El Rancho Robles

Came here for a men's conference. Few places like this leave this kind of impression. It's a great atmosphere, fantastic food, awesome service. Can't wait to come back. I loved the trails and nature in particular. The atmosphere around the campfire, etc. They've done a great job using the natural surroundings.

Our son chose this location for his wedding and reception. The ranch is very pretty. The Casitas and rooms are being remodeled. It was nice that everyone staying at the ranch was a wedding guest. They only rent rooms to those attending the wedding on weekends with events. This is nice. Any other time anyone can rent a room. We stayed in Stable room 12. Our room was very clean and nicely furnished. The room was small. Perfect size for a couple and one child. It was crowded with 3 adults. It was difficult to store luggage. There was no place to sit except outside on the porch or the bed. We were traveling with my 85-year-old mother-in-law. I was told the main room had a king-size bed and kitchenette. The small bedroom had a twin bed. The bathroom could be entered from the bedroom or the main room. It was small but had minimal stairs and was close to parking. The Casitas are bigger but have stairs into the rooms. The room was conveniently close to the reception site and had a fire pit out in front of the room. The only negative I could see was the wall between the small bedroom and the main room was open above the door so privacy was minimal. It also would be nice if the rooms had TVs. I know they emphasize coming to enjoy the outdoors and relax but traveling with an 85-year-old with Alzhiemers who loves TV was a bit stressful. She thought I hid the TV and I was punishing her. So a room with TV would be a nice option. If she was not with us not having a TV would not have been an issue. We also would have used the small bedroom to store our luggage and change clothes. That room was the size of a walk-in closet. Overall the place was lovely. I would stay again for another wedding or family reunion.

There is a huge discrepancy between what the web site looks like and the reality of the rooms/casitas. I shared a casita with my friend and the moment we stood on the front porch we knew something was wrong. The screen door was rusty, a window had a screen falling off and the porch was dirty. But it got worse. When we entered the living room, the furniture is lumpy and covered with a stretchy cover to hide it. The room was dumpy and dirty. The linens were old and suspect, the air conditioners were little units in the walls, and it was just miserable. We asked for different rooms or another casita but there was none. This is an old ranch that could be something but the casitas have not been updated and are not maintained. That was a miserable experience.

To start - this review is based on the fact the hotel was closing the week after we were there. Something we did not know beforehand. To say this is rustic is an under statement. There are NO, TV's, radio or clocks in the room. The A/C for each room is a portable roll-around floor model that you find at Wal-Mart. And they are noisy. There is, however, good Wi-Fi in the rooms. The grounds are fairly nice - but this is the desert so there are limitations. All this for $140 per night. Ridiculous.