TLDR: Stunning venue, but management and maintenance are major issues. Guests were injured on the Starlight Terrace due to loose tiles that staff admitted they’ve known about for a... long time. They also processed nearly $9,000 in unauthorized charges, even charging my father-in-law’s card without permission, and only refunded $2,000 after I escalated to their corporate office.
The Omni Rancho Las Palmas is a beautiful resort, but our wedding experience was defined by a lack of maintenance and unethical billing practices. The Starlight Terrace has several extremely loose tiles that are a major safety hazard. The resort was aware of the issue—their "solution" was to warn me to tell guests not to wear stilettos and to place safety cones in the middle of our reception space, which ruined the aesthetic and the flow of our bar area. Multiple guests tripped, and one even sustained an injury to her already injured tendon in her leg. When a staff member came to check on her, they actually admitted that the resort has known about these loose tiles and should have fixed them a long time ago.
The service and billing were just as disappointing. The serving team seemed rushed and poorly prepared—they didn't even have a cake box for the top tier of our wedding cake that we were supposed to take home. Most concerning, however, were the financial practices. They attempted to charge my father-in-law’s credit card without authorization before charging mine for nearly $9,000 without providing an accurate itemized invoice. I discovered they had ignored our contracted beverage rates to sneak in a 28% price hike three days before the wedding. It took weeks of being ignored and eventually opening a formal case with Omni Corporate to get a response. They finally admitted to a "billing error" and issued a $2,000 refund, but it shouldn't take a corporate investigation to get a "luxury" resort to follow its own contract and maintain a safe environment.