I have traveled to Monterey many times throughout my life. Especially once I became a Scuba Diver. Monterey is a wonderful place to get away from the Bay Area and in fact, on this trip we fell in love with the area again. We got married there July 07 and keep going back. We are now seriously thinking of relocating there, it is that lovely. I have stayed at this so called Victorian Inn once before. Indeed the facade is true, they have an old Victorian there that houses the front desk, a tiny kitchen and breakfast area. You get a free breakfast and wine and cheese. But what they have done is attached a nice Best Western to the old Victorian house. You park underground and hall your luggage in one of two tiny elevators. They have large wheeled carts to facilitate this, but if you have dive gear it is a real hassle and it is easier to just carry your gear up the stairs. The gardens are quite lovely, with Japanese Maples, Ferns and Rhodedendrons. Each room has a gas fireplace and coffee maker, fridge stuffed with usual hotel overpriced water, soda and candy. (bring your own) But this place is not what it used to be. It seems that maintenance is not being done to keep the rooms up to what it was like. We checked in, hauled all of our stuff to the room. The front desk staff are wonderful. When we got to our room and un packed my wife heard a noise coming from the BR. We looked at the tub and the drain started to fill the tub with someone elses soapy, dirty water...yechh. We called the front desk and were advised that maintenance would check it out. Two minutes later they called and gave us a new room and offered assistance in moving which we declined. Our other room was clean, smelled old, the bed was old as were the bed linens. One of the shower knobs was frozen shut. We just did not want any more hassles and stayed. When I stayed there a few years ago the rooms and bed were nicer. Again, though clean it was not worth 200 dollars per night. I made coffee the next morning and it was clear brown fluid and did not taste like coffee. We then went to our free breakfast. Think Costco, bagels, fruit, cardboard boxes of cereal and some truly horrible, watered down coffee. We were so unimpressed we never ate there again, preferring to walk 2 blocks for a nice breakfast. The rooms are quite noisy, and we could not sleep well as we heard every thing in the room above us. Like a cheap apartment. We were asked online for feedback and told them about the plumbing issues, bad food, poor maintenance and decline of this overpriced motel. We also complimented them on the front desk and the effort the gardeners put forth. Obviously we told them, we would not want to return to this so called Inn...nor would we recommend it. In all fairness, they responded with an apology and a 150 $ credit for the next year for this place and other Inns of Monterey. So they do listen and the next time we travel to Monterey we will try another of their Inns. (It sounds like they have an association of Inns, but this place was not up to snuff, the other Inns in the area this group runs are awesome) In closing, we would not recommend this place, nor the Otter Hotel down the street. The area has other, less expensive lodging that we shall use next time. Too bad they let this place go down, Foam Street is a perfect location as you can walk to anything you need, be it a drugstore, good food and walking down Cannery Row. Please visit Monterey, Carmel or Pacific Grove, it is wonderful but sadly, this so called Inn, we shall not return to.

I'll try and keep this review as succinct as possible. =) PROS: - Excellent front desk staff (friendly, courteous, prompt, and polite). - Excellent housekeeping staff (respectful, courteous, and responsive). - Excellent location (A short walk to Cannery Row but far enough away to where it doesn't become a bother). - Excellent view (a majority of the rooms can catch a glimpse of the ocean -- nothing spectacular but peaceful). - Clean rooms (clean bathrooms too!) - In room fireplaces (with appropriate lighting materials already there). - Balconies/patios on all rooms. - Comfortable beds (extra pillows already available). - Safe/quiet neighborhood NEUTRAL: - Decent breakfast (Assortment of cereals, breads, fruits, and juices). I was expecting a little more for the money but oh well. - Wireless internet is available but requires a daily call to the front desk for access. I understand why management decided to implement this system but it's a little cumbersome. - Hallways are hot and stuffy. - Pricey amenities (VHS rentals... honor bar... etc) - 30 minute local phone calls free (not a big deal but why not just make all local calls free?) - Curt maintenance staff. - Entrance to parking sub-structure can scrap undercarriage of cars with low ground clearance. - Extended basic cable stations (missing MTV2, ESPN2, etc) CONS: - Some entrance doors didn't work with our keys. - Elevators smelled strange (possible pet urine?) - No air conditioners in rooms (granted these probably wouldn't be that necessary in monterey but on the day we visited -- mid june it was unbearably hot) - Sporadic TV issues (Volume control was finicky). - Extra 12 dollar parking charge (why is this a separate charge?) SUMMARY: All n' all, my wife and I had a great time here but the price we paid didn't quite measure up to what we got. I may be cheap, but if I had a choice, I would have paid 100 - 120 / night for this place... not 200+.

Overall, my stay was extremely "pleasant". It dosen't sound that thrilling, but its the perfect description. I was looking for a quiet place near the water, but not on Cannery Row itself. That is exactly what I got. The continental breakfast was nice; cold stuff, but all very good. The bagles were obviously fresh, and I was quite partial to the coffee. Dennis at the desk was a hoot. He got me everything I needed, and directed me to the nicest places to eat while I was there.

This was a fabulous place to stay. The room was clean and very spacious. The fireplace made it nice and cozy. The location was great - just a couple of blocks from cannery row. The wine and cheese reception was good. Breakfast was your standard cereals and toast.

Good location, in walking distance to downtown. We stayed in a top floor room with the fireplace which was nice. You could also hear the seals or sea lions? from the balcony.