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La Costa Resort and Spa
2100 Costa Del Mar Road
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Tuesday, July 01, 2003 11:44 PM
La Costa Resort and Spa, San Diego Date of review: July, '03 Date of Stay: June ,'03 Ah, what a mixed bag this was! On the plus side: great room rates ($260/night for a junior suite, $190 for a room), great golf (twilight round starting after 2:30 pm for only $75/person), wonderful and professional massage therapists (Martina and Mary (?) in particular), and mostly smiling and helpful staff. On the (significant) minus side: -There's construction going on, lots of it; a new conference center, a new spa, more rooms, and construction noise and dust are everywhere. -There are significant and meaningful labor problems and there have been for several months now. Not all of them are forthrightly or directly discussed bu the reservation staff (for understandable reasons) Most of the issues seem to be associated with the takeover by KSL Resorts, changes in employee part-time benefits, and a unionization drive. What that meant for us as guests was coming out of relaxing massages and walking right into a street demonstration/protest, complete with La Costa security, irritated workers, megaphones, signs and some La Costa police. Nothing dangerous, but it did fan my wife's headache back into being. Also, although the staff was friendly and helpful enough, they wore buttons and badges that said (in bright yellow) "This hotel is cheap as hell". Sort of a mood killer at a fancy dinner at "Legends", the in-hotel fine dining option. -The massage, while professional and good, is given in a shared space. That is, there are bathroom stall-type dividers between tables, but they are open acoustically to each other. Sort of a different vibe. I could hear pressured managers talking to staff in the background at various points. Hmmmmm. -Room layouts can be odd. For example, in the junior suites, there is no separate ventilation system for the toilet/shower. Therefore, for eventing purposes, all the doors are louvered. Ah, but that means that if you having a meeting in the second room of the suite, with all louvered doors, then whenever someone uses the washroom, you really get to know them! OK for all male, locker room style ethos. Decidedly a bit more mixed reaction when the company was mixed. Perhaps we're all just California prudes....May be the same architectual style as the massage areas? -One of the pools was closed to us for another group's function, but without notice at chek-in or on reservation. There was another pool, but it wasn't convenient to all the rooms. -Self-parking, should you choose to elect it, could be a long, uphill walk away from your room (3 city blocks on the outside). Valet was fast and courteous. -Work out area, while new and pretty, has weird glitches, e.g., not enough air conditioning to handle the afternoon heat load (it pushed 90 degrees after a class), no blinds to cut out the morning direct sun (making the exercise bikes and most of the treadmills an indoor with sunglass experience), and no water holders for the exercise bikes (which, combined with the high, wimpy air conditioned temperature, was sort of a drag). Very odd stay. Staff was always personally appealing, even helpful and pleasant. Golf was fun and course well maintained. Healthclub at all sorts of problems Labor problems were definitely in the air, current spa and new suite layouts were eccentric (no acoustic isolation), site-wide construction gave the stay a "This Old House" air, and the old spa awaits a deserved retirement. There you are.
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