Pacific Blue Inn — Hotel in Santa Cruz

Terrible experience. After telling the man at the desk like 4 times that I am traveling in by uber and that I would not have a car, this man (I believe the owner or manager) STILL charged me for a car on my receipt. What's nuts about this is that if you arrive after a certain time, they just leave a bill for you because the front desk "closes." So after hours of travelling and desperate for a shower, I had to run down and try to catch him before he left, and he was annoyed and pedantic about it, acting like he definitely didn't try to slip this extra bill past me like I didn't tell him vocally and over text MULTIPLE times THAT DAY that I would NOT be parking on their property. I also physically SIGNED a paper right in front of him upon check-in boldly stating in 4 spots that I HAD NO CAR. They also charged me a "Surcharge" randomly on the bill, had I not looked with a fine-toothed comb, I wouldn't have seen it. When I asked about what the heck the random surcharge was for, he said: "A surcharge for parking." You cannot even be serious- not only did they charge me for something I didn't purchase, but he charged me a surcharge ON TOP of an incorrect charge, with no info of what it refers to. They have to manually add these charges above and beyond your hotels.com, etc. booking, so it wasn't an accident. There is also a hidden tax for "using a credit card" even if you book on a third party site site hotels.com where using a credit card is obviously necessary to pre-purchase. So, once they have your credit card for security, they cannot be trusted. Do not trust them and make sure you double and triple check your bill, even if you book on a third-party site, because they will happily try to sneak other things in. They also increased the price of the room upon check-in, compared to my third-party...

To start, the staff on the phone were very nice and accommodating. They were able to get us in for early check-in, which was nice. The location is perfect for those who want to be close to downtown. It's safe inside with its own little courtyard.

All said and done, the price was abt $350/night ($15 for parking). I know things have gotten expensive lately, and that feels out of everyone's control, but raising prices now comes with higher customer standards. If I have to pay luxury prices for a non-luxury hotel, I will expect that everything is in working order.

With that said, the air conditioning unit (swamp cooler) was both loud and not very effective. I woke up frequently because of how loud it was. Also, the coffee machine downstairs was broken and/or needed emptied. Regardless, no coffee in the morning (I had to spend $6 for coffee elsewhere), plus no staff anywhere around 8am. If this was a few years ago and the price was $200, I'd shrug and not let these things bother me. But for $350/night, which is what the price for a luxury hotel used to be, I just get angry. With raising prices (they also added the transient tax to my bill), my air conditioner shouldn't keep me up at night and there should be trained staff to ensure the coffee machine is working in the morning. The shower needs a deep cleaning as well and there's rust on the window frame in the bathroom. The bench in the room had also seen better days. Again, these things would be a non issue but for the price it def is. Raised prices comes with raised...

The hotel looked nice, so I booked a reservation in september for my wife's birthday. when we showed up suitcase in hand to check in on a Saturday afternoon, they looked at us and said, "sorry, we're all booked up!" I asked how this could be, since we had a reservation, and it turns out they had entered our reservation incorrectly for December sometime....

So, they tried to help us find a room, but were unsuccessful since it was a busy weekend. we eventually found a room elsewhere in santa cruz by calling around ourselves from my cell phone while sitting in the lobby, but it took us several hours and was not a fun way to celebrate at all! plus we ended up in the equivalent of a motel 6 which is fine, but not for a bday.

When I later sent an email to the manager Michael about the problem with the reservation, he never responded to my email. I then called him to discuss the problem, and he listened but seemed relatively disinterested in the case. He promised to look into it and call me back, but he has not called me back and it has been over a week. Very, very poor customer service. In fact, some of the worst customer service I've come across in a long time.

I can understand how a hotel can make an error with scheduling. we are all human. But the unprofessional response from Michael, and the lack of customer care leads me to post this...