Oceano Hotel & Spa Half Moon Bay

My first ever Unilocal Review and it’s long overdue.
We had our wedding here last September 12, 2015, and it was absolutely amazing! Everything went smoothly and perfectly! Kudos to the Nancy, Jen, Lauren and Team Oceano!
I accidentally found Oceano via the The Knot App. I messaged another hotel and the app sent the same message to multiple other venues, and one of them was Oceano Hotel and Spa. It was the first venue we looked at and it was the one that we compared the other 4 venues against.
The Service:
Nancy was absolutely a delight to work with from the get go. The service was top notch. It was a bit pricey when you add the 20% service charge but it was totally worth it! We didn’t have to worry about anything! They took care of us and set everything up for us (I am a bit of a control freak and they followed all my instructions/​requests: no questions asked), they made sure we had food from the cocktail hour and during reception (we even had sandwiches when we got back to our room and they also provided lunch while we were getting ready on the day of). Jen even brought up my shoes and veil back to our room. How awesome are they?!
The Location:
Our ceremony was held in the Wedding Garden. It was simple, elegant and beautiful; decorations were not necessary although we did have them hang up our initials and two pomander balls.
Our reception was in the grand ballroom. It was spacious enough for our reception of 110 people. I loved the idea of having a separate dance floor (re: the atrium).
If you would like to have the grand ballroom for your reception, then it means an early ceremony start time (3:00 PM) coz the wedding garden is a shared ceremony location with the tent.
Afraid that it may rain on your wedding day? I’ve seen them hustle for another wedding to convert the hotel lobby for the ceremony.
They definitely know what they’re doing here people!
The Food:
The food was great! They have their own farm and everything is organic. The food during the complimentary tasting was delicious and so were the ones at the actual reception (make sure you take time to eat!).
The Rooms:
Absolutely lovely! You get two rooms, one for the night before and one for the night of. The bridal suite has plenty enough room for the four of us to get ready on the morning of. Also included was the honeymoon suite which was also a very nicely furnished room. The theme is shabby beachy chic (to the people who were complaining about the décor being worn, the décor is intentionally distressed!). I also loved the fact that they didn’t hold us to the usual hotel check out time and let us take our time the morning after.
Would I recommend Oceano Hotel and Spa as a wedding venue? Definitely!!! Is Oceano worth it? For sure! Book them and you will not be disappointed!

I visited for a work-​related event that included three nights’ stays and dinner two of those evenings.
Every room has a view of the harbor with a balcony to enjoy it from. The rooms are beautiful with fireplace, sitting area, kitchenette, separate shower and bathtub, and comfortably firm beds. Every room probably has equal ability to hear the continuous foghorn, too. After a while you don’t really notice it until you try to sleep. Fortunately the hotel has prepared for this by including ear plugs and noise machines in the rooms. Without those I might have gone batty.
The hotel is within walking distance of quite a few places to eat, and they have an onsite restaurant as well, although I didn’t eat there. We did have two catered dinners in The Atrium, though, which were just fabulous! I have eaten hotel catering at a variety of locations but have not tasted such great food.
I used the fitness room two mornings. It is a large space with a wide variety of machines and two TVs. Treadmills, elliptical, bicycle, and many different weight machines could keep one busy for a while. The treadmill I used didn’t seem to register my heartbeat, but that was probably user error.
My only (minor) complaint is that the doors open and close quite loudly. Even if you’re trying to be quiet and considerate, like when going to the gym at 6 am, there is no way to close the door without making a racket because of the type of locking mechanism. On the plus side, everyone has ear plugs and noise machines, so maybe they heard nothing!

This very cute and quaint boutique hotel lies right in Pillar Bay. The rooms are very cozy and perfect if you are truly looking for a relaxing atmosphere. The fireplace brings a romantic and warmth feeling and the separate spa tub in the bathroom also contributes to the notion of a home away from home. Oceano is definitely great for a short getaway away from the hectic city life. You can the beach and a drive to downtown or the restaurants or wine bars at the Ritz is a close one. This experience was a great one.

We stayed here for one night this past weekend. The lobby staff were extremely friendly and helpful. We ended up staying on the first floor in room 103. The room was clean and very cute. We had a little sitting area with a fireplace and the room had two tv’s. The bathroom was huge… Only complaint was the water pressure but most hotels are that way now. We hung out at the bar and our bartender Jake was awesome. I hardly ever drink but he really made me a great fruity drink which I enjoyed so much that I had 3 of them. My boyfriend and I had a great time talking with him and some other locals. I will definitely stay here again if I am ever in town.

Came here to celebrate our 11 year anniversary. The hotel is much nicer than I expected after booking online. We took advantage of a king bed suite.
The room is super spacious. There is a nice living room sized area with a little couch. We have a small dining table with a mini-​fridge.
We also have a balcony with a great view of the harbor. The bed was very comfortable and the fluffy pillows made for a great night sleep.
Bathroom is awesome and done in marble. Great tub for a bath or stand alone shower.

Terrible. The place doesn’t accommodate any changes.

This review is for Oceano Hotel as a wedding venue and their staff (specifically Jenn Pickart) who helped coordinate everything for the wedding.
Venue:
Oceano is just beautiful. We had our ceremony in the garden, and our reception in the tent (which I believe will no longer be available next year sadly). The garden is so pretty. We literally had no additional decorations, and just used the items provided by the venue and it was beautiful. Very simple, classy, clean. I won’t review the tent since it’s likely not available next year, but I will say it was super cute and I loved it!
Staff/​Jenn Pickhart:
AMAZING. I am so so so lucky that she was there with us from the beginning. We didn’t have a wedding planner, so my husband and I planned everything on our own. There are so many things to think of, and Jenn helped us with everything. She was super fast to respond to emails, very friendly (even when I had thousands of questions), and she reminded us to think of little details that we may have forgotten about. On the day of, she was incredible. I pretty much shut off my brain, and Jenn took care of everything. I had so many guests tell me how amazing and organized Jenn was. They think of even the smallest details that help the bride/​groom out. For example, when we got into our honeymoon suite, there was a little plate of sandwiches waiting for us just in case we didn’t find time to eat during the wedding :) I cannot thank her enough — she was just the best to work with.

We have found our getaway hotel and spa! The staff at both the hotel and spa are extremely nice and courteous. We had no issues, whatsoever.

My husband and I got married at Oceano in mid-​June and it was perfect thanks to Nancy, Jen and the team at Oceano! There are many reviews raving about this hotel as a wedding venue, and they are all true.
I initially did not envision getting married in a hotel, but their garden and outdoor tent was the type of setting I was looking for — beautiful but not formal or stuffy. The hotel was also an amazing place to stay at and it was great to have everything in one location, including where I would be sleeping after the festivities. My bridal party and I got to stay in a huge villa the night before, and my husband and I stayed in a suite after the wedding (and after the after party at the Inn, where the staff graciously moved one non-​wedding guest into the main hotel so that our guests had the Inn to themselves).
Everything was non-​stressful and convenient when it came to planning the wedding with Nancy. I got engaged six months before the wedding, and signed the contract for the venue less than five months before the wedding after visiting six venues in the same weekend. Meeting Nancy and touring Oceano was like a breath of fresh air. I was also planning a Chinese banquet for 400 guests for the day after the wedding so I am incredibly grateful to have had Nancy and Jen. They made the planning process smooth and said yes to any request we had.
I’ll give just two examples of the extraordinary things that Nancy and her team did for our wedding. Both were not prior requests or anticipated and are among many examples.
The first example: my parents brought a Tupperware of food for my 95 year old grandma, who they feared would not be able to eat the food at the wedding. As soon as my aunt told them my grandma was hungry (during cocktail hour I believe — I didn’t hear about this until later when my aunt raved about Nancy), they immediately warmed up her food and brought it out on a plate with silverware. That meant so much to me and my family. I’ve also heard from several of our 180 guests that the staff took care of them in some way or another.
The second example: the day after the wedding, we had a Chinese banquet at Koi Palace in Daly City. Nancy called and offered to deliver our tiered wedding cake, which only had one piece cut out of it, to our banquet. (Our favorite cake couldn’t be tiered, so we ordered that as a sheet cake and had a different cake made for cake cutting and photos.) I’m not sure how she would have delivered a three-​tiered wedding cake but I believe Nancy can do anything! I assured her we had a different cake for the banquet and asked her to distribute the cake to her staff or hotel guests.
I’m so glad we chose the Oceano as our wedding venue. We have a fondness of Half Moon Bay from past dates and now Oceano is special to us. I can’t thank Nancy and her team enough!

Mattress is extremely hard — like a wooden board.
Front desk staff in the evening was kind of rude. If it wasn’t for friendly staff checking us in early afternoon, this place would get only one staff.
There’s also a constant beeping just from the window from port. We won’t be staying here again.

Frankly, I don’t understand the overall rating of 4.
While in theory, this should be a wonderful place to stay, there are basic things that were problematic — lamps with burnt out bulbs, dead electrical outlets, wi-​Fi service that doesn’t work well, and no handrails in the tub.
On both days during our stay, we ordered a full breakfast. On one of those days, deliveries were made without coffee cups for our coffee and on both days we never got teaspoons. You know, silly stuff that could’ve been easily rectified.

My wife and I stayed here for a weekend in August for a wedding. We both got feasted on by bedbugs after the first night and were promptly moved into a new room. The hotel manager, Mr. Ken Siedler confirmed that they found bedbugs in our old room and he will be comping our stay.
He was, however, defensive about the entire situation, and not once apologizing for our injuries. I mentioned that our new room was exposed to hallway noise and that I was kept up all night by foot traffic and guests slamming their doors; Mr. Siedler insisted there was nothing he could do for me.
Extremely upset with the unsightly marks on my body and also itching all over, I asked Mr. Siedler if he could offer me courtesy use of the hotel bar. He said the most he can give me is $ 25. He scoffed at my request for something more and then suggested that I had brought the bedbugs into the hotel! (His exact question was «where were you before checking into this hotel?») I almost didn’t believe my ears! I ended up giving him a piece of my mind, telling him what he said was extremely insulting.
Although Mr. Siedler eventually relented and gave me a few breakfast and drink coupons, that previous interaction had left a very bad taste. Not once did the hotel show concern, or take steps to alleviate our discomfort, or even offer an apology. Upon checking out, the supposed «comp» had suddenly disappeared and we were asked to pay for one night’s stay. I had to explain everything again just to get the bill adjusted.
It’s a shame that this review even needs to go up here because Oceano is a nice hotel, and my wife and I did enjoy our first day’s stay until we were fed to the bedbugs. While even the nicest hotel could on rare occasions have a bedbug problem (I think), it’s how the management treats the guests afterwards that speaks to its level of professionalism and class. And unfortunately in our case, Oceano did not show much of either.

I went as a guest at a wedding held at Oceano Hotel. I was so relieved parking was not a problem. There were plenty of parking spots in the parking garage. The garden wedding looked promising, but during the ceremony a small group of hotel guests made too much noise from their room balcony. It ruined the solemnity of the ceremony. They probably thought they were too far to cause a disturbance. Sadly, they were not far enough. Something to consider if you’re planning an outdoor wedding. Otherwise, everything else went well. #latepost

I was here all weekend for a wedding. The hotel is adorably nautical shabby chic. Our room was spacious with two tvs, a balcony and roomy tub (comfy for lounging between events). The toiletries are Aveda Rosemary Mint scent.
The grounds are beautiful for a wedding. The food was good but not memorable.
My only complaints are the skylights which bring in a flood of light and heat in the summer. The main atrium of the hotel can be stifling. The room in which the cocktail hour, likewise, lacked air circulation. Lastly, our room had a high window without blinds which did not allow us to sleep in.

Stayed here over the weekend with the wife and 2 young kids, unfortunately we were booked in a room directly across from a wedding reception that was extremely loud until 11pm. The music was so loud in our room it kept waking up our kids, a call to the front desk offered no resolution. I don’t want to be the guy who ruins someone wedding reception by complaining about noise but the hotel really shouldn’t have booked a family with young children directly outside the reception hall.
Rooms are nice, better than your typical side of the road hotel but at $ 225 a night they should be. Hotel is within walking distance of a few local hot spots.

This review is mostly for the Oceano as a wedding venue. I got married here just this past weekend! So, the Oceano will always have a special place in my heart.
There were a few things I specifically looked for while looking for a wedding venue: proximity to the rest of the Bay Area, since most of our guests would be coming from the San Jose/​San Francisco area, and inclusivity. I’ll break down this review into several sections for ease of reference of future brides:
1. Food — We did a complimentary tasting at the Oceano before we booked the venue, and it was a wise decision. The food was excellent. We were given three full plates of food (steak, chicken, and fish) — all were good in their own ways. We ended up opting for a buffet, so our food was slightly different — but we received nothing but compliments on the food by our guests! Our passed appetizers during the cocktail hour were also delicious — we managed to nibble on a few bites during the reception. Nancy, our amazing coordinator, saved us a plate!
2. Coordination — We worked with Nancy to coordinate and plan our wedding. We had several sit-​down meetings with her and exchanged numerous e-​mails. She usually replied promptly (within a day) and was always helpful and full of answers to our questions. She helped us craft a timeline of the day and coordinated with all the vendors on the actual day. I felt really well taken care of! She was also super sweet and provided us suggestions on how to structure our ceremony. The actual wedding day, our room was set up exactly as per my instructions! And, after the wedding, we returned to our room to find sandwiches and slices of cake for us to eat. We had our first sit down meal as newlyweds that night — it was perfect!
3. Convenience — The Oceano provides the bride a room the night before the wedding, and the bride/​groom a honeymoon suite the night of the wedding. We basically just stayed at the hotel Friday and Saturday night, which made the entire event relatively easy, logistically speaking. We didn’t have to worry about finding a limo or getting to the venue, because we were already there! We also hosted our rehearsal dinner at the Oceano, out of convenience for our guests. The food was delicious (once again) and we didn’t have to worry about renting out a room at a separate restaurant. Nancy coordinated everything for us and we enjoyed a nice, private rehearsal dinner in one of the hotel’s event spaces. So easy! And, we also opted to do a post-​wedding brunch the morning after the big day, which was readily coordinated and set up by the Oceano staff.
4. Event spaces — We chose to get married in the wedding garden and have the cocktail hour and reception held in the atrium and the ballroom. The wedding garden is really cute, and fairly private. Sure, Barbara’s Fish Trap is right across the street, but it’s hardly noticeable since the wedding garden is surrounded by hedges and is fenced in with a white fence. The atrium is beautiful and is full of lots of natural light due to the high skylight. And the ballroom is quite elegant looking — not many decorations necessary to make it look great! We had about 100 guests attend our wedding, and we looked pretty cozy in the ballroom. So, it’s not too big, but not too small! Even better is that the Oceano includes gold chivari chairs in their «basic» set up, which is usually an extra cost at other venues.
5. Rooms/​Décor — Lastly, the hotel rooms here are just so cute. The decorations are wonderful! The fog horn can be a little annoying, but you get used to it. The décor in the lobby is perfect for taking pictures!
A few last comments… the Oceano definitely holds a lot of weddings. So, they know what they’re doing, and it shows! It’s a really cute place to get married, and I can’t wait to return on our wedding anniversary. They really took great care of us!

Beautiful hotel, gorgeous scenery and conveniently located near some of Half Moon Bay’s best restaurants and shopping.
However, I’m knocking off two stars because Oceano gave us a room that seemed to be located right next to a rambunctious wedding reception/​party. As a result, we were subjected to loud, blasting music until very late night. When we called the front desk to issue a noise complaint, they assured us that the music would stop within 10 minutes, but the music continued at least 15 minutes beyond the 10-​minute mark. Furthermore, the hotel was apparently fully booked, so there was no way the concierge could book a different room for us. We made the reservation months in advance, so it was a little irking that the hotel couldn’t have placed us farther away from the main wedding hall (and instead placed wedding guests closer to the wedding hall). This issue was a significant damper on what would have otherwise been a peaceful and flawless Oceano experience.

My partner and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary at the Oceano Hotel & Spa in Half Moon Bay. I chose this hotel because I found a Groupon and I ended up getting a Deluxe King Suite for $ 230 a night.
This hotel was absolutely beautiful! We had an amazing view of the Pillar Point Harbor. I read that many people were bothered by the fog horn but I could barely hear it and I’m not a super light sleeper so it didn’t bother me. Another thing I liked about the hotel is the location. It had a handful of restaurants in the area and they are all walking distance. This area has a little bit of a night life and this too, I read, bothered some people. We went during the week day so it was very quiet outside. Just how I like it. Our room was excellent. King size bed, kitchen area, fire place, balcony, 2 televisions, separate shower and soaking tub. It had everything I was looking for.
Now for some of the cons, one thing I felt weird about was there was this window/​shutters on the wall in between the bed area and the bathroom and you can hear everything!!! Me and my partner are very comfortable with each other but we both agree that bathroom time is private time and it just didn’t feel private at all.
Another thing was that the walls are super thin. Luckily, we went during a week day so there was almost no one staying there but the few people that were there, we could hear and I’m sure they could hear us.
All in all, I had an excellent experience at this hotel, I definitely recommend it and would consider staying here again.

Wow! What an amazing find. We were looking for a quick night out of town and I randomly picked this hotel based on probity to the beach and distance from home and I’m so glad I did.
They were offering a couples package that included champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, $ 25 breakfast credit and a couples massage.
The hotel is beautiful and the service was amazing!
Our room was so spectacular I wished we could have stayed longer. It had a fireplace and ocean view.
It was immaculate and relaxing.
The massage the next day was great too.
It’s walking distance to the beach and great food.
We are defiantly coming back. We’ve stayed at the Ritz and I prefer the Oceano for the price it’s a much better deal and you feel so welcome here.

We were fortunate enough to have our wedding at this amazing hotel and spa. Lauren, our wedding coordinator, was the perfect fit for us. If I could give a one world example of every man and woman’s expectations for their special day it would be perfection. Obviously all of us are hopeful that the big day will be the most perfect, flawless day of our entire lives. I can say with great confidence that our day was in fact perfect in every possible way and Lauren had her fingerprints all over that. We met with Lauren at least a dozen times prior to the big day. Each and every time we were scheduled to meet, we had a very long list of questions, follow up questions from our previous visit and on and on it went. .Lauren definitely made us feel comfortable by answering every question we had and most often responding in kind with «on the day of your wedding, you won’t need to worry about that. I will take care of it.»
We did a lot of research before we chose a venue and let me tell you, this place is a value selection, with luxury amenities. A lot of the venues we visited did not include the basics that may or may not be on your list. A very simple, yet important example. One of our top 5 venues wanted to charge us to cut the cake, charge us to use the knife for cutting the cake and charge us per plate used to serve cake. We mentioned this to Lauren and she giggled before responding with «we aren’t going to charge you for that, don’t worry about it.»
Half Moon Bay is one of the most beautiful locations in the Bay Area and this location was at the top of our list. We are truly grateful for Lauren, Nancy and their entire team for making the biggest day of our lives, the most AMAZING day of our lives. I could continue this essay and go on and on describing the amazing service provided, but I will sum it up with this. Everyone, from the moment we arrived the day before the big day all the way through to the moment we packed up our car the day after the big day, was on top of their game and provided us with an out of this world, top notch experience that I am truly hopeful you get the chance to enjoy as well.