The Stavrand

This is a lovely property. A lot of care has been taken to bring it to its glory and take advantage of what the property naturally has to offer. We loved the main house and the staff. and the surrounding natural beauty.

I won't even detail the dinner we ate. We have not eaten a meal so bad in, I cannot recall. What we were "sold" and told about the intimate dining opportunity with the "chef" preparing fresh local fare is an absolute bill of goods. If you're going to come to this lovely property, just go out for dinner in Guerneville...and might I add, the next night we enjoyed The Lodge at Dawn Ranch and paid a little more and got what will become a Michelin rated restaurant experience. Back to the food at The Stavrand. It was such a shame...the only saving grace was a very charming Carmen, who was our server. She unfortunately knows that she's serving horrible plates but keeps a smile on her face and is wonderful none the less. Anyway, there is no kitchen staff, there's one person in there warming up food. And that food isn't worth eating...and by local fare, they mean unripe produce from Safeway. My husband and I had to laugh and chalk it up to a funny story...costly funny story...$450 for the most crap meal we have ever had. That said, we did like the staff and property.

The location was beautiful, that perfect getaway from city bustle. Perfectly tucked away but walkable distance to the main street for food and access to Johnson's Beach. The staff was wonderful and friendly. We were blown away by the breakfast and all the small things like s'mores kits, wine time and areas to sit and relax while taking in nature.

The Stavrand was a great place to spend a few days. The staff was great, the breakfast at the beginning of the day and the wine tasting at the end of it were both lovely. The staff was really helpful with recommendations for dinner in the area, all were spot on. There is a lot of land surrounding the hotel, its part orchard, gardens and Red Wood trees.

I was not pleased to find out that one of the two rooms we booked was very small. The price was the same, but one was decidedly inferior. The pool is not heated and the hot tub was not in working order for the time that we were there. We also had an issue with the credit card payment, perhaps they don't accept AMEX? They just couldn't process the payment and it felt uncomfortable, this has never happened before or since.

Sound insulation was very poor.