The Lodge at Bodega Bay

Nice hotel, though room for improvement. Pros: Fireplace in most rooms are fun, especially for the foggy bay weather. They'll bring you extra logs if you go through the one already in room. Hot tub overlooking the marsh/bay is pretty and allows for great relaxation. Wine/cheese, s'mores, other refreshments offered in lobby on certain days. Bartender Rita was great, and followed up on our order when the kitchen got delayed and made some mixups with our order. Cons -- Value for money. Paying for a nicer room does not guarantee a good view. We booked the Pacific Coast Upper Room, but upon check in found that it looked directly on a large parking lot! Could see the bay in the distance, but didn't want part of our view to be the cars/other buildings and hear the cars etc. Asked to change rooms but they didn't have another of the category we paid for. Paid the upper room price of *** but stayed in the lower Pacific Coast room so wouldn't have to be looking at the cars. Could hear every step the people above us took, conversation murmurings, as well as the ice machine directly outside our room (people get a lot of ice around happy hour time and in the am before checking out). Also restaurant on property cannot accomodate all guests for dinner. Was already booked when we checked in. Was able to do a walk in in the first come first serve area, but surprised that we couldn't get a reservation as guests. Hotel is busy on the weekend. Hot tub was pretty full until dinner time. Have stayed another time on a Sunday night, and it's a bit more relaxed. Recommend going non weekend days if you can. Torn as some elements are nice and relaxing, but is a lot of money to pay for varying experience.