Brisas del Mar, Inn at the Beach — Hotel in Santa Barbara

While we live in SoCal, we love going to Santa Barbara for a quick getaway. ||We have stayed at many different hotels in and around SB.  And many of the hotels cost more to be in SB.   So this appeared to be a deal at just under $200/night - even in January. ||Their site talks about a luxury resort close to the beach.  And it is clear BRISAS worked to check “key items” in which tourists look for:  clean; refrigerator; microwave; pool/spa.; and free continental breakfast.   Plus, they seemed to have quite a few great reviews – but everyone must have stayed in the 1 upgraded room off the lobby – as each review discusses the upgrade and only stayed 1 night?  And although dated, the façade & lobby looked fine. But after check-in, we found the dark carpet was old and Not clean. ||Everything in the room was old, outdated – except a modern desk lamp. ||As for WIFI, 30 different WIFI’s - jumps from Netgear to Setup...no SB_HG (it was down and appeared the next morning).  No waters, nor minibar but just a cheap mini fridge and old microwave from 20 years ago.. But to compensate, they include 2 champagne glasses, a bottle of WYCLIFF Sparkling (a $5.99 value @ Total Wines) – next to the ice bucket.   ||Other than a few parking spots at front/street level, you need to drive under. It is a motel with rooms over the parking spots (see pictures). The rooms open to the walking balcony (carpet is cheap indoor/outdoor and very soiled).  As for EV charging, they have 1 such parking spot which is always FULL.||We were lucky to get room #26 – next to the pool.  The pool gate is adjacent to our front door.  Every time qnyone walks thru the gate – a sonic boom in our room (night & day).  Plus, the walkway balcony shakes as you hear anyone walk by. ||Unfortunately, we booked via booking.com – as such, no getting out this early *front desk refers to this a as "prepaid".||Welcome to the Brisas Bates Hotel. But...

While we live in SoCal, we love going to Santa Barbara for a quick getaway. ||We have stayed at many different hotels in and around SB.  And many of the hotels cost more to be in SB.   So this appeared to be a deal at just under $200/night - even in January. ||Their site talks about a luxury resort close to the beach.  And it is clear BRISAS worked to check “key items” in which tourists look for:  clean; refrigerator; microwave; pool/spa.; and free continental breakfast.   Plus, they seemed to have quite a few great reviews – but everyone must have stayed in the 1 upgraded room off the lobby – as each review discusses the upgrade and only stayed 1 night?  And although dated, the façade & lobby looked fine. But after check-in, we found the dark carpet was old and Not clean. ||Everything in the room was old, outdated – except a modern desk lamp. ||As for WIFI, 30 different WIFI’s - jumps from Netgear to Setup...no SB_HG (it was down and appeared the next morning).  No waters, nor minibar but just a cheap mini fridge and old microwave from 20 years ago.. But to compensate, they include 2 champagne glasses, a bottle of WYCLIFF Sparkling (a $5.99 value @ Total Wines) – next to the ice bucket.   ||Other than a few parking spots at front/street level, you need to drive under. It is a motel with rooms over the parking spots (see pictures). The rooms open to the walking balcony (carpet is cheap indoor/outdoor and very soiled).  As for EV charging, they have 1 such parking spot which is always FULL.||We were lucky to get room #26 – next to the pool.  The pool gate is adjacent to our front door.  Every time qnyone walks thru the gate – a sonic boom in our room (night & day).  Plus, the walkway balcony shakes as you hear anyone walk by. ||Unfortunately, we booked via booking.com – as such, no getting out this early *front desk refers to this a as "prepaid".||Welcome to the Brisas Bates Hotel. But...

This hotel was great. I wish they'd give us the option to give half stars cuz we'd go with 3.5. It didn't exceed expectations for a hotel stay and didn't disappoint either. The folks working were kind and they pretty much always had a treat of some kind during the day if you were to stop by. The bike rentals were great one day but the next day they ran out of the good bikes and gave us some they don't usually use that were pretty rusted with low-air and we weren't able to use them. Not a big deal, they tried. The noise​ was an issue. The rooms are upstairs above the carport parking and you can hear footsteps when people walk by your room on the platform, even more so when those footsteps are running children. It was a little strange that on our 3rd night, there was a large family with very energetic children placed right next to us when it seemed that there were plenty of vacant rooms. The noise reverberates through the room. There's also a weird humming that sounds a bit like a lawnmower​ or a generator that doesn't stop during the evening. Also not a deal breaker. Noise is noise at hotels. Oh, and the pool area was lovely. Although small, it offered actual tiers that you could lounge to separate yourself from others but still have easy access for a dip. We probably wouldn't stay here again when selecting a hotel for the next trip, but we did...