Hotel Californian

Location location location. Enjoyed our stay at the Californian. Room was lovely with nice amenities. Plenty of food options. Great service! (Emily at the front desk was a Star). Interesting layout with 3 corners of the intersection having different buildings that have different amenities. The roof pool is a great option to the beach and is across the street from the main part of the hotel in the same building as the gym and spa. Our next trip to Santa Barbara will include another stay at the Californian.

Beautiful hotel! Clean!!! Lovely staff! I felt at home on my solo trip. Great location! Would stay here again, for sure!!! Actually, didn't want to go home. 5 days was not enough!

This is by far one of my favorite hotels, not just in Santa Barbara, but in general :) The location couldn't be more perfect, right on State Street in the heart of the funk zone and walking distance across from the beach. Not only that, but it's gorgeous and I love the Spanish style design. The rooftop has one of the prettiest views I've seen in Santa Barbara! It's so nice to be in the pool and have a beautiful view of the ocean and pier. The spa is small, but really cute + cozy and my massage from Quinn was amazing and so relaxing. It's just overall an amazing property, but my favorite part about this hotel is hands down the people who work here. Everyone is so friendly and accommodating, which really makes the experience that much more special. I've stayed here on my own and with friends, but when you travel alone it makes a difference when the staff is friendly and makes you feel comfortable. Some of the people that come to mind who have helped make it a special experience include Steven, Lorenzo and Emily at the front desk, Amanda from the Society State & Mason Wine Tasting Room, Joe the bartender in the lobby area and Freddy + Cooper in the valet, but pretty much all of the valet guys are so friendly and great, as well! Anyways, I truly love this hotel and would recommend it to anyone and everyone if you want to stay at a comfortable, beautiful hotel with the BEST employees and customer service :)

We enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Californian overall. The property, as well as the room and common areas, is beautiful. Our first check-in interaction was a bit disappointing, but once the room was ready, the team that took over did a much better job explaining our travel agent benefits and amenities. The location is excellent, with lots of foot traffic and plenty of restaurants and wine tasting rooms within walking distance. Still, given the price and its affiliation with Preferred Hotels & Resorts, it was not quite what we expected. We were also disappointed by how many people were using the amenities through Resort Pass. The pool area is too small, which left other guests and me with nowhere to sit, and service was slow because the staff was not prepared. At checkout, it took almost 30 minutes for the bellman to help with our luggage, so we ended up bringing it ourselves. The staff said that "they only had one bellman that day", but when we got to the valet area, the staff were chatting and on their cell phones. On the positive side, the concierge, Martha, was amazing. If it's your first time in Santa Barbara, I'd recommend staying there if the price is right. For what we paid — even with it being high season — I'd suggest looking at other options.

If you're planning on staying at the Hotel Californian, please check to make sure that your AC is working in your room. If it isn't, call the front desk and if they don't fix it/move you to a different room in a timely manner, GO DOWN TO THE FRONT DESK so that they provide the experience that reflects the price you're paying. We chose the Hotel Californian because we took the train to Santa Barbara and it was the closest hotel to the station. It was pricey, but if you sign up for the Preferred Hotels rewards program, you can access discounted rates and early check-in/late check-in and room upgrades. Having arrived at noon, well in advance of the 4pm check-in, we were told that we would be put on a list and notified once our room was available. Santa Barbara was in the throes of a heat wave and temps were in the 80's. Since we didn't get a text by 3pm, we tried cooling off in Finney's across the street. At 3;50pm, we went to the the front desk to see if our room was ready. Turns out, it was and they failed to send a text. THE GOOD: The rooms are nicely decorated and they have Malin + Goetz toiletries. Beds are comfortable. Free hotel-branded bottled water. There's a Nespresso machine in the room and a Starbucks located on the property. THE BAD: There was only one robe in the room. The lights on the sides of the bed are controlled by one switch, so it's impossible for only one side of the bed to have lights on - it's either both sides or not at all. THE UGLY: Our room, #212 in the building with the spa across the street, was warm. The AC did not seem to be working as the thermostat said 80 degrees, even though the temp was set for much lower. We went for a walk, hoping that the room would cool down in the meantime, but came back and found the room was still hot. The front desk said they would send someone to look at it. Frankie spent an hour trying to fix it but declared that it was not something that would not be fixed in a timely manner. He alerted the front desk and told us that we would be moved to another room and that we should wait for them to call. Fifteen minutes passed and no phone call. We called and were told that they were assisting another customer with check-in and would call us back. After another 15 minutes, we grabbed our stuff and went down to the lobby, expecting to see it filled with guests. It was empty. The guy at the front desk who had been handling our calls (let's call him Steven because that's his name) said, "We just tried calling you," to which I wanted to say, "REALLY?" We were finally moved to another room, which was larger and had working AC. It should not have taken 1.5 hours for us to be switched to another room. There are several reviews complaining about broken AC, so this is not a unique problem. It's a shame because if our first room had working AC or if they had immediately offered us a new room, this would have been a positive review. If they had honored the room upgrade benefit of being a I Prefer Hotel Rewards member initially and placed us in the second room, this mess could have been avoided. The front desk seems pleasant enough but they fail to provide outstanding service. When we checked out, I was not asked, "How was your stay?" Perhaps they already knew how my stay had gone and were afraid to ask.