FESTIVE FEBRUARY: You may come across landmarks with a lot of cachet in certain areas, but most properties tend to excel in one corner or two. You might find the hotel that's hosted a number of World Series-winning baseball teams or a hotel that does it up come Halloween. Or what of the resort that's famous for its olive groves or hot springs or such? Those exist, too. But The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside has far more bases covered, at least where many hotels are concerned. Christmas? The historic hotel has it wrapped up, what with the four-million lights it boasts each season. Victorian times? The Dickens Festival flocks around the hotel, with bustles and top hats, for one wintertime weekend. Castle chic? No other California building, save Hearst Castle, can make a run at The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa's turrets and nooks for sheer, old-world-y quaint-a-tude. So when one learns that not one but two categories in which the hotel dominates will occur over the same weekend, one doesn't doubt. Rather one guesses that the weekend happens in the middle of February, and that it encompasses both Valentine's Day and Presidents Day, two holidays that are, much like other annual happenings, associated with the grand dame-iest of hotels.
VALENTINE'S DAY: The hotel has a few sweet stay-overs built around the Day o' Love, including the Romantic Interlude package (available in February, with a $25 food/beverage credit), Cherished Moments (also a February deal, with a $50 food/beverage credit and other goodies), and Celebration of Love (which boasts quite a few items, including a couple's massage). Cupcakes, roses, and other additions are included, depending on the package you choose. Need to suss out what your sweetheart might like? Start here.
PRESIDENTS DAY: Many a Commander in Chief has called upon The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa over the ages -- Teddy Roosevelt and William H. Taft included -- and the hotel honors that history with the Oval Office package. Available for a few days around Presidents Day, the package includes a tour of the inn's presidential past and vouchers for two presidential-themed cocktails.
