Coast Village Inn — Hotel in Santa Barbara

As a former Disney operations person at Disneyland, I have a unique perspective on the Coast Village Inn. Some sites label the Coast Village inn as a two star-three star property. No one, so far anyway, has said much about the office, maintenance and housekeeping staff at the hotel. I had multiple interactions with each department. Each experience was positive. Every staff member is on the same page. I stayed in a studio, #35 for almost two weeks. The studio was clean and roomy. If I needed something, I’d call the office and it was handled in minutes.

The Coast Village Inn may be a three star property. The service level from everyone is absolutely Five Star. My long stay coincided with the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The location of the hotel was perfect, so perfect that all I had to do to get to the film festival was walk to the bus stop in front of the hotel. The #20 dropped me a block and a half from the Arlington Theater. I took the 10:00 PM #20 to get back to the hotel. The return stop was a block and a half away.

There’s more. My family has been a JPMorgan client for 70+ years. Guess what was across the street from the Coast Village Inn? Yes, a JPM Private Client branch. During the last week of my stay, I needed something that necessitated a visit to the branch. As soon as I walked in I was greeted by one of the nicest, most professional individuals I’ve ever met. He took care of everything in minutes. At the end of my short visit, I learned that the person who initially greeted me was Gustavo Hernandez, Vice President and Branch Manager. What a terrific person and ideal manager Gustavo is.

Final thoughts

Coast Village Road reminds me of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. The restaurants are top tier. If you live in Westwood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, or Bel Air, stay on Coast Village Road. Book a studio at the Coast Village Inn and enjoy...

Nice little retro motor inn set back from the road a bit in the village of Montecito. Spit-shined rooms are on the small side, with old fashioned windows that open and a ceiling fan but no A/C. Bathrooms are particularly tight but the shower (our room had no tub) was fairly roomy with a light rain-style water pressure). Room had a set of drawers, an open closet space and a bit of room to move around. (Adequate for 2 persons but definitely not roomy.) Coffee in room or in the lobby, no breakfast. Several breakfast places within a few blocks walk. |The 2nd floor rooms are only accessible by a steep flight of stairs, may be difficult for some with luggage but staff is happy to help if available. Parking, a bit tight for large cars, is in front of and behind the motel. Walk to everything in town or under the freeway (via tunnel) to Butterfly Beach. A dozen or so free beach cruiser bikes for guest use and it's an easy ride along Butterfly Beach and up around the cemetery into Santa Barbara and along the beach strand. (On the way back though you'll have some uphill climbs to walk/deal with and might take the main drag back instead, Cabrillo-to-Hot-Springs roundabout-to Coast Village Road. there is a bike lane. | Five stars not because it's the Ritz or comparable, but because for what it is, a retro motel nicely kept over the decades, it's a good choice in a very pricey area if you're ok with the little quirk. It's kinda nice that this place still exists and has not been replaced by yet another sleek white-and-black generic dull modern box. Your little room will take you back to the 50s or 60s and the "this place needs an update" crowd will not...

It’s a cute little hotel right in the heart of downtown Montecito so you could walk anywhere to get food. You could actually walk to the beach from there. It was really easy to get around. Lots of good shops good restaurants. The hotel itself, The rooms are small, but sufficient for my husband and myself. Our room was clean. The carpet is old, but in pretty good shape and clean our bathroom was great shower was big very clean. There were two issues. I had one was an old chest of drawers that they had put in the room that emitted a very strong musty odor. I spoke to the manager about it, and he replaced it with a newer chest of drawers, which took care of the odor after about a day and a half of having the windows open. The other issue was the pillows. The bed was very comfortable. It appeared to be brand new. However, the pillows were awful, flat and extremely lumpy. I spoke to one of the clerks in the office about that and his response was that I will check with housekeeping, but I don’t think we have any other pillows. He then let me know that housekeeping said those are the only pillows that they have and they know they’re not good. Those are two really important things to me when I travel a comfortable bed with comfortable bedding. I ended up going to Target to Purchase some decent pillows. Which I had to leave behind because we did not have room in our luggage to take them home. They offered daily cleaning of the rooms and fresh bath linens. They also provide shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower. The pool was very nice and Very clean as were the lounge, chairs, and seating areas...