Canyondreamer
Let me start out by stating that this is a beautiful B&B, uniquely furnished, comfortable and including a very well made, imaginative breakfast, and yet there are some ‘buts’ that detracted from what should have been a ‘but’ free stay, given the pricing of the rooms.||||My family of 7 including me, were visiting family in Bonny Doon, planning to spend Christmas day doing things together. Their house could accommodate 3 of us, and thus 4 of us (2 couples) needed two rooms to spend the night before an early journey back to Utah the following morning.||||We had initially been pointed to Redwood Croft by our Bonny Doon family, but we aborted that after an email communication where the hosts made it clear, that they do not book rooms for less than 2 nights. So we booked 2 rooms at Davenport Inn and thought no more of it. When we told our Bonny Doon family of this, they had communicated with the hosts of Redwood Croft, and had arranged for the hosts to agree to make an exception and rent their rooms out for one night only – our family had made reservations for us, and thus we canceled our reservation at Davenport Inn and trusted all was set. ||||We checked in the afternoon of the 25th and were shown the “Garden Room” and the “East Room”. Both lovely rooms with their unique décor, including much quaint nick knack, small and not so small, in a roomy and comfortable setting. My wife and I stayed in the ‘East Room’ I immediately noted 2 odd things: there were no heaters in the room other than a wood stove, and to get a shower, one had to negotiate a 4 foot barrier than made for some sort of very deep bath-tub, in order to be able to get a shower. My wife and I both being in our 60’s, but in good shape for our age, this was surmountable, but it certainly wouldn’t be for anyone with even modest mobility limitations. There is free Wi-Fi that worked well, but there is no cell phone reception, and no wired phone seemed to be available to guests.||||We then left to spend time and a nice dinner with our family, we returned at 11PM and got the small stove started. Bonny Doon being at the top of the Santa Cruz Mountains, is quite chilly during winter nights, and while the stove was easily lit, it only accommodated one piece of firewood at a time. That meant, when it got cooler, I woke up, then had to hurry to place another piece of firewood before the embers were gone– and this happened 3 times before 8am. If you are looking for an uninterrupted sleep in a warm room during the winter, I do not recommend this room! ||||Next morning, while my wife was taking her shower, I noted that the toilet sink was not draining, and after negotiating the “wall” to the shower, we both found it was difficult to have the showerhead not sprinkling water all over the room, including on whatever stuff we had, due to some renegade shower spouts, Annoying, but just that. We were there to sleep, and really were not relying on ongoing comfort features.|| ||We were going to have a breakfast with our family at he B&B, including our Bonny Doon family, paying for those not lodging, and we really wanted it early as half the family had to drive back to Utah in one day. However, we were told that this was not possible before 9am – OK, but then the breakfast was not ready until 9:30am. The breakfast itself was genuinely lovely, starting with glazed pears, followed by scrambled eggs and sausage with homemade muffins/bread. Unfortunately, the driving part of the family didn’t get off before 10:30am and ran into stop-and-go traffic for 200 miles, which I can’t blame on the B&B, but with my suspicion being, that had they gotten off at 7-8am as we wanted, it may have been less traumatic, but even pushing the breakfast time to 9:00am (actually 9:30am) for such a big group didn’t seem to sit all that well with the hosts.||||Since all the arrangements and reservation had been made by our Bonny Doon family, we did not know the price until presented with the bill, expecting it, based on our extensive B&B experience, to be in the $150 range per room. So we were a little surprised to be presented with a bill of $566 for the 2 rooms for one night (including tax) – Not that we had not paid ~$300 per room per night before, but by experience, certainly expected a little more than we got for that kind of money. Regardless, I am not holding that against the B&B as we could have done more due diligence prior to our stay as that is listed on their website – but what I did not appreciate was that they did not accept any credit cards, only cash (which I did not see on their website). Well, I for one do not regularly travel with >$3-400 cash being well equipped with all sorts of CC’s, and this created a somewhat awkward moment leading me to ask, that if asking up to $300/room/day why in the world did they not accept CC’s?. Getting a CC account and an iPhone/iPad attached card reader is the minimum any high-end artisan or B&B I have dealt with have – but no such luck here. Showing that I only had $370 in cash, I was “allowed” to send a check after I returned home. I then needed an address and the hostess disappeared, when re-emerging before reaching me, she engaged in a very lengthy conversation with the 2 only other guests, going through what seemed to be never-ending pleasantries and bilateral compliments, during which time I patiently waited (and was ignored) , and when finally finished, the Hostess turned to me and told me she had already given the address to my son and his wife (occupying the other room) with them waiting for me at the car. OK!!! Did not make me feel "special" the least! Very unusual, and not in a good way||||So partly because of the unique way our reservation came about leading to a “price surprise” and to the shortcomings of the B&B, this was not the uncomplicated, wonderful, and accommodating experience one would expect for the amount paid, we did not leave with the best experience in our minds, meaning, we for much less money have had several better experiences in similar B&B’s. ||||Would we ever return to this B&B when needing lodging when visiting Bonny Doon/Santa Cruz in the future? - …. Ah…. No!!
