Tide Pool Villas — Hotel in Santa Barbara

The best thing about this place is the location other than that it is old, run-down, and not well-managed. It is near the beach and State Street. We stayed there on UCSB graduation weekend and paid $550 per night for a 2 bedroom unit which is crazy for how old and nasty it was. We stayed 3 nights. We checked in early, the check-in desk is across the street at the sister hotel. This was not made clear to us, so check-in took a long time. The breakfast and the pool area are also across the street. The breakfast food was basic. On a Sunday morning, we tried to get breakfast at 7.30 am, but the door to the sister hotel was locked and could only be accessed with a card key, which the front desk did not give us when we checked in, we had a big old-fashioned key. We had to ask for a card key later that day. Parking was hard at this hotel, you are not guaranteed a space so if the lot is full you need to park on the street and around this area, some streets require parking permits. Our room # 6 it was old and run down, the furniture was ripped and old. It's a 2 bedroom, one-bathroom unit that sleeps 6 people. There was no dishwasher and the glasses, plates and other utensils were limited for example we had 2 wine glasses for 6 people. It does not look like the photos on the website. The front deck of this unit is cramped with mismatched furniture. The beds were comfortable and the air-conditioner was good. The BBQ area on the ground floor back patio was disgusting- the grills were rusted and full of cobwebs. The back patio has trash dumpsters near it. You would not sit out there or cook out there. I tried to upload a video of this area but this site will not support a video. On the second day, we had to go to the front desk and ask for dish soap, garbage bags, bath soap, and more towels. The lady bought them over quickly. On the third day, we wanted the cleaner to clean our room, we went to the front desk early in the morning to ask, but there was no one there so we left a note. There did not seem to be anyone at the front desk most of the time we went there. We returned at 4.30 pm that afternoon and it still was not done. We flagged a cleaner down and the language barrier was hard, she said she was busy but she would do it. It seemed she was on her own. She cleaned it at 6 pm, it was a partial clean not a full clean. |I would not stay...

We arrived at Tide Pool Villas on Monday 6th November hoping to stay only 4 nights but we were so impressed by all of the above (i.e. rooms, service and location) that we decided to stay another 2 nights extra and would have extended by another 4 days if we had not aleady booked somewhere else. Our king suite is very clean and spacious and has a 270 degree view of the surrounding area. From two sides we can see the Pacific Ocean clearly and it is only seconds away from the beautiful West Beach and the impressive Sterns Wharf Pier and Harbour, with all its marine facilities and restaurants. The staff have been particularly delightful tending to all our needs in a polite and cheerful manner; a special mention for Marco, Christina, Melody and Lynda amongst others. The hotel itself has a very classic and relaxing feel with quaint artifacts and paintings and sculptures; there's even a pond next to the pool and jacussi with four large koi fishes in it. The oak beams in the sitting and dining area bring back memories of rural England, where we are from and this place we found very charming and authentic and we will be coming back next year around May/June. One unexpected surprise we came across at the hotel was their 'free wine tasting' sessions from 5:30pm to 7:00 pm every evening; it was a great way of meeting other guests at the hotel and some people from outside. It was a novel way to break the ice and learn from the local people and other vsiitors to the hotel. We have visited hotels all around the world but this is the first time we have come across a 'free wine tasting' event and wonder why more hotels don't do it. It was a great way to wind down after a busy day of touring ! Having spoken to so many guests at the hotel we were taken aback by just how many people had stayed at the hotel in the past. The hotel is within walking distance of downtown Santa Barbara and close to the railway station and national bus station, which we have used. The TV in the room has all the streaming apps available. It has ample parking onsite and all the hotel area is very clean. The hotel is surrounded by plenty of palm trees and has a very...

The biggest issue I had with this place is lack of communication and dishonesty. We had to leave a day early due to a family emergency. They use physical keys, and I wanted to be sure to hand them to an employee and notify them we were leaving early. There were two groups of customers ahead of me waiting to be helped at roughly 2pm on a Thursday, and there was no one at the desk.

After about 10 minutes of waiting and no employees to be found, I had to leave and I reached over the counter and left my keys on top of their printer so they would be easily found. I had received a text message earlier that day asking how everything was, so I messaged back stating we had to leave early, and never received a response.

About halfway home, my wife realized she had left a set of Bose headphones, not earbuds, but large headphones behind. I provided my home address, phone number, all of which they already had, told them I would provide a credit card number so we could pay for shipping since it was our mistake, and waited for a response. Nothing.

We then called several times, and each time we left a voicemail stating everything we had written in the text. Still have not received any communication. I travel several times a month for work, and stay in Santa Barbara at least quarterly, and this is by far the worst experience I’ve ever had at a hotel.

The whole thing is really sad, because the location is beautiful, but whoever runs the hotel either doesn’t care about their guests, or is highly unqualified. There are maybe 20-30 total rooms, and the staff seemed overwhelmed at check-in, which probably means they are understaffed.

Just really upset that a week later, we still have yet to be contacted. I waited a week in good faith hoping someone would do the right thing. If you are looking to stay close to the water in SB, there are much nicer and friendlier places than this. Don’t learn the hard way like we did. I hope someone is enjoying my wife’s headphones and they were worth...