Palmoro House — Hotel in Santa Barbara

I blog, and I purposely have not written yet about this place yet. When I booked, I didn't know it was a Hyatt property (because of third party site) until we pulled up (and saw a sign that it was) to an empty parking lot. Because we were in town and traveled straight to the property, I didn't reveiw my instructions of 'confirmation' via email yet on 'how to check in'. Frustrated to say the least (due to me not opening an email), there was a sign at the front iron locked gate with instructions for us to go to an off property site to check in (Me: WHAT!??). No map. No other details, just a street name. We get there and the young gentleman at the front desk agreed and said yes, that does need to be clarified to be more check in friendly and I wasn't the only one who shared these feelings (Me: GREAT! I'm not alone in being completely frustrated right now. As if that helps...). At that point, I said I'm sure I'm not the only one who goes straight to the property since I was literally 3 minutes away from it (not reading confirmation via email). First my personal feelings only: Pictures are deceiving. The room pics for Santa Barbara house are correct, but not for the property at (Santa Barbara House). It should be clearer to the guest that this is a multi location property.. meaning NOT connected. Because you are inquiring and staying at the Santa Barbara House, please know you have the privilege to use all the amenities at the main property of Hyatt Centric (a block away)... while that sounds wonderful, it's not (or wasn't for me). The building felt like an apartment complex. Kind of 'dark' and not open or inviting. The area is undesireable. So I was not going to go walking with my family over to the main property. The area the Santa Barbara House is facing (a parking lot for a hidden park full of suspicious individuals - some homeless and setting up tents during our 1 night stay) left me immediately uneasy. And it didn't help with my husband saying "Well this isn't ideal"... (Me: yes honey I know... I'm sorry). The main property Hyatt Centric is beautiful.. And it's very large. So, who wouldn't want to stay there instead?? The inconvenience of having to load up and go over there is what turned me (personally) off from wanting to return. The room itself was good/ok. It was roomy which I appreciated with four suitcases on the floor. The bed comfort was ok. I didn't think it was that comfortable. Room comfort as a whole was good.. we didn't trip over eachother. These rooms are a nice size for four people. Surprisingly, they DO offer room service (that they bring over from the other property for you). Yes you do pay less..but this property has more rooms with double queens than the main property.. and rest assured you get the same amenities as if staying on the main property (but we chose to go to State Street instead). The shower was good/clean and nice size. You didn't feel crammed in when trying to close the door. I personally like it when the sink is outside of the bathroom (especially when you have kids) and our room had that. Wifi - I had issues with and it never worked for us. I called the front desk and it couldn't be fixed or resolved. Niah (sp?) tried to accomodate but I had said never mind. The next day, Carley (sp?) was nice about everything... I asked if there were any rooms available at the main property for us to stay another evening and there wasn't so we checked out and went to another hotel close by. I don't know WHY hotels do two Double beds vs. two Queens. Four people can NOT sleep comfortably on Full/Double size beds. We didn't encounter any housekeepers.. For a four person room, I suggest you have coffee for four people. I'm sure some families and/or couples wouldn't mind this property. I am someone who uses the properties and walks around everywhere to check out what's available to us. I like knowing I can leave my kids and husband and go do a quick treadmill in the workout room and quickly return. Yes, it was only a block away, but I wasn't in the mood to go over to a beautiful property to return to a homeless sight across the parking lot from from balcony view. I wish, in all honesty, I wouldn't known that this was the case prior to booking this room. At least I would've known and it was my choice to still book/accept what I was selecting. We made the best of it. It was not going to ruin my trip experience or make or break me. I share because I know reviews help people decide. If you don't mind not having direct access, then you will enjoy it! Staff is very nice, but there is only so much they can do. If a room or accomodation is not available,...

So... I hesitated to book a room but did so because several others I was traveling with decided to stay here. I had read the reviews and couldn't talk them out of staying here. A single traveler, I deliberately booked a room with 2 queen size beds so as not to get room 143, the one mentioned in several reviews as being so noisy because it is closest to the entrance and elevator. After a miserable day of traveling across the country to get here---delayed flights, awake for 24hrs.---I arrived @1:30am bleary eyed, desperately needing sleep and unable to think straight. The desk clerk asked if I needed 2 beds as I was by myself and assigned my room. I was driven by a golf cart to the remote building and much to my dismay, found I was given room 143---the very room I had hoped to avoid!!! Too exhausted to fight this, I collapsed in bed approx. 2am. Sure as can be, I was awakened @6:30am by the slamming of the metal gate and the loud elevator. A few hours later, as my fellow travelers arrived and checked in, they were all offered rooms at the main hotel--took them and left me in this back area alone--why was I not made the same offer??? When I spoke to the front desk about my room, asked why the clerk switched my room, I was given no explanation but was offered a room down the hall away from the metal gate and elevator. Unfortunately, that room smelled like a pack of wet cigarettes. When informed, the front desk said they would have the housekeeping staff look into that. So here I sit in the room I didn't want. Now it doesn't end there! Upon being dropped off in the back by my friends staying in the front, I found my key card would not give me access to my room. I tried to use the house phone on the wall by the metal gate--but, oh, guess what---it didn't work. SO at10pm, I had to walk down the street--very dark and w/o streetlights---thru the parking garage to the front desk to get a new key card. The front desk manager gave me a new card, apologized for the inconvenience then proceeded to get someone to drive me back to the "house." As my luck would have it, the golf cart was nowhere to be found and had been missing for some time. After waiting a minute for them to figure something out, I angrily told them I would walk back in the dark by myself. And much to my surprise, they let me walk away!!! I have 2 more nights in the hell hole and cannot wait to see what other unpleasant thing are in store for me!!! People---if you are reading these reviews---be smarter than me---if your gut tells you not to book here---DON'T DO IT---wish I had listened to my gut feelings and not my friends---they wanted to stay here, I did not. I ended up here, they did...

First off, we booked this hotel through a booking site and only received a reminder that our card would be charged. We never received an email with any information. So after driving 4 hours to get here we arrived to Palmoro house to closed gates with no way to get in. We had to look up the hotel online and then call. When we called they answered the phone “Mar Monte hotel.” Needless to say we were very confused. She let us know that where we are staying is an off property hotel and that we needed to come to the Mar monte to check in and then drive to our hotel. Not once did we receive any type of email letting us know that this would be the process.

When we finally got to our room, well let’s just say it’s very small. You open the door directly to the vanity sink. I will say that the room was very clean. That was about the only plus to it. The bathroom (shower and toilet) are around the corner , about two feet away from the bed. Let’s talk about having absolutely zero privacy. If you need extra towels or a blanket forget about it cause you’re out in this little house all alone. The walls are so thin we could literally hear conversations happening in the rooms next to us. The bed was so uncomfortable. I tossed and turned the whole night and didn’t really get any sleep due to not being able to get comfortable. Also, he prepared to be woken up from hearing the neighbors getting ice at 4:50am. Also, if you turn on the AC cause it gets hot at night, the unit will drip water the entire rest of the night (whether it’s on or not) causing you’re entire family to want to rip their hair out from the torture of the noise. The AC is covered by a wooden wall so there is no way to even access it to try and put a towel or anything. Lastly, the cleaning people coming early in the morning slamming doors and what sounds like literally banging on walls. Needless to say this hotel left a very bad taste in our mouths and we will not be staying here again.

Oh and no matter where you park in the parking lot your car will be COVERED in tree sap. We had to go to the car wash right away because if you don’t get it off it can ruin your paint. Just an extra little gift they give you...