I’ve been wanting to check out a show at Vina Robles Amphitheatre since it opened in 2013, and somehow despite numerous wine tasting trips to Paso Robles and an early pandemic visit to see the extremely cool outdoors-among-the-vines Field of Light at Sensorio exhibit, which is right on the same rural highway, I never managed to make the 125 mile trek until a special deal at Hotel SLO caught my eye.
The “Summer Vibe” package includes a stay in one of Hotel SLO’s hipster chic rooms — ours featured a king-size bed, private balcony, a cozy sitting area, walk-in rain shower, and playful yet sophisticated decor that would have been right at home on the pages of any design magazine. There’s definitely a vibe to newer hotels — the boutique Skyview Los Alamos has it too — where each room has a seemingly unique style, and it almost feels like you’re a guest in someone’s home as opposed to a standardized corporate environment. There’s also an environmentally friendly bent to Hotel SLO that I approved of, including key card light controls (so you can’t accidentally keep on the lights when you leave the room); cute, glass milk jug style, refillable water bottles with easy filling stations around the hotel; and cleverly worded options to “refresh” your room without wastefully laundering your towels and linens unless you need that.
Our room was paired with access to a luxury box suite at Vina Robles Amphitheatre, a mere half-hour away from Downtown San Luis Obispo, even in Friday afternoon traffic. The concert venue is beautiful, nestled in a picturesque hillside, with all 3,300 seats within 150 feet of the stage (the Santa Barbara Bowl has 4,500 seats, to give you some idea of perspective), including general admission lawn seating up top, just above the “VIP Box” seats where we were. It was the perfect perch to watch The Offspring show, amongst a super enthusiastic sold out crowd. We had a great view of the mosh pit, but were safely ensconced in the sponsor boxes, with our own server to bring us beer and wine (the amphitheatre is on the Vina Robles Winery property after all), as well as surprisingly good woodfired pizza and other snacks.