The 850 acre Quail Lodge & Golf Club resort is an idyllic California Central Coast getaway offering 93 spacious California-ranch designed guestrooms and suites on a championship golf course.

Located in the bucolic Carmel Valley, the area offers mild temperatures and clear blue California skies nearly year-round. It’s an ideal locale for outdoor activities, and is within minutes from charming Carmel-by-the-Sea, the iconic 17-mile drive and beautiful Monterey Peninsula.

Guest rooms and suites range from 650 sqft. to 2,000 sqft. Each includes either a King Bed to two Queen Beds with a luxurious pillow top mattress and high-thread-count duvet.

Rooms have a patio or balcony with comfortable Adirondack furniture overlooking the garden, golf course or lake views. The California ranch-style layout in many rooms includes a vaulted ceiling, a gas fireplace, an oversized bathroom with a separate bath and shower, make-up mirror, and small bottle bath amenities.

Other features include wireless internet access and widescreen LCD HDTVs with cable and premium channels. There is a mini-refrigerator, personal safe, iPod dock, and coffee maker. Bottled water is offered in the room for a fee. Additional amenities are available upon request at the front desk including coffee, tea, sugar and creamer.

Rollaway beds are available for a $30 fee per night. The Quail Lodge is pet friendly, and a $75 fee per pet, per room will be added at check-out.

Known for it’s award-winning 18-hole golf course, guests can now play golf with certain policies, restrictions, and conditions required by the Monterey County Health officials.

Tee times are required for guests to access the golf course, either by calling the golf shop or booking a time online. Guests, members, and staff must maintain at least six-foot distance from one another and wear facemasks. Access to the locker rooms and other amenities remain closed until they are deemed safe to reopen.

Players will always handle their own bags and have the option to walk, use a push cart, or golf cart for an additional fee. Only one person per cart is allowed at this time, except when two people reside in the same household. Each cart will be fully sanitized before and after use.

Players can use the driving range to warm-up and practice. Range stalls will be spaced at least 10 feet apart, and if a player uses a tee, they must disinfect their hand prior to handling a ball.

Marshals will be patrolling both the front and back 9 for any assistance, and to ensure adherence to social distancing and optimal pace of play. Players must follow the instructions from the marshals.

The heated year-round swimming pool has lounge chairs that are socially distanced around the pool deck. Guests are asked to wear a face-covering around the pool area if other guests are present. Face coverings can be removed when in the swimming pool.

The nearby exercise rooms remain closed.

Other outdoor activities include a nine-hole grass putting course, two sand bocce ball pits, manicured walking paths, tennis and pickleball courts.

The resort also offers two electric bicycles for guests to rent by the hour or by the day to explore Carmel Valley along paved streets and trails. The front desk staff is happy to offer directions for some popular routes.

To welcome guests back, guests who book online at the Quail Lodge website can use promo code WELCOMEBACK to receive a 20% discount. Also, the resort has no extra resort fee and is offering complimentary overnight parking.

The safety and security of guests and employees remain the highest priority, and they are training their staff to follow all recommended guidelines for preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In adherence to Monterey County health official orders, Quail Lodge & Golf Club staff and all guests must adhere to the social distancing mandate to maintain at least six feet between persons at all times and wear proper face masks.

The staff will continue to adhere to the highest of standards of cleanliness and hygiene by cleaning and sealing each room with a sticker on the door to notify guests that the room has been thoroughly sanitized. Each guest room will also have two small bottles of hand sanitizer for guests to use throughout their visit.

Writer’s note: While checking into the resort one week after it reopened, one of the rooms reserved did have the sticker on the door notifying the room was clean, yet the second room did not, and didn’t have the complimentary bottles of hand sanitizer. The staff apologized and assured us the room was clean and that the cleaning staff in training forgot to implement the final step. Instead of moving us to another clean room, hotel management issued a $25 resort credit.

Traveling during the pandemic is going to have a few hiccups along the way. It is important that your pack multiple masks, hand sanitizer and speak up if you feel your guestroom is not clean.