Riviera Beach House — Attraction in Santa Barbara

Your stay here really depends on 1) The purpose of your trip, and 2) How much of a homebody you are.

If you just need a place to sleep and shower, and plan to spend more time out and about than in, this hotel is good for that. It is located in a busy part of town where there is plenty to do within walking distance and within short Uber distance - tons of restaurants, shopping, and super close to the beach.

If, like me, you stay in a lot, you might go a little crazy. The double queen room we had was pretty much college dorm size. Not more than one person should walk around at a time or else you'll bump into each other and drive each other crazy, lol!

And the bathroom ... is pretty much an airplane bathroom with a shower stall the size of a phone booth. (Look at the video I posted.) There is only a piece of swinging glass between you and the toilet when you shower. You have to swing the glass open as a barrier to shower, but you have to close it if you are not showering and need to get to the toilet. That's how small it is. Like I could be sitting on the toilet and washing my hair at the same time if I really wanted to, lolol! We flooded the bathroom daily because this modern design doesn't drain well and we had 2-3 towels as a barrier for yhe shower ... so just plan to take military showers (less than 5 minutes).

Heat in the room was frustrating. Our outer room wall was brick, so it kept cold in, and the air is not central heating, it is a separate unit. At 80 degrees (the max) we were still cold and clinging to each other for body heat and survival, ahaha ... oh man. Fun time, LOL.

Parking is valet mandatory at $48/night or self park for $20/night at a lot 2 streets away ... I chose the lot for my own car - I have 2 legs that work fine, haha

The fitness center is a room with 2 cardio machines and a water cooler. I didn't use the equipment, I only went in to get water, ahahahaha but the equipment looked nice and newly updated.

Overall, entertaining and memorable time. It is a solid 4 stars if you have a sense of humor and don't expect too much. All in all, I would stay again if it was a short trip and/or warmer...

For the pros: the location is right in the heart of the Funk Zone which is a big draw for this hotel. Additionally, while quite small, the rooms are charming and clean. Finally, the staff was helpful and attentive.

For the cons: I would not recommend this hotel for anyone trying to get some rest on their vacation or driving into Santa Barbara. We had terrible issues with noise late at night due to the outdoor lounges on the second floor. Members of our parties were in the rooms next to the lounges, and there were other guests who were hanging out with their dogs past 11p and were loud enough to disturb the rooms next door. Additionally, as people return home from a late night or leaving for an early train, the walls are quite thin, and it is easy to be woken up from loud noises in the hallways. While we did bring this up to hotel staff, there is no posted or official Quiet Hours for the hotel.

Then, the "Valet" parking lot only fits about 10-12 cars for the entire hotel, so it quickly fills up. Your other option is a surface, unmonitored lot for $30 2 block away. This option is quite dismal and wildly overpriced for being unmonitored. We chose to park in the City lot across the street. We are also having issues with the Hotel as they mistakenly charged us the $30 for the parking when we didn't even use the surface lot. We still have yet to be refunded for that amount.

We have written to management on these issues and are still waiting for a response. UPDATE: 1 week later - GM reached out to correct the overcharge on the parking and working to address the...

My gf surprised me for my birthday with a weekend getaway to Santa Barabra at the end of August. We stayed at the Riviera Beach for the 3 days we were there. The rooms are very small but you cant beat the location of where its at. Like many, we turned the AC on as soon as we got into our room but quickly noticed it wasnt cooling the room off. We notified the front desk about the issue and they stated they would send someone to come take a look in the morning. They provided us with a small desk size fan that didnt do much. The next morning we asked them when someone would be avialable to come take a look, and they mentioned within the next few hours. We didnt mind since we were going out for while. We were gone for about half the day to arrive back with still no AC working. We again contacted the front desk and they mentioned they had not had a chance to get someone in there. By this point, I was frustrated knowing the problem was on going from the time we got there the day before. They provided a second desk sized fan to try and help but again it didnt do much. The entire weekend our room was between 78 ans 80 degrees. And sadly it never got resolved during our stay. Needless to say, our stay at this place was not as enjoyable as we had hoped, espcially for what my GF paid for it. Since August we have sent several emails regarding our stay and several phone messages with no response. I am a bit dissapointed with having not recieved any kind of contact from management or even an attempt to...