Hilton HHonors - Hampton Inn in Santa Cruz CA

Does someone happen to be familiar with a Hampton Inn prop on Ocean St in Santa Cruz? I have to attend a conference in Feb at the WestCoast Hotel in Santa Cruz and for the sake of convenience probably should stay there but I hate to give up the Double Dip miles. Any comments are appreciated.

Barry

I haven't stayed there, but I saw it during my last visit in November. It's a new building on Ocean, about 200 yards from where Hwy 17 begins (next to Denny's, if you're familiar w/SC). I'm not sure where the WestCoast Hotel is in SC (is that a new name for the old Dream Inn?), though, so I can't tell you how far it is. Do you have an address for this hotel?

Ocean Street is where you find all the "business-y" tipes of hotels (more like motels, actually) in SC, e.g., Holiday Inn, Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, BW, etc.

The Hampton Inn is a bit more expensive than other properties in the same areas, but, if it's like the majority of Hampton Inns I've stayed at so far, it may be also better than your average SC hotel (hey, it's still a beach/university town, not a bustling business center).

I have stayed at the Westcoast (yes, used to be the Dream Inn) and highly recommend it. All rooms have a balcony and view of the Monterey Bay and it's a short walk to the wharf.

There's nothing more relaxing after a long day of work than opening up your door and listening to the waves hit the shore. Makes you forget that you're not getting miles (they only did Alaska Air when I was there all last summer).

I've also stayed at the Holiday Inn on Ocean and there's no comparison. Holiday Inn gives you a nice view of ... their parking lot.

SteveH

Well, now that it's been established that the WestCoast is indeed the old Dream Inn, I can agree w/330CiC that the view there is truly rewarding. You would also be close to West Cliff, ideal for long sunset walks right by the ocean (along the road, however, not on the beach).

There is no view at the Hampton Inn, as it's about 1.5 mi. from the beach, but, if you still want to stay there, it shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes by car between the two hotels, a bit longer at rush hour.

I have to agree with honu about the great walks (or runs) you can take from the WestCoast. You can go along the path next to the road and see surfers, pelicans, maybe some California sea lions, and generally great scenery overlooking the water. And there are almost always some very vocal sea lions out at the end of the wharf, sunning themselves on the planks.

And, as others have said, the views from the rooms at the WestCoast are fantastic. I always ask for the 10th (top) floor for the sweeping views of the bay.

I'm HH Gold, but I personally wouldn't give up the view at the WestCoast for points and miles. But to each his/her own. If you're not a water person, it might not matter to you.

[This message has been edited by Westcoaster (edited 12-22-2000).]

The Hampton was still under construction last time I was there. It's a lousy location, about as far from the beach as you can get and a pretty long walk to downtown, and not in nearly as good a neighborhood as the Holiday. The West Coast is a pretty nice property. I like the rooms that open directly out to the pool/hot tub area and stairs to the beach. My last stay there was not great though, due to crowds of very loud teenagers roaming the halls and partying on a balcony while I took my midnight ocean front hot tub. Service was also lackluster, and parking absurdly expensive (most hotels in SC do not charge for parking) But, no other hotel in the area matches the location, and I'll stay there again for that. Still, the current Hilton promos are sweet and I can understand the allure! I wish Starwood would buy the West Coast!!!

Hello again,

I want to thank all of you for your responses--I really appreciate all the information and comments. I have to confess that I've been looking thru this board for a while (mostly lurking) although things have begun to change with my work so now I have more traveling to do and hence more questions.

Given the feedback I guess I will stay with the West Coast Santa Cruz Hotel (located at 175 West Cliff Drive) but now I have another question. I'm silver with USAir (expiring soon after http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif) but they don't go into SJC (Continental seems to be the majority carrier there) so I'm thinking of using my system wise upgrades and going into SFO instead, seeing a friend who lives there for dinner and then driving to Santa Cruz, how difficult would this be to do?

Thanks again and Happy Holidays to all!

Barry

Wouldn't be too hard...SFO is about a 20-30 minute drive south of San Francisco proper. It's about 30 minutes north of SJC. SFO is about 1 hour 15 minutes from Santa Cruz, and SJC is about 30-40 minutes from Santa Cruz.

Aflyer, you drive faster than me! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif I usually allow at least 1.5 hours (2 if around rush hour) to get from SFO to SC or viceversa. When I used to live there, I used SFO almost as much as SJC. Apart from the extra 40 min. driving, the other disadvantage of SFO is that it tends to be more fogbound, and the traffic there is often disrupted.

Barry, in addition to the fastest SFO-SC option, which is 101 to 85 to 17, you could also try 101 to 92 to 1, longer but much prettier as you drive along the ocean for most of the way. You won't find much traffic on Hwy 1 either, especially on a weekday. Enjoy your trip!