Beach Street Inn and Suites — Hotel in Santa Cruz

We had the pleasure of staying in one of the suites at the Beach Street Inn & Suites for my husband's 50th birthday and they went above and beyond to make it extra special. For this and many other reasons I'll share with you, it's the only hotel we will stay at for all future visits to Santa Cruz. When I asked what he wanted to do for his 50th, he said he wanted to go to Santa Cruz and his only requests were a balcony and walking distance to the beach. After some research, I decided on the Beach Street Inn and Suites due to the proximity and the shared balconies overlooking the beach volleyball courts. We booked in December for mid-May and I called to confirm in February since it was booked through a third party site. Mike's parents, sister and cousin booked a couple rooms as well. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite overlooking the ocean and set back from the street but did get a chance to check out their rooms. My mother and father in law had a room with surfboard tables which was awesome though I think next time they should get a fireplace suite which is a little quieter and more their aesthetic. Mike's cousin and sister and their 2 kids shared a room next door which was nice since they shared a balcony and could room hop. There are steep steps leading to each of these rows of rooms and since it's on a hill, each room's balcony has ocean views. The closer you are to the street, the closer you are to the action but the farther you will need to haul your luggage up and down. There a limited number of ADA accessible rooms and my father-in-law should have asked for one but the front desk staff did offer to let him keep his mobility scooter in their office and charge it there as opposed to try to get it into his room or keep it locked on the back of his SUV. Since we were traveling from Sacramento area and I didn't want to travel with his birthday cake, I called ahead and the front desk staff were happy to accept and store a cake delivered from Milk Bar. They even offered to set up birthday decorations and have it stored in the fridge in our room. See what I mean by above and beyond?!? They offer a free espresso bar (think mochas, lattes, hot cocoa, tea and free flavor pumps) in the morning from 6-11am. Free snow cones from 1-4pm. And free popcorn from 5-9pm. These little perks are such a money saver especially if you are traveling with kids. I had 2 peppermint mochas and even with tipping $1 per drink, I saved a ton of money. It won't replace the delicious $7 drink from a trained barista but it's a good substitute for the lack of a coffee pot or Keurig most hotels offer. We still had breakfast after but it was a nice jumpstart while getting ready. The first morning we grabbed a couple things from the Picnic Basket downstairs. The chocolate croissant was warmed and buttery and delicious. There are a couple cook to order options as well bit it's more of a grab and go place than a breakfast spot so we made reservations for Jack O'Neill's restaurant which overlooks the ocean and is walking distance from the hotel. Most restaurants within walking distance open later so driving for breakfast to downtown (5 minutes away) or picking up donuts and milk from Farrell's or Rock & Roll Donuts to keep in your kitchenette if you are an early bird like me. Our on slept on the murphy bed and had his own tv but he also had the option of the pull out couch. Using the wifi password, he finished his college homework and gamed online with friends so...

We really enjoyed our stay here and are planning to book a future stay with our children as well. We loved how it was facing the beach and we even on our last day went toward the beach to watch the sun set. It was so peaceful and quiet. I had not received an email reminding me of my stay so it was hard for me to remember the name and number of the hotel but once I found it someone from the front desk answered my call immediately and informed me of what time check in would be. I arrived at around 7pm to check in which was extremely easy. The gentleman at the front desk let me know where things were and included a map of the property to find things easy. It did feature coffee, snow cones, and Popcorn which were all complimentary at no additional cost. He told me the hours of operation for that. We did not partake in those things but that was nice. Something I was unaware of was that I would be charged additional funds for damages (just in case) I did not get a refund for this and I am actually not even sure if I was supposed to get refunded for this as I cannot remember. I would have liked to see that on the website when booking as well as any additional fees that I would be charged. Alma did a great job in making sure the room was clean when we arrived, the bed was made I did not know that the room also featured a small kitchen (larger sized mini fridge with freezer which was about 4-5 ft tall, working gas range, pots, pans, cups, plates, bowls etc). Due to me coming in late, if I knew the area better, I would have went to a grocery store to cook myself dinner. It was extremely close to literally everything that I had planned for the weekend and I really enjoyed myself the entire stay. There were lounge chairs/beach chairs outside the room for use to enjoy the view which I did a few times. There was parking with additional parking in front of the hotel too. We really loved it and without a doubt would come back. I have already recommended for so many people who were interested in the room due to seeing me post it to stay here. I believe my only 2 cons were 1, ANTS! My wife is a late night snacker, so she often will put food to the side to eat in the middle of the night. Well on our last night there we got Latin food for lunch. She had her burrito and kept it on the side of the bed closest to the window. When I went to clean up after ourselves in the morning, I went to grab her burrito to wrap it up and there were so many ants that had come from under the wrapper. Not a big fuss though this can easily be handled. Finally my last con which also cannot be controlled, is that there was also a few homeless folx who walked the property sometimes but I noticed they always went to the smoking area in which case i often heard them saying that they were looking for something to smoke (weed, or cigarettes) but that was all not much harm done. Sorry I have 1 more super small con, when I needed to call the people at the front desk, they would not answer but when I went to the front desk there was people there, they were just talking to each other. I didn't care because I am able to walk but this may be something for someone who has a harder time...

---CAUTION--- Do not stay here, your items are not safe and hotel staff does not care. I’m a repeat guest and have a story to tell.

My husband and I have been here 3 times. The last time, in November, our car was broken into and some souvenirs were stolen. We didn’t make a fuss because we thought we hadn’t locked the door and it was our own fault. We stayed there this week again. We left at approx 1:30 PM to get lunch. We came back before 3:30 PM. When we came into our room, we noticed things were missing.

We went to the bathroom and the window had been wrenched open and the screen on the ground. The latch was broken, and someone had been in the process of taking out all our things. I think we interrupted them, as some items were on the toilet by the open window. All in all, my 2 drones/cases/accessories, DSLR camera with extra lenses, a 360 camera, a bag of Legos, some clothes, and 2 bowling balls/shoes/bags were stolen.

We immediately went to the lobby. They got the manager, Nichole, who recognized us from our previous stay. She said to file a police report, which I did. That was all she did. I had to call the front desk to ask maintenance to come fix the window since it would not close and I felt unsafe. The maintenance worker told me they thought they saw a transient man they knew was an issue on the camera but said this was ‘between us’. A police officer came and took pictures for my report. The maintenance man suggested we ask for an upgraded room. It took multiple hours for the staff to call, on his suggestion, to offer us a different room. We did move and asked about any theft insurance. They said they would leave a message for Nichole (who had left by this point) but also told us of another time, right after Nichole was hired in September, where someone checked in, went to their room and 3 homeless people were sitting on a couch eating pizza and had to be told to leave.

I spent a restless night waking up constantly. We went to talk to Nichole the next day. Every interaction with management had to be initiated by us. We asked if she had found more on the cameras, she said she was still looking. We asked about a theft policy, she said there was none. We asked about any compensation or discount. She said she’d have to call the owner. Why was this not done the day our items were stolen? Long story short, after a decent chunk of time she called us and said no discount or compensation was allowed. She also insinuated that we had ‘misinformation’ and that nothing like this happened before. How no camera caught someone breaking a window and carrying out at least 6 bags of heavy items is beyond me.

I am not one to ask for accommodations or be unreasonable. We chose to leave early because it was clear management did not care about our experience and our items were not safe. Please learn from our mistake. Do not stay here.

Attached pics, police report, 'suspect', and broken into window with no camera view of the whole...