Cliff House Inn On the Ocean — Hotel in Carpinteria

What an awful experience...save your money and go elsewhere. The boyfriend and I are locals and decided to stay here for a getaway. The only good thing about this place is the view of the ocean. We had previously only dined at the restaurant. I made this review 2 stars for the view and because the staff tried (not the manager).

THIS TIME was awful. We checked in at 4:30 to the front desk telling us there was intermittent power and giving us a lantern. We inquired about if the restaurant would be open, explaining that was a major reason for us to stay (being locals, we had plenty of power at our own house). The front desk told us they would call our room phone or cell to let us know by 5:15pm if the restaurant would open.

We get to our room and it was dated with a soggy mattress. Maybe it was a nice room in the '70s.....maybe. There was paint peeling on the bathroom walls. There was no air conditioning in our room (as advertised), just a fan. The front staff DID NOT mention that the cable and internet were out when we checked in. I have received cleaner rooms at a Motel 6.... it would be cheaper to stay at a Motel 6 too. By 6pm, there had been no call from the front desk so we went down to inquire. We were unable to find any staff. We found a handwritten note that the restaurant was closed until tomorrow.

At this point, (1.5 hours into the getaway) there is a dated dirty room with intermittent power, no cable, no internet, no advertised air conditioning. There is also no private beach access....The "private beach" is a retaining wall above the ocean with reclining chairs. Its a beautiful view...but its not beach access. And the restaurant is closed.

A little after 6pm, my boyfriend went to the front desk to ask if we could move our stay to next week (when the restaurant would hopefully be open and the power would not be intermittent). There is no point in staying at the hotel with intermittent power when you live 15 miles away. The front desk help was nice and called her manager to ask if that would work. Again, being locals on a getaway, there WAS plenty of opportunity for repeat business from us. That is no longer the case. The manager said that was UNACCEPTABLE and offered us $30 off our total room cost for the 1.5 hours we stayed in their hotel. We elected to come home and sleep in our own bed.

I am never going here again. I am never patronizing the restaurant...

Let me start by saying I was very pleased with the location and view. Breathtaking. You can hear the waves crashing and watch them from your bedroom window. (Oceanview room of course)

The bedroom (room 3) was nice, comfortable queen bed although I should've booked a king... just spatial preference. A refrigerator, small table and stools for meals, the bathroom is on the smaller side. Stand up shower that you can pretty much turn around in and get the basic shower in. If you need more space or are handicap, definitely ask for a room that can accommodate your bathing needs. (FYI- lobby level is the middle floor if you're looking at the hotel from the pool- probably best for handicap) The pool is down one flight of stairs but don't worry you can walk around the side of the hotel to access the pool area if you exit the lobby and hang a right.

There isn't an A/C in most rooms but the ocean air is sufficient for most. If you run hot, like me, bring a portable table fan to circulate the air and you'll be fine. (I didn't realize this ahead of time but made a quick trip to Rite Aid in Carpenteria and found a pretty nice standing fan that was compact enough and did the trick.) The room does have a small heater.

Continental breakfast is served in the morning that you can eat near the pool area. The options are limited but fresh and delicious. Hard boiled eggs, bagels, muffins, fresh fruit cup (melon and pineapple), bananas, oranges, cereal, muffins, milk, tea, coffee, OJ.... it's satisfying. If you want something more hearty..Doordash does deliver here but they also have a restaurant on site that I didn't get to try & you might like.

I haven't taken a vacation in years but I've always passed this place on my previous vacations to pismo, solvang, Santa Barbara etc. Watching the waves crashing, napping in the ocean breeze and smelling the sea air energized me at least through labor day. I'll definitely be staying here again. Worth every penny.

p.s. We spent the 4th of July here and the neighbors and beach campers accross the way provided a decent show of aerial fireworks. If you want a professional firework show you can drive 20 mins north to Santa Barbara and brave the crowds, I was satisfied with the...

I wrote a review on Expedia which is where we booked our stay and they HAVE NOT posted it on to their website. So I’ll just review my stay here we stayed at this place August 16th-18th..we were celebrating our 4 year anniversary and let me tell you it was not what we expected. The room was very rundown (my husband and I joked that we got catfished because the rooms online don’t look like that in person), old loud bed, very dirty sheets that caused me to get pink eye and a rash on my face from laying on the pillows. To top it off they have no AC so it was hot despite it being near the beach. We overlooked all that on night one and tried to make the best of it, then when we went to the restaurant downstairs to grab some dinner we were greeted by an older American lady. She immediately with one look asked if we had a reservation to which we said no and she sat us inside instead of outside… we then like 30 minutes later overhear another host sit a couple without reservation outside which my husband and I thought was totally unfair. I spoke to the host which was a very nice young man and he explained that we should of been asked if we’re staying at the hotel and if we are that we automatically don’t need to have a reservation and can be seated outside, he then proceeded to apologize and set a table for us outside. We ate there the 3 days we stayed and that was the only issue we had. Personally I felt like it was racism radiating from the initial hostes that sat us down but that’s just my opinion. So we thought that was the worse we’d experience but nope we were wrong on Sunday the electricity went out from 12am all the way to 6am. NO light whatsoever!! Not only in our room but in the whole hotel, other guests came out to see as well what was going on but the office closes at 11pm so we had no response. And me being me, I looked up the address on Edison just to see that the power outage was a SCHEDULED OUTAGE!!! Like whaaat, why wouldn’t they let the guests know!! Like I said horrible place, horrible rooms and horrible stay the only nice part is the restaurant and view. Stay away, I will attach pictures. It won’t allow me to post the videos of my pink eye or rash but I will screenshot...