Touring Napa and Sonoma

As virtually all of you know, one of my clients is The Meritage Resort and Spa. My trip to Napa this week had a little something extra, I got to try new things. First, instead of my "normal" room with a balcony and/or room with a view of the vineyards I was able to try a "The Room With No View." It's a reduced rate room (sometimes as low as $99), it has all the same amenities of a normal room, except the window doesn't look out onto anything too exciting. Perfect for me, since I'm rarely in the room and if I am, I'm looking at my laptop, the TV or sleeping.

For dinner I actually didn't go to Siena, I headed to Oxbow Public Market (Napa's version of San Francisco's Ferry Building). I ate had two great tacos at C Casa, before heading to Three Twins Ice Cream for dessert. There are definitely some other places I want to try.

I also got to head out with a few new members of the sales team to take a look at what some of the other Napa Valley properties offered. We started out at the Westin Versa Napa. It was pretty, had some contemporary lines and looked nice. We didn't get to see it all, but it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves, so that was good.  Next, we went to the Napa Valley Marriott. The sales  team there greeted us with open arms and showed us everything from the restaurant to an on-site Starbucks to meeting rooms and guest suites. It all looked great on the inside, the exterior needs some work though (the inside was just remodeled, the outside still looks like it did when it was built). Our final visit was to the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. Although older (I think they said it was built in 1929), it has some beautiful details. The lobby was warm and inviting, the pool had tons of lounge chairs, the rooms had some cool features, the plants were all mature and the hotel had a room that featured all of the table decor, plates, silverware and glassware for events. Some of the rooms were pretty small (think San Francisco small), but if you could afford them the suites were amazing (we saw one with a jacuzzi that was half in the bathroom and half in the bedroom, perfect for honeymoons). The spa was also huge and gorgeous, not sure if it's as cool as Spa Terra (not much can beat being underground), but it was nice. All things considered I still love The Meritage and cannot wait for the expansion to be completed in Spring 2012.