All of 17 Mile Drive is a massive bummer. It's this beautiful beach on one side, with gorgeous rocks and sights like the Lone Cypress tree, but then it's totally marred by the giant golf courses and the huge walls hiding the mansions that have the best views. Honestly it was just super depressing, because again, it is super gorgeous, but all the development around it like the golf courses and resort just ruin it. It's a waste of money.
Big Sur is the way to go if you want gorgeous views without the depressing luxury golf courses (because seriously, what a way to ruin an entire ecosystem...)
It's a cute spot, and the staff were really friendly and accommodating; the location is super close to the main downtown strip so it was super fun to just step out and start walking around. It was a pretty basic room, and I kind of wish the table/chairs provided were a little more comfortable for more than just sitting for a minute and eating the provided breakfast (a bagel with cream cheese, some fruit, fresh orange juice and a hard boiled egg, not too shabby) before leaving. Wifi was fine, and my dog was super happy there.
HOWEVER, the walls are PAPER THIN. There's a lot of street noise and you can hear everything going on in the rooms next to you. It might be better in the few upstairs rooms, but the one I was in on the ground floor seemed super noisy a lot of the time. On my last night there a couple had a massive fight resulting in the husband throwing out the wife's luggage from the room, and I heard EVERY WORD (initially thought the woman was right, but as time went by, she seemed kind of unhinged so I ended up siding with the husband, though he wasn't very nice.).