Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa

We booked the King suite online for a 2 night getaway from Los Angeles for our family of 5 as Omni (when I called the hotel) couldn't guarantee 2 connecting rooms and we weren't allowed in 1 room - and the representative said the suite would be nicer. One King suite cost more than 2 rooms, but offered much less comfort and value. The pocket door is slatted and offers little privacy and no sound barrier. The one bathroom is located in the bedroom area so our kids woke us up going through our room to the bathroom. Lots of wasted space for an unnecessary foyer. Fridge under tv instead of in bar area. Suite we received (2111) was next to electrical room with view of another building despite resort being at 40% occupancy. We had express check-in so we had no contact with any service employees except to request the pocket door be fixed (it wouldn't close), the sofabed be set up, and for extra toothbrushes. All of this service was good and professional. I was disappointed not to be contacted in advance by the "complimentary activities planner" despite reserving this. Perhaps it is because there were no activities happening at the resort while we were there? It was a ghosttown. There was no pool service when we were at the pool and Splashtopia. The only employees we saw were the lifeguards. It did not feel like a typical resort experience. My kids were especially disappointed that the longer waterslide was closed during our entire stay. I booked the hotel for the choice of multiple waterslides, with other hotel options at lower price points offering just one slide, so this was very displeasing. Splashtopia itself is a bit cheesy, but the kids enjoyed it for a couple hours in the afternoon after our off-resort activities for the first two days. They all particularly enjoyed the lazy river and the hot tub (it wasn't that warm out). However, they chose not to go back the third day in favor of other off-site activities. There were only about 10-30 people in Splashtopia at any given time we were there, and the chair space surrounding the lazy river is limited, so I can imagine that when the resort is at higher occupancy it would feel a little claustrophobic. The family pool had a large area around it, but it was filled with pool chairs in rows that weren't even facing the pool - very strange and crowded, even without people in them. We ate dinner and breakfast at BluEmber. Dinner was hit or miss - sea bass was bland but had a good sauce, salmon was overcooked and over-salted, burger and filet mignon were good. Breakfast was decent, and we appreciated the 5 year old eating free. Service was good. As the lifeguard feature is really nice, the pools are warm, and waterslide and the lazy river is fun for kids, I'd recommend the resort to families with young kids if you can fit into a single room or get a better rate than we did. It might be a nicer experience at high season when more is happening (I would hope?) - though I could see it feeling chaotic and crowded too. For us, I was disappointed at the quality of the suite and view, lack of poolside service, lack of resort activities and little extra touches, the layout of the pools, and closed waterslide. I felt it was poor value given the price point at which we booked, compared to my other resort experiences. I'm not sure if I'd go back - maybe if we got a better rate and could get guaranteed connecting rooms, but I'm inclined to try a more upscale resort, or to save money and try a better value resort.

Pleasant stay, beautiful resort, post holiday getaway with teen and tween-age kids. Pool was nice, heated lazy river so even upper 60s low 70 temps was comfortable. Several hot tubs (also great temp not boiling) rooms clean, bathroom spacious. King bed with couch pull out was plenty spacious for fam of 4!

we chose this hotel over others because it had a lot of kid-friendly attributes - mainly the pool area with a lazy river and water slides, which the kids loved! that said, the accommodations were dirty and there was quite a bit of deferred maintenance. there were also many issues we experienced during our stay; nothing too insurmountable, just annoyances really: pillows were too soft/no shape left, sheets were fraying, we were given a 1:00pm late check out but the room locked us out at noon, so we had to go back to reception and get a new key (had to drive, as it was a far walk), the housekeeping on the first day didn't show up until 4:00pm and the kids were resting so we didn't get the room tidied up that day, then on the day of check out they tried to clean the room at 9:30am! lastly, the fridge in the room smelled of rotten milk so we couldn't use it. overall, a good hotel property for kids if that's your only requisite, but we won't be staying here again, as the kid friendliness didn't make up for the rest of the stay.