Hotel Californian

We felt very good. Bed was very comfortable, Minibar full, seating in yard very nice. Clean and romantic.

Price which I paid in advance was very high. I check the price in day of my arrival and it was for half. My mistake. Only recommendation, booking in advance is not needed. You overpay.

Great location, good sized rooms and amenities.

A couple of the staff weren’t as friendly as they could be.

The room itself was genuinely beautiful: stylish, comfortable, well designed and absolutely in line with what I expected from a hotel in this category. Unfortunately, that was by far the best part of the stay.

Almost everything outside the room felt completely at odds with a five-star hotel. The overall atmosphere was surprisingly downmarket and lacked any sense of refinement or luxury. We attended the hotel’s “social hour”, which was horrible, and even found rubbish inside the hotel elevator. We then went up to the rooftop expecting a sophisticated five-star setting, only to encounter a very casual, teenage atmosphere, with people drinking from plastic cups. It was honestly depressing given the price and positioning of the hotel. The surrounding area was also a huge disappointment and felt dramatically different from the elegant, upscale Santa Barbara I remembered from previous visits. The staff were polite, but politeness alone is not five-star hospitality. There was very little initiative, personal attention or genuine effort to understand what would suit us. It was obvious that I had returned to the hotel extremely disappointed with the area, and I specifically asked for a restaurant recommendation that would be clean, sophisticated and genuinely upscale. Despite explaining exactly what I was looking for, I was sent to Lark, which turned out to be completely wrong for us and only made the evening worse. At this level, I expect more than a beautiful bedroom. I expect judgement, service, atmosphere, attention to detail and a team capable of reading the guest and making appropriate recommendations. None of that was there. For the amount of money we spent, the overall experience was profoundly disappointing. The contrast between the excellent room and everything surrounding it was extraordinary.

The location was great.. nr the beach

The service was not good at the hotel and it was not good value.