Monterey, California, is off to a stellar start in 2026, with one of the most beautiful highways in the world, the iconic California Highway 1, having opened back up through Big Sur in mid-January after three years of closures.
And while the opening of a highway—due to landslides over a four-mile, cliff-hugging stretch of the road—at first glance may not be of primary importance to meetings and events, the symbolism of reconnecting the northern and southern parts of the Golden State on the area’s hospitality industry cannot be overstated.
“Basically, the Highway 1 road trip is sort of like our Eiffel Tower. It’s a really big step and a very important tourism asset, not just for Monterey County, but the entire state,” said Rob O’Keefe, president and CEO of See Monterey. “So much of what we offer from a visitor experience, whether it’s a leisure visitor or somebody here for a meeting or conference, is really inspiring. A large number of folks either come early or stay late for those types of experiences, and Highway 1 is certainly that.”
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Outside of the roadway update, Monterey is also speeding forward with a number of meetings and hospitality happenings.
“We’ve got two new hotels opening this month—a dual-property Courtyard by Marriott and a Residence Inn, with 3,000 square feet of meeting space,” O’Keefe said of the Sand City project. “It’s a great mid-market product for us. It’s going to be unlike any other Residence or Courtyard anywhere. The location—it’s just gorgeous—and it’s going to add a couple hundred extra rooms to our inventory. And then I’m very excited because we also have a Kimpton opening, the Kimpton Mirador [Pacific Grove Monterey], in Pacific Grove, which is one of the cutest little seaside towns you’re ever going to see.”
The Kimpton, the first for the brand on the central California coast, is set to open in winter 2026, with plans calling for a Spanish Revival-inspired 99-room hotel and the signature The Caledonian restaurant. The property, which will start accepting reservations in February, will also offer a courtyard with fireplaces as well as complimentary wellness offerings for guests such as sound baths, yoga and fitness sessions.
Major Monterey Hotel Happenings
Other major Monterey hotel-related news includes the following:
- The luxe Carmel Valley Ranch will undergo a renovation in early 2026 that will include the debut of Spa Aiyana this spring.
- The boutique 20-room Isabella Monterey, owned by noted local restaurateur Chris Shake, is set to open in May in Monterey. Located on the Caruso’s Corner site of the former Casa Verde Inn, across from Monterey County Fairgrounds, it will also feature a signature restaurant from the multigenerational restaurant family.
- The 161-room Lodge at Pebble Beach, overlooking the 18th hole of the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links, reopened in October 2025 with a new entryway and the expansion of its Terrace Lounge. Locals and planners alike will also celebrate the reopening of the property’s Stillwater Bar and Grill. The Lodge offers more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space, including a conference center that can accommodate up to 400.
- Monterey’s Monterey Beach Hotel in October opened Reset Lab, an al fresco wellness-focused space that features Scandinavian-inspired barrel saunas and cold plunges, among other offerings.
- Monterey’s Portola Hotel & Spa, one of the most popular meetings properties in the destination due to its location next to Monterey Conference Center, was named the first Surfrider Foundation Ocean Friendly Hotel in Monterey County, with sustainability accolades at the LEED-certified hotel that include the diversion of 75% of its waste from landfills as well as an investment in infrastructure such as an onsite co-generation system, the solar heating of its pool and water-capture technology.
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Rev Up Your Engines!
According to O’Keefe, Salinas’ famed WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will welcome the Porsche Track Experience in March, with course offerings ranging from introductory to advanced track experiences. Similar driving experiences have proven to be an adrenaline-pumping teambuilding experience and offsite event option in many destinations.
See Monterey is also launching two brand initiatives this year: “Monterey 1000,” a yearlong celebration honoring 1,000 years of Monterey County history; and “Off the Canvas,” which shines a spotlight on the area’s vibrant public art and the artists behind it.
“Think of Monterey County as a mosaic of experiences—our history, our culture, our heritage. More and more travelers are looking for that,” O’Keefe said, noting the juxtaposition of Monterey 1000 in context to the massive celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. in Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C., this year. “Off the Canvas is a celebration of the art in Monterey County over the years, so there’s a historical aspect to that, too. We’ve got murals, we have a lot of public displays of art—it’s who we are. Art is a reflection of the community. So, we want to dig into that by weaving it into the fabric of that tourism mosaic.”
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Surf’s Up at the Portola Hotel & Spa
One of Monterey’s two major meetings and conventions hotels attached to the 40,000-square-foot Monterey Conference Center, along with the Monterey Marriott (each of which also has its own substantial amount of meeting space), Portola Hotel & Spa is celebrating the acknowledgment of its many sustainability initiatives after being named a Surfrider Foundation Ocean Friendly Hotel.
The honor is the most recent green feather in its cap, as the hotel has long had a robust sustainability effort, including going above and beyond to help meeting and event planners track the sustainability of their meetings.
“Our team got together and created what is basically a report card for our groups with eight different measurements,” said Janine Chicourrat, a Monterey hospitality and meetings industry leader who is the managing director of the property. “Any group that’s 30 or more with the exception of weddings that stays in the hotel is issued a report card at the end of the meeting sharing how much they saved on water and energy and carbon offsets and all that.”
The hotel hired a third-party firm that specializes in sustainability reporting to create the methodology and also check in at the hotel every year to make sure the formulas they’ve set up are still relevant or need adjusting.
“I love it because if you get a CFO that wants to pick it apart [planners can say,] ‘Here’s the methodology,’” Chicourrat said. “It really stemmed from our meeting planners driving it, wanting to know what our sustainability practices were, and every RFP nowadays comes with some sort of sustainability element in it. I do think it gives us a competitive edge.”
Chicourrat said the hotel’s team was inspired by the trailblazing green initiatives at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, whose Seafood Watch program instructs diners and F&B teams on the sustainability of fisheries and marine species so they can make informed decisions.
Other news at Portola Plaza includes the complete renovation, down to the studs, of its Peter B’s restaurant, which is popular with groups meeting at the property and the Monterey Conference Center.
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