On March 21, 2010, I had a reservation to have brunch at this restaurant at 11:30 a.m. This, as you must know, was the day of the L.A. marathon. When I attempted to park my vehicle, however, I was told that my vehicle could not be parked by the restaurant's valet service because my small, 11-year-old dog was resting in the back. I asked where I was supposed to find parking, and the valet service told me I could park at one of the nearby parking lots. The parking lots were full due to the L.A. Marathon festivities. Please keep in mind that I was having brunch with my mother, who was with me, who is disabled, and walks with a cane. It would be hard for her to hobble from one of the parking lots to the restaurant, and the valet service should have exercised more sensitivity and discretion.

After driving around endlessly for 45 minutes, I decided to change my reservation to noon so that I would have time to take my dog home and return to the restaurant. When I called, however, the host who was working the phones that day was less than cordial. First, he asked me why I had to change my reservation at such late notice. When I explained to him that it was due to the hotel's valet service's refusal to park my car due to my dog sleeping in the backseat, he berated me by saying, "Just to let you know, no valet service will EVER park your car if there is an animal in the back. It has to do with liability issues." How refreshing to know that the Veranda's hosts also moonlight as insurance adjusters! Needless to say, I did not even bother to change my reservation as I was so shocked at the rude, vituperative tone the employee used with me. I cannot believe that a hotel with a reputation such as Hotel Casa del Mar's would ever employ anyone with such a lack of manners. The Veranda not only lost two customers yesterday, it lost them forever. I hope their employees go through customer service retraining so that they may know how to better treat customers in the future.