The Victorian Inn promises many nice amenities - and provides them on certain floors. If you are traveling with your pet however you will be assigned a first floor room. The first floor rooms are not bad - just subject to nearby foot traffic and lacking the higher end amenities. The location is great, fireplace a wonderful touch and good rates are available throughout the year. The jacuzzi seems to be closed a lot.

Walls are paper thin - honestly, it was possible to hear whether the person in the bathroom above us was going #1 or #2 in the middle of the night... not acceptable! The "continental breakfast" was coffee & muffins from Costco... again, not acceptable. I tried to be nice to the front desk clerk at check-in by making a joke and was told that I was "the second guest that night to make the joke..." well, excuse me! The rooms are like a time warp back to 1981.... Tired & worn. Trust me, avoid this hotel! I've stayed at the Holiday Inn Express across the street, which was much better. No sleep at the Victorian Inn due to noisy rooms.

Unless I couldn't afford to stay at another hotel, I don't think I'd stay at this one again. Though the picture of the Victorian Inn on their website looks gorgeous, the actual rooms you stay in look nothing like the house which the office is in. They're outdated (they look like my Grandma's house), the bathroom stunk like an animal died in it (though I couldn't find any evidence of said animal), the room was noisy (I could hear almost everything my neighbor said and did), and the phone didn't work (my phone rang and rang, but whenever I picked up the headset, I couldn't hear anything.

Basically, if you want a good night's sleep and nice room ambiance/design, I would NOT stay here. Two positives: it's close to Cannery Row, and the staff was very helpful when I checked in. I got there 4 hours before check-in time, and they made arrangements so I could get my room in half an hour. They also gave me a king-sized bed instead of two doubles, which I wasn't using. Move the staff to a better location and you'd have a winner of a hotel/inn.

We were staying in Monterey for a vacation centred around the American Le Mans Series race at Laguna Seca and wanted a comfortable and well-located hotel for our trip.

On the whole the Victorian Inn met our needs very well.

The hotel's location could scarcely be better. It is only a couple of minutes' walk from Cannery Row and well within walking distance of downtown Monterey.

Most of the guest rooms aren't 'Victorian' at all, being in a modern building running along Foam Street - reception and the lounge/breakfast room are in the old house. The rooms themselves are large, airy and all have a balcony or patio area - depending on which part of the building you're in you may or may not have an ocean view. Our room was classed as a 'king size deluxe' and was certainly better than adequate as far as size and furnishings were concerned. The room decor and bathroom fittings were slightly old-fashioned but very clean and well maintained. The temperature was such that we didn't need to use the marble fireplace with gas fire. Although it did not have an ocean view the balcony was a pleasant place to sit, but there was some noise from guests entering and leaving the other wing of the hotel.

There were several extra facilities we didn't use - neither of us brought a laptop so we didn't try the free wi-fi; we didn't make use of the VCR and library of movies either.

The complimentary self-service continental breakfast was adequate rather than spectacular - the basics (bagels, pastries etc, juice, coffee, juice, cereals, fruit) were available in good quantities but some variation from day to day and the addition of cold meats, cheeses etc. would have been very welcome. The lounge/breakfast room is rather small for a hotel with 70 rooms so you may find youself needing to share a table with other guests.

The hotel staff were friendly and helpful at all times, and overall the Victorian inn seems to be run efficiently. Most of the guests seem to be staying only for a couple of days passing through Monterey on coastal drives but it is perfectly acceptable as a base for a longer stay.

While not being a particularly luxurious hotel or offering many 'extras' above and beyond the good facilities in the rooms, the Victorian Inn is a good choice for the independent traveller looking to explore the area - there are enough excellent dining and entertainment options nearby to make the lack of a restaurant or bar a non-issue, for example. By concentrating on the basics and doing them well the Victorian Inn was certainly a good place to stay.