USA -> California -> Orange County
Renaissance ClubSport Aliso Viejo, California On a recent trip to Southern California my wife and I had a chance to stay at the Renaissance Clubsport in Aliso Viejo. Overall we thought it was a really cool hotel and very unique with its focus on serving the health-conscious crowd. For traveling with very young children, however (we took our 9-month old), there were a few concerns.Location Depending on the area you are visiting the location could be a plus or a minus. For visiting the beach you are at least 20 minutes from the water. Also, all of the convenient freeway entrances were for toll roads - not a huge deal but over a few days we spent like $15 on tolls which seemed like a lot. We were staying in San Clemente which was about twenty minutes to the South (assuming very light traffic) - this was, of course, our fault - we wanted to check out the hotel because it was unique and seemed kind of cool. It even partially inspired us to start training for a half marathon. The Good The rooms were nice and clean in a little too minimalist for our tastes. The television in the room was great (plasma HDTV). The staff was also very friendly and accommodating - we had to check out a day early and it was no problem, they helped us do it without charging us a fee. Also, if you are traveling here with older children it could be a great choice - they have a daycare with licensed workers watching your kids for up to three hours at a time. The daycare had all kinds of fun things to do that actually made me wish my 9-month old was a little older so he could go in and have some fun. The Bad The first thing to understand is that is more like a huge gym with a hotel added in later, almost as an afterthought. I'm not sure that this was the original plan, but this is the impression I get. While the gym was very cool, keep in mind that most of the people in the gym are not travelers but locals who spend a lot of time in the gym. I usually enjoy using the gym in a hotel because it helps me unwind but this place actually intimidated me (and I'm in pretty good shape). I would think this would be awkward to say the least for most regular American visitors. My only other complaint was that in the bathroom (in our hotel room) there was no bathtub and the sink was a bowl-style which made bathing little Ethan pretty difficult. We did get some cute pictures out of it, but that would probably prevent us from coming back to the Renaissance Aliso Viejo until Ethan is old enough to take showers. Conclusion If you are very health conscious (or if your friends think you're a "fitness freak"), you will probably love this hotel. It would be a great place for a very active couple to spend a couple of days without getting out of shape. External Resource: Official Hotel Website |
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