Balboa Bay Resort

$50 Parking Nice hotel, friendly staff, clean rooms, the view of bay was lovely especially watching rowers in the morning …location is a little remote need to drive to get anywhere …I was surprised by the $50 a nite parking fee. We weren’t told & its just too high for hotel guests especially by the time you tip

Gorgeous setting Gorgeous setting. It really is right in the bay. Staff are awesome. Beautifully kept hotel. Only down side is they were doing Reno’s on the pool - drills, grinders, pretty hard to relax. All they needed to do was let people know before they booked. Still - very nice spot.

Best Property on the Island Fantastic in every way!! Location was key. BBR is only nice large hotel on the bay in Newport Beach. Their restaurant is mostly outside under umbrellas in the daytime and upscale firepits at nighttime and is on the waterfront. The menus is amazing and delicious. Service is great and I love the cool vibe.

Balboa Bay Resort makes its guests feel special! I stayed here for 2 nights on a Southern CA trip in July 2024. This place had been on my wishlist for several years (my original trip to here was cancelled due to COVID), and it did not disappoint! We drove to the resort and arrived hours before the regular check-in time, planning to store our bags while we explored more of SoCal. Not really having a plan in mind, Randy suggested we take advantage of the hotel’s new luxury shuttle (Cadillac Escalade) over to Balboa Island. We took Randy’s advice and it was the perfect place to kill time until our room was ready (and it was ready early!) The luxury shuttle takes you in style to the bridge to Balboa Island, and its short walk over the bridge to a street with shops and ice cream stores galore! Our driver gave us a card to call for a return ride when we had finished exploring. This was such a nice perk so we didn’t have to worry about traffic or parking. The check in process was smooth, and everyone was so friendly and helpful. The only issue was a delay in bringing up our luggage, but it was understandable given the business at that hour. After a polite reminder, our bags were delivered promptly by Ron, who also showed us some features in our room of which we were previously unaware - including the bottle of wine in the fridge! We had a bay view room in the building on the right. We enjoyed spending time on the balcony just watching the view and the yachts. Balcony furniture was a bit uncomfortable, so we brought a couple pillows and the footrest from the bedroom to help make it more cozy. Room was clean, spacious, and felt like luxury. The 5-fixture bathroom was fabulous, as I prefer a standalone shower to a tub/shower combo. A little bit dated, with some peeling wallpaper in places, but overall still had a luxury feel and met all our needs. The shower temperature was a bit finicky - it took a steady hand to find the narrow space on the dial in between lukewarm and scalding. Housekeeping is done daily (hard to find these days!) and there was turn down service at night with dessert left for us one night and chocolates on night 2. We were in and out of valet often because we had a lot we wanted to see, and each of the drivers and others at the valet station were pleasant and treated us like royalty (and we are nobodies!). I wish I would have gotten more of their names, but they all were excellent and deserve recognition. Blend Cafe was great for breakfast. Loved their muffins and tea/coffee was reasonably priced. Overall this resort is luxury at its finest, and I would love the opportunity to stay here again.

Could have been better Although our room was nice and the view of the Bay was beautiful, when I book a room at a hotel I do expect to stay at the hotel , Not an ownership side where the pool is loud from all the family’s who frequent their. Also there was broken glass on the patio in front of our gate. I did let them know it is not on the inside of our patio, It’s on the outside, but it is broken glass and we did have a small 6 pound dog with us so I was concerned. They never sent anyone to clean it up. Very surprised. We came here to celebrate my husbands Birthday, one he could not enjoy since he had been working so hard. So we drove up from San Diego to Newport because we love Newport Beach but quite honestly I would rather have stayed at the Grand Del Mar as we have before, they deserve every bit of a five star rating. Their service is impeccable.