Rose Garden Inn — Hotel in Santa Barbara

Do not listen to the bad reviews!! I was incredibly worried upon reading the reviews on Google as my partner and I were driving to Santa Barbara. Originally I booked through a 3rd party site and initially didn’t see the bad reviews… AND I AM SO GLAD I DIDN’T!! The room was SO MUCH NICER than the reviews lead you to believe. I paid ~$350-400 total for a 4 night stay (including the $25/night pet fee) which is a great price for such a good location and all the amenities offered in the rooms. This place EXCEEDED the expectations I had after reading the bad reviews. So I am happily writing this review because I don’t want any potential guests to see the bad reviews and be deterred from booking. The only thing that I can say happened is the power went out once (during the rainstorm) and it was back on promptly (less than 1 minute). Upon arrival: We arrived at 12am for our 3 night stay, and the office had someone at the desk to handle my check in/payment within 10 minutes. Every single person I interacted with at the front desk was professional, and was able to help me with everything that came up during the stay. On the morning I was originally going to check out the rain was so bad I didn’t feel comfortable leaving with such an insane amount of water on the roadways, so I booked another day and was able to keep the same room. They are very accommodating and it is a great place to stay. The cheapest motel, close enough to walk to a lot of places, they’re guest wifi is really good (even during 4 day long constant drizzle) and I was happy it’s close to an Amazon locker box (I had anticipated the trip so this was a great benefit for me specifically). Upon leaving: As a person who has worked in the hospitality industry (housekeeping primarily) the last 5+ years, we got out of the room later than I would have liked to, but despite the timing the housekeepers never once made us feel rushed. They were very patient on our check out day, and prior to that they were very helpful when we needed new/clean towels earlier in our stay as well.

TLDR: Ignore the bad reviews!! I was surprised to find that they were not at all accurate, which works in the favor of Rose Garden Inn. STAY HERE IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO STAY IN...

A bit aged and worn...... I had ants in my bathroom multiple times.... a kid from the office came and sprayed and wiped down the walls.....Super sweet office staff..... especially the girl I forgot her name, I think it was Andreas.....Very low key casual motel.... don't expect too much.....Parking for cars or trucks only.... I had to unhook and keep my trailer at a storage facility while staying there for several days..... Many restaurants around, shopping of all kinds, close to the harbor, if you don't drive there are bus stops along the street....12 minutes to Goleta..... If you get a chance eat at Nikka's Fish Market... Their Cioppino is to die for (fish stew) best I've ever had. The hotel shower had good water pressure but the showerhead is clogged and could do much better if soaked in vinegar for a day or just replaced....... Several seedy looking people hanging around but none bothered me or my car during my stay......I came in on a weekend and it was noisy with people going up and down the stairs and the girl in the unit above mine had heels on and OMG...click clack click clack for over an hour before she finally went out... Then later when she came back more click clack then the shower which I could hear, well the water pressure thru the walls anyway.... but the heels went off thank God..... Then I was going to bed after midnight, it was New Years Eve The bed was so hard I could not get comfortable.... The next day I bought a foam pad at Target up the street and I was so cold as the heater didn't work but the girl in the office was so sweet to bring me a stand alone heater to use for my stay and I was then toasty and comfy..... It's not the cleanest but the ants were the only critters I encountered....I didn't feel like moving all my stuff to another hotel so I just stayed.... When the weekend ended the regular weekdays were very quiet.... I'd stay again IF there's not an ant problem next time... Very low budget...but kind personnel..... No breakfast.. No frills... They did have an ice machine...

Absolutely Disgusting. After the shock of how horrible all aspects of this place was, I came to the conclusion that the workers are probably not being paid near enough to work as hard as they need to to keep this place well kept and clean. Which makes me sad for them.

I have read many of the reviews, and the responses from the motel are unsatisfactory and embarrassing for them. Do NOT continuously apologize for things that have yet to be tended to. It is more pathetic that you reply to reviews saying you will take measures to make sure concerns are passed over to management. Pathetic.

After an hour in our room, the bottom of my feet had caked on black stuff. I took a wet paper towel and wiped the floor. Black. The AC was more like a fan. I have a medical condition and heat doesn’t mix well for me. I went and told them about these issues and they said I could switch rooms the following day or get refunded except the night we were staying. I asked if someone could come clean the floor. It was a no. So he gave me some towels and a spray bottle and I cleaned the floor.

The next day we moved rooms and the AC was working. The room was much smaller though. Floor still made my feet black. When they cleaned our room, they didn’t give us more toilet paper and I ran out in the middle of the night. NOT ideal. They didn’t replace our towels a few times and we didn’t notice. We had to use our clothes to dry off after our shower.

I had a cut on my foot at the beginning of our trip. After my feet got the black stuff on it, it quickly got infected. I didn’t notice until I started to experience pain on our flight home. It looked red and puffy. Had to go to urgent care.

I’m sorry for these people. I feel like they are checked out. Like someone took them off the street and told them you run a motel now, good luck, and handed them keys.

We really didn’t have much money to spend on a place to stay for our trip. This was all we could afford. If we ever need to go back, I’d rather budget money better and get literally...