Shawna M.
Yelp
This review is tough for me because there are high highs, but disappointing lows. My wife and I visited for the first time in the fall of 2023 and had a wonderful time. We stayed in the glamping tent and had a wonderful experience.
However, the trip that we are currently on has soured our opinion of Dawn Ranch. I WANT to love this place, but at this point, I'm not sure that it's worth the price. For our current trip, my wife and I took our 11 year old kid with us. We booked the Fern Cottage which is $467/night.
Our first disappointment came when we checked in and we're told that our cabin was across the highway and we would need to drive to get there. It's a minor annoyance, but already not what we thought we were signing up for. We expected to be on the main campus where we could easily walk around. Then, when we got to our cottage, there was no available parking nearby. We had to park on the highway (quite busy and in the rain), and had to lug our suitcases up to the cottage. Keep in mind - there IS parking right in front of each cottage but for whatever reason, they aren't assigned so anyone can park anywhere. Seems like each cottage should have designated parking.
The cottage itself is cute, although the living room furniture is so tiny and uncomfortable that it renders the living room useless. We had planned to spend time in that room playing games and stuff, but it was so uncomfortable that we haven't. Also, the great fireplace they advertise online doesn't even work! It's for "decor only". We had booked this cottage for a family "staycation" and were planning on cozying up by the fireplace as it's due to rain most of our trip. We won't have the opportunity to do that, which is literally why we booked the cabin.
Then, we had dinner reservations at The Lodge. We had to drive over and upon arrival, there was no available parking! I went into the lobby and was essentially told "it is what it is". (AGAIN, we are paying $500 night to be told to go park on the rainy and dark highway. We ended up finding a spot that may or may not have been a parking spot, but was a dicey place to leave the car.
Dinner at The Lodge was pleasant. Try the scallops, they are delicious!
After dinner, we drove back to our cabin and *surprise surprise* NO PARKING. Meanwhile, it's fully raining and we have our kid with us. After driving around for a bit, we finally decided to illegally park in a handicapped spot so that we could get into our room for the evening. If we have a ticket tomorrow, I will be escalating this to management because this is ridiculous.
This was my last straw. For $500/ night, I expect to at least have parking available to me. Especially when we are also spending $300 on dinner. I also expect for the couch to be built for adult humans, not toddlers.
Our second night here, my wife and I went to take a hot shower and within 6 minutes the hot water was gone and we were left with an ice cold shower. FOR $500/NIGHT. WHAT THE HELL?!?
I hate to leave this review because every single staff member has been so pleasant, and as a gay person, I really want to love and support this place, which was the first gay resort in Guerneville. The owner, Teach, was so wonderful to speak with and we really want to be big fans...But they need to either step it up in their services, or lower their prices...because the basic offerings (at high prices) are lackluster.
That said: the beds are SO comfortable, and it really is a beautiful property. The restaurant is lovely and the people are all warm and friendly. It's got a great aesthetic, and we really enjoyed the glamping tent to unplug for a weekend. Unfortunately, the amenities in the cottages don't justify the "luxury" price tag.
This experience has put a sour taste in our mouths and we likely won't be back, which sucks because we love the area and the *idea* of the place! If Dawn Ranch is able to step up their hospitality services to match the price, and upgrades their couches, perhaps we will be back!!
Update: we had Breakfast at The Lodge this morning and it was just fine. They did forget to bring us part of our order though. Again, for these prices, the service and offerings don't cut it
Update 2: After seeing our review, the general manager, Teach, stopped by our cabin to apologize. He is very kind so I wanted to make sure to shout him out! The staff here are great and we don't have any complaints about them personally. This review isn't at all a reflection of how friendly the staff are. Teach explained that the parking issue was due to employees from the neighboring restaurant used the hotel parking lot which takes up spaces from guests....and that it *could* happen again. To our point - this is why dedicated parking spaces would make a lot more sense. He did give us a credit for breakfast which was kind. But this doesn't fix the myriad of other issues, including lack of hot water.