Briarwood Inn

This old fashioned place is a bit tired and past it. I’ve stayed there three times, and the last time was not charming. Saw a red stain on the carpet as soon as I entered the room, definitely looked like blood. Called the front desk, someone came with cleaner and a rag, but the stain wouldn’t budge. The wallpaper in the bathroom was stained and starting to peel away from the walls. There was hair in the tub. The wireless is very weak, comes and goes. Some rooms have a fridge, some don’t, not sure if any have a microwave. No amenities to speak of (pool, gym, business center), not even a soda machine. Noisy, with lots of traffic on the street. The breakfast consists of too many carbs, a little fruit, coffee, tea and orange juice. Good location, nice people at the front desk, but just not worth what you pay.

We loved every second of our stay. The room/​cottage was warm and cozy and prettily decorated – and extremely clean. We were just a few blocks from the beach, and the restaurants and shops were simply down the street. The staff were attentive and helpful about where to go in the area for various activities. We will be back as often as we can.

25^th wedding Anniversary. Enjoyed our time in this town and the room was wonderful. The Breakfast was not what I expected it was all sugary items and a few fruit choices. I expected Breakfast. We will go back but probably get coffee and go out to breakfast.

headed here on a group trip. The location is really great, you can walk everywhere, down to beach and shops/​restaurants so no need for a car. Cute rooms with older look, mostly comfortable but way too hot without air conditioning. They should purchase some fans to circulate the air in the rooms. Also, staff wasn’t helpful when they recommended a terrible day spa and didn’t want to hear about our bad experience. It reflects badly on their cute hotel, so you’d think they want to know to not recommend this day spa in the future. The lady (manager maybe) did not want to hear about it. I will not stay here again, since there were so many other wonderful lodging choices with air conditioning and hopefully a better manager.

We’ve stayed at Briarwood Inn twice now and have found the accommodations lovely both times. Staff are friendly and informative, willing to offer help as needed to assure our stay was a good experience. We just love that we can walk to shops, restaurants and to the ocean! The first time we visited we stayed in the cottage with two rooms, kitchen, small living room, and private off street parking which was just perfect for my husband and I and our two young children. This second visit we stayed in the Chelsea, just the two of us, and found it absolutely perfect. Tucked behind the larger cottage, this «room» is more like a smaller cottage itself really, and has a complete kitchen, small dining table/​desk, king bed, gas fireplace, and lovely bathroom with spanish style tile flooring. We also had private off street parking. Breakfast is a light offering of bagels, coffee, juice, and fruit which was just what we needed to start our day. We would highly recommend the Briarwood and are pleased with our experiences there!

Great location with walking distance to restaurants and shops. We stayed in both — the suite and room. The suite had a much cozier feel and a designated parking spot. The room parking can be a problem. The breakfast in the morning is a nice offered (mostly Costco muffins and bagels). Again, great location.

The hubby, Scruffy and I enjoyed our first time to Carmel by the sea this weekend. The front desk was very nice, the room was quaint and comfy. The inn itself was a short 5 minute walk to the beach where we spent most of our time. It was also conveniently within walking distance of many shops and restaurants. We can’t wait to come back and stay here again!

This hotel is a great choice in Carmel, just a few blocks from the central business district and many wonderful restaurants, wine tasting rooms and shops.
We had a two bedroom unit with a full kitchen. It was nicely furnished, clean and quiet (a second story unit off of the street). Granted, we did not spend much time in the room, but it was great to walk to the downtown for dinner and to take a walk before breakfast in the morning.

We used a Living Social for 2 nights.
The people were very friendly, especially Tina. Breakfast isn’t anything special (muffins, bagels, coffee, juice, etc) but fills the void. The «gourmet chocolates» you get are 2 Dove squares. Pretty pathetic if you ask us but you do get a nice bottle of Chardonnay.
It’s roughly ²⁄₃ mile to the beach but it’s a good sized hill to get down to it and back up. Still, it’s a nice beach and we enjoyed it. Downtown Carmel isn’t a big area so it’s easy to walk everywhere else. If you want to go to Monterrey it’s only about a 15 minute drive away.
The room was clean, we had a nice patio to sit in the sun for a while, the bed was comfortable (even if it is really squeezed into it’s space), and we had our own parking spot off the street which was nice.
If you’re going to Carmel I’d at least look into the Briarwood as an option for your trip.

Stayed 2 nights in one of the cottages. Perfect location; very easy 5 minute walk to shops/​restaurants & just a bit longer to the beach. Staff was very friendly & accommodating. Would stay again in the same space: 2 bed with kitchen & LR was a great setup for our family of 3. Carmel is a return destination for sure!

I purchased the room via Living Social as a surprise birthday gift for my husband’s 50^th birthday. The room was horrible. The bed was squeezed into a alcove area and you could barely squeezed between the mattress and the wall to get into bed. Then they had these little pieces of wood (unpainted) on each side to put your phone or glass on.
The sofa in the room was old and dilapidated and you sank into it when you sat on it. I was quite surprised. They have such a nice website, but I probably wouldn’t return there unless the other rooms are better. We were in Room 44… upstairs.
I have a bad back and when I mentioned that to the person on duty, she said: «Oh, sorry to hear that.» she made no effort to relocate us into a room that would have been easier on me physically. I’ve been to several places in Carmel… this one will not be at the top of the list.
Also…I’m not sure who remodeled the bathroom, but the toilet was in the most awkward place! It should have been facing the bathtub instead of being crammed up against the outside wall.

This has to be the worst experience we have ever had. The room looked like a 1960’s cabin. The walls were paper thing and you could hear your neighbors on both sides and in back of you like they were in the room with us. We had the worst neighbors ever and no one on site after 8:00PM.
There are to many other hotels/​bed & breakfast to choose from in Carmel, no need to try this one again. Very disappointed for the amount they charged.

My boyfriend and I (and our dog!) had a great experience here using a Livingsocial deal. The place was clean, quaint, and certainly cozy. It was awesome having a fireplace in the room and I think it’s charming that the front desk lets you rent out VHS tapes. Adds to it’s character! It’s a great location, walking distance to all the shops and restaurants, but you still feel «tucked away». The walls are thin, but it didn’t bother us much.
The TVs are nice and the beds were comfy. We personally enjoyed the breakfast, which included coffee, muffins, bagels, fruit, etc. and they gave us a tray to take it back to the room. The front desk staff was very available and helpful, especially Charles who was able to get accommodate us into a pet-​friendly room at the last minute! I even forgot my Sonicare toothbrush and they had no problem mailing it back to me! Thank you Briarwood!
We stayed in the Mayfair room, which is on the first floor and has a shared patio. My only gripe is that we weren’t able to keep our window shades open due to lack of privacy, as people can easily see into the room. Other that that, we were very pleased with our stay!

A nice find in Carmel. We were very pleased with our stay and the service that we received. The room was very comfortable and the sleeping area was cozy. The King Bed was nice and comfortable.
A very minor quibble was the quality of some of the amenities — substandard coffee and Dial soap… big deal, I know. What we will remember is the very pleasant and quiet stay we had here along with the helpful staff.

My husband and I purchased a voucher from Living Social for the Briarwood Inn Carmel, CA for our 5 years Anniversary and we were looking forward to our special trip to Carmel. We love Carmel and every place we stayed. We used this voucher staying in Briarwood Inn from February 26 to February 28, 2014 (two nights). We liked the Briarwood Inn a lot and the service was terrific but what spoiled our stay was a second night when I woke up about 3 am feeling wet face not realizing it was rain drops falling on my face from leaking ceiling! It was a disaster! Husband and I knew it would not be useful to call to the office to get any help because office was closed. We could not sleep and the only option we found that husband moved this heavy king size bed a little bit away from leaking line (it was all over right above our heads) and he spent the rest of the night with annoying noise of rain drops next to him. I spent the rest of the night in a living room on a couch that was not enough room for my height… So, our amazing Anniversary was spoiled. Next morning we went to the office to have a breakfast and told lady at the desk about this terrible accident. The only thing she offered was apologies. No, it was nice but we did not think it would be enough just to say sorry for the sleepless night in such a disastrous conditions in a heart of Carmel! When we got home we were thinking a lot about it and more we thought more upset we became. So, we called the Inn again. We were hoping that free night would be great compensation for their problems but person named Debbie offered 20% discount on our next stay which must be happen very soon and we don’t plan that. I contacted Living Social and they were in touch with Briarwood Inn telling us that Inn will call us as quick as they can. They never did and I contacted LS again and I heard the same story when I was put on hold during conversation between LS and Briarwood Inn. I was told that Inn will contact us and they are ready to help to solve our issue. Well, no word from Inn again. Eventually, Living Social solved this problem refunding us more than a half of this deal. WOW! Nice doing business with great company that cares!!! The question is that it was so nice of LS to deal with all this nightmare when the fault was not their but Briarwood Inn management who did not care about us, their clients at all! if I were the boss I would call IMMEDIATELY to solve the problem and please the clients. How often do you wake up in the middle of the night staying in hotel especially in Carmel, this beautiful gem of California when rain falls down your face!!! It was disastrous! No, Briarwood Inn, it was not nice of you to treat us with your ignorance and indifference. You lost us and with this «professional» attitude you will lose more people. Great job! Go on!!! Never ever go to this place! Carmel has so many beautiful and nice places we stayed already and definitely will in a future.
P. S. We stayed at the room 47 «Oxford».

If you are looking for a quaint place to stay in an awesome location this is your place. Everything was within walking distance, beach, shopping, restaurants. We took our dog and had a blast. The room was small but comfortable with a fire place and small kitchen area. I loved our door, it opened from the top like a barn door. It was super cute and nice to have open while i drank coffee and put on my make up.
Another nice touch was the covered parking with our room. Nice to know your car is safe and sound in a car port and we didn’t have to search for parking. The price wasn’t bad at all and we did have to pay a small extra fee for our pup, so if you’re bringing a dog keep that in mind.
They offer a continental breakfast every morning and sherry and port in the evening. Overall it was a very pleasant stay and I would stay again in a heart beat!

Had a great Labor Day stay here. Jordan was running the front desk and helped me check in when I arrived. It was a neat place with a little kitchenette area in our room. There were some sounds from the above room but nothing that really was unacceptable.
It was nice to take the dogs on vacation too, though not all the rooms are pet friendly and the animals usually have to be 25 lbs or less. It’s very close to some great places like Katie’s and Hog’s Breath Inn.
It’s also nice to have a parking spot, just bring a smaller car if you can, it’s a little tight in the parking port area.
Overall I think we’ll stay here again, friendly and helpful staff made it an easy experience.

Management! Sold over 500 living social vouchers and denies over selling no wonder after three tries of different dates to reserve, none were available

My wife and I stayed here in room 44 last week for two nights. We normally come to Carmel about once a year and have always stayed in a different B&B. Since we saw this one on Living Social, we figured we’d give it a try as the price was great.
Check in was kind of long, but that’s because we got there right around 3:30 as others did. So, there’s not much one can do about that. As mentioned, the parking is very tight. I parked on the street and had no problems, except having to move my car by 10:00am both mornings. But for me, that’s no biggie.
We found the room to be very nice and large, with a king bed. The location is great, as was the service. As also mentioned, the breakfast is continental. This is pretty much like every B&B in Carmel, unless you want to pay way more. And why pay way more for a breakfast when there are so many restaurants around? Hint — Friar Tuck’s is a block and a half away and have the best breakfast in Carmel.
There’s so much to do in Carmel besides walking around shopping, which is great too. Be sure to visit Point Lobos and wear good walking shoes. Visit the Mission. Go see a show at the Sunset Center or the Golden State Theatre in Monterey (a 10 minute drive).
Overall, we’d give the Briarwood Inn a solid four and a half stars.

We stayed in the Somerset room which is one of their pet friendly rooms. I was very happy with the room which also included a fireplace and an assigned parking spot in the carport. Assigned parking spot = WINNER in parking cramped Carmel. l loved being to leave and not have to search for a parking spot when we returned. The mattress appeared to be pretty new as it was FIRM…(me likey). The room also included a kitchen, a flat screen and free wi-​fi. We had a cute little patio with a table and chairs and we had a squirrel running around teasing our poor doggie.
The walls are a tad thin. We could hear the people upstairs walking around but so what? I didn’t expect a private bungalow or five star resort privacy for these prices.
I’ve noticed other Unilocalers complaining about the breakfast. It’s a CONTINENTAL breakfast people. That means, muffins, bagels and maybe some O.J. It’s NOT a sit down meal. Some of you people are so spoiled and/​or idiots who don’t know what a continental breakfast is.
All the staff I came into contact with was helpful and friendly and the staff even left two doggie biscuits for our doggie in the room when we arrived. Cute!
We loved our stay here and plan to return here on our next trip to Carmel.