Ayres Hotel & Spa Mission Viejo - Lake Forest

Love the place, service, etc

Pool closed for “scheduled maintenance “ for two days (and it became three days) the week of the Fourth of July. No notice given upon check in. No notice at the front desk, elevator or in any public spaces. We discover the pool is closed as we all stand in our swimwear and sunscreen at the pool gate on a sweltering 85 degree day. A note taped to the gate shows info of closure due to scheduled maintenance. Sadness and disappointment overwhelmed all as a workman said pool was closed. With proper and timely information we could have made other arrangements for these three days of our eight day stay but by this time our schedule was locked and tickets bought for other activities on other days. One has to question why management would choose to schedule maintenance on the largest holiday week of the summer? We requested to talk to the manager several times and received NO call back. Zero response. My husband finally found her by noticing her name tag and shared our disappointment and to ask about lack of notice to guests. She said a mass mailing from hotel booking agents mentioned it (never saw that or it among the endless junk mail from booking agents offering me tours and rental cars..definitely not specific or highlighted info sent to grab attention) and offered us 10% discount for the days affected. Seriously. (Later we notice a sign did go up in the elevator about pool closure and later a sign showed up on the front desk.) We have stayed here many times and for long stays to visit family and like this hotel very much but now I’m not sure. We travel often and have stayed in hotels over 50 days so far this year and not much bothers me enough to comment but this could have been managed so much better and it is really the only week of travel that mattered to me. I would have liked a heads up to have had a chance to either stay somewhere else or plan my week with this info in hand. I checked in on Friday and pool closure started Monday. When stated amenities are eliminated communication is a courtesy that a paying guest deserves. This hotel lists “valued customers “ as a core value. If you value someone you communicate and that was a big failure.