Just wanted to let anyone out their who might be considering a trip to Carmel--not under any circumstances stay at the Quail Lodge and Golf resort. The reasons are:
1. The rooms are crap, even the remodled rooms have poor views and most with no fireplace. At almost $400 a night you would expect better.
2. The spa is a joke. Some idiot put the spa adjacent to the one and only pool. So while you are having your massage--children and the pool gate are screaming in your ear.
3. The lobby and club house were pitiful. It looked like the last time anyone decorated the place was in 1975.
4. The "free continental breakfast" was pathetic. On any given morning the fruit was rotted and never had anything more than a handful of burnt muffins.
5. Lastly another couple that we met told us that during their stay a few years ago, they could hear rats crawling all over the roof and that the staff was unconcerned because they hear it "all the time". Let's hope that problem was solved.
Sorry to vent, but if I can save anyone else from having this costly experience it will be worth it.

If the couple had such a bad experience a few years ago, why did they book a room there again?

The couple in question were people we met playing golf. They were not staying at Quail Lodge. Incidentally, they were staying at Bernardus Resort and loved it.

I'm sorry for your bad experience. I've stayed twice at Quail Lodge on business seminars and have never been particularly impressed, but I have to say I've never heard the rats on the roof either nor have I used the spa. There are things in CA called "roof rats" that sound really scarey to you back East, but basically they are squirrels with skinny tails and are only looking for fruit and a warm place to sleep. They are easily eliminated and usually don't invade kitchens etc. That's not to excuse your bad experience, just to enlighten you that they were not the fearsome Norwegian rats of the plague years.

Echoing kam, I live in the Bay Area too and experience roof rats all the time. They coexist with us peacefully and never enter the house like your ordinary house rat. Nothing to fear.

You also couldn't get rid of roof rats if you tried. If you exterminate them, the ones that live at the neighbors yard just come over to yours. The best is to just keep them out of your house, which isn't too hard.

Don't look like no squirrel to me!

http://www.longpestcontrol.com/roofrat.jpg

http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/graphics/rroofrat.gif

Me neither!


Yikes, if they're so damm friendly, why don't they call it the "RoofRat Lodge and Golf Resort!"?

we had roof rats (gave me the creeps). once we got rid of them and cleaned up the attic, they didn't come back for years.

Squirrel? That's like calling a cockroach a Mahogany Bird. You can call it anything you want, but that sure looks like a rat to me.

If the roof rat does find a way into the attic it will sound like a homeless guy is living there. They don't even try to go unoticed.

Here's a tip for getting rid of roof rats that have found their way into the attic.

1. Put out the bait that will kill the rat, found in most hardware stores. It works great. The poison causes great thirst and makes them run off looking for a source of water and they die outside.

2. Once the rat is gone seal up the opening to the attic.

From our experience of doing #2 first you may end up with undiscovered dead rats in your attic. I will spare you the details of that mess!

Reminds me of the time we visited people in Bermuda. They had a gorgeous house but the first night there, when I went into the kitchen and turned on the lights all these rather large bugs scattered on the countertops. I screamed and our hosts informed me they were "palm beetles"...made me feel much better and for the rest of the week when I saw them I just thought they were "palm beetles" and indigenous to the area. Last night I was there, I mentioned there was a very large palm beetle in the shower and my friend laughed. He said "those are cockroaches..our hosts figured that would freak you out so told you they were palm beetles". I did freak out and was very glad I didn't know for the whole week that these little critters were in reality cockroaches! Perception is everything I guess!

Aiden: That's just my friend, the squirrel.

Carrie: That's just a rat in a better outfit!

What I meant was that they were the size of a squirrel, not that they were rats disguised as a squirrel.

Kam was it near Halloween? Could have been the costume?