Golfing at Pebble Beach is a 10-minute drive and wineries are in driving distance. It’s about a two-hour drive from San Francisco. Limited parking is offered onsite or guests can park on the street.

While comfortable and contemporary (thanks to the property’s 2016 rehab), guest rooms still retain some of the motel feel that much of the common spaces have managed to shed. This is in part because the rooms are situated along open walkways, with many on the ground floor. Walls are also thin, and bathrooms are snug.

Decor is pleasant, if on the simple side, with a gentle country feel channeled through brown striped wall-to-wall carpeting, cream-colored walls, and wicker furnishings outfitted with floral cushions. Framed pictures on the wall, wood furnishings, and woven bed frames add style, as do farmhouse blinds and white-washed brick fireplaces, which are featured in about half the rooms. Sinks are spacious and situated outside of rooms, but the bathrooms are tiny and bland with white and beige tiling and combo showers and tubs.

Amenities throughout all room categories include comfortable pillow-top mattresses, flat-screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, mini-fridges, and Nespresso coffeemakers. Bathrooms are stocked with robes, hairdryers, and individual toiletries, too. Higher-category rooms add furnished balconies, though these are pleasant, they’re really just cordoned off spots on the upper exterior walkway. Suites feature separate bedrooms and living areas and kitchenettes or wet bars. 

Hotel Carmel has plenty of common spaces, though they aren’t akin to those at a mainstream hotel. There’s plenty of seating in the homey living room (lounge), where a breakfast is served daily. This morning meal is free but limited, with a bagel and cream cheese that satisfies some guests and leaves others feeling shortchanged. The nightly free wine hour starts here, too, extending on to the courtyard patio in warmer weather. The courtyard features plenty of seating, a fire pit, a fireplace, and a six-person hot tub next to a stone wall with mosaic tiled accents. Attached to the hotel is Brophy’s Tavern, a charming local sports bar with a beer-can wall, jukebox, drinks on draft, and dishes like pork quesadillas and reuben calzones. Parking is free, but spaces are limited, though guests say street parking is manageable. Wi-Fi is ostensibly free, but guests are charged a resort fee to cover this and other “freebies,” like the breakfast and wine hour. Note that there’s no gym.