Today, I’m going to give you my Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas review from my most recent vacation. Staying here was a very last minute decision I made for Memorial Day Weekend. I had a Hyatt Category 7 Free Night Certificate that I needed to use by the middle of June and had originally booked it at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands. I booked it there because we were already going to be up in Big Sur the beginning of June and had plans to stay at the Alila Ventana Big Sur. So, I thought we could just stay an extra night since Carmel was only 30 minutes away. 

Well, after reading some not-so-raving reviews about Hyatt Carmel Highlands, I was starting to second guess my choice. In addition, Hyatt Carmel Highlands is a Hyatt Residence Club property so Hyatt Globalists don’t get their benefits. So, I started looking at other Category 7 properties near me and noticed that there was Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas that was only 2 hours from Los Angeles. We were already going to be at Sycuan Resort for Memorial Day Weekend on Friday and Saturday night, so it would work out to stay at Alila Encinitas on Sunday night.

At first, there was no award night availability. But I’ve learned that if you keep checking, especially close to the dates of your stay, award night availability does pop up occasionally. I don’t know if it’s because of people’s last minute emergencies or if people just bank their points into award nights and then cancel them if they don’t end up using them since there’s no penalty for doing so. In the end, I was able to book a room on May 26th for a stay on May 29th!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click the links at no additional cost to you.

 

Blog Post Outfit Details

Some of you have kindly asked where I get some of my outfits so I’m going to try to start posting them here in case you’re interested too. One of my favorite purchases this summer has been this black Forever 21 dress. It’s super affordable and great for those warm summer nights. Also, great for petite ladies too since I’m only 5′-2″ and it hits right above the floor with some heels on.

 

Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas Review

Cost

Luckily, I had a Hyatt Category 7 Free Night Certificate that I needed to use before it expired so my one-night was completely free. Just as a reminder, for any Hyatt award stays (certificates or points), you don’t have to pay any resort fees. If you are going to pay for a night though, the resort fee is $53.90 ($49+tax) along with the $52 valet fee (waived for Globalists booking an award night). The average daily rate is around $800-$900/night for a regular room. So, at the end, you can be paying at least $1000/night.

If you end up having enough points, the Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas has a lot of standard and peak point redemption options at 30,000 points/night and 35,000 points/night respectively. You’ll almost see no non-peak dates at 25,000 points.

 

Location

From Los Angeles, the Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas is south and only a quick 2-hour drive without traffic. If you are flying from somewhere else, San Diego International Airport (SAN) is where you want to fly into.

 

Room

Our room was the One King Bed Garden View with Firepit. The whole reason I wanted to stay at Alila Encinitas was because of this firepit! I saw pictures of it on their website and I was instantly in love. The room overall exudes the beach vibe and you definitely feel like you are on vacation. The shower was also a treat with the hanging eucalyptus above the shower head. The star of the show though was definitely the firepit out in our patio. The only comment I will say about this room is that the “garden view” is just some shrubbery around the patio. The room is adjacent to the pool so you have people constantly walking behind your patio so they can easily look into your room.

 

Food

Since we didn’t want to leave the hotel, we decided to have dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, VAGA. I thought the restaurant was beautiful and the customer service was excellent. They didn’t have our choice of a bottle of wine twice, so by the third time, they recommended a more expensive bottle but gave it to us for the second bottle’s cheaper price. This is what true customer service really is! Overall though, I probably won’t be back for dinner since I thought the food was just okay for the money we spent. For the two of us, we spent almost $200 after tax and tip.

 

Pool

After we checked-in, we went straight to the pool. Our room was located right next to the pool too so we had fast access. There is an infinity jacuzzi up at the front and the main pool behind it. I would say that I would have had a better experience if there was a separate pool for adults and kids. I didn’t even get to step into the main pool since there were so many kids kicking and splashing water in my face.

 

Spa

Unfortunately, I did not get to try the spa due to lack of time and honestly, money!

 

Service

Of course you’re going to expect amazing service at all Alila properties and this was no exception. Check-in went smoothly and our bartender at the pool was fantastic. The staff was very attentive and was very quick with toiletry requests.

 

Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas Globalist Benefits

Room Upgrade

Since we booked with a free night certificate, the only choice we had was a One King Bed Lagoon View Room. I really wanted a room with a firepit in it so I requested one during check-in and they had just one left. Granted, this was all by chance and I feel extremely lucky since the hotel ended up being sold out.

Days leading up to our stay, I checked the Hyatt website and there were an abundance of room types available. Like every room type imaginable was available! I thought for sure I was going to easily get a room with a firepit. I didn’t even care about getting a suite. Well, I checked the night before our stay (and I kid you not), the hotel was almost sold out. I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t know rooms can sell out that fast within a day of people’s stay. These aren’t cheap rooms either. Some of the suites were going for THOUSANDS of dollars per night!

My point is, if you have a suite upgrade reward, I would not risk it and try to secure that suite as soon as possible. You don’t want to get your hopes up and then be disappointed at check-in. It wouldn’t be a great way to start your vacation.

 

Free Breakfast

The breakfast benefit was at VAGA. The restaurant gives Globalists a separate type of menu where you can order one beverage, entree, and side. This breakfast benefit was by far one of my favorite Globalist breakfasts. I had the Baja Halibut Lox Toast which I HIGHLY recommend. I ate that whole thing up. My friend got the South Ponto Pancakes with a side of eggs.

 

Parking

There is only valet parking. Globalists get free parking on award stays so the valet ($52) was free for me.

 

Waived Resort Fees

Globalists get waived resort fees.

 

Bottled Water

There were canned bottles of water in the room already.

 

Priority Access to Room (aka Early Check-In)

I think we check-in around 2:30 pm and regular check-in time is 4:00 pm. So, we did receive early check-in with no problem.

 

Late Check-Out

We decided to leave at the usual check-out time (11:00 am) since we had to be back in Los Angeles at a certain time. But I do remember the front desk agent asking if I wanted late check-out and I told him that we didn’t need it.

 

Conclusion

I would definitely come back here especially if I have more Category 7 Free Night Certificates and want to stay somewhere local. I feel like I would want to stay here for at least for two nights though to get the whole experience. Since we only stayed one-night, it felt a bit rushed because we couldn’t fit everything we wanted to do into one day. At least there will be other things for us to try out next time. Well, that’s it for my Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas review. Hope you all found it helpful!

 

Pictures