rntraveller

Thinking of a pre Christmas weekend getaway in Santa Barabara using a suite upgrade, Iam a Diamond member. Any recent reviews or recommendations?
Huntington Beach is my usual getaway spot , but feel like a change , tried Newport Beach after they just finished upgrades but its a very spread out hotel. Just dont want to drive too far for a one night getaway .

Thanks

oc2005

There is only one Hyatt in Santa Barbara and unfortunately they don't take suite upgrades (which is my biggest complaint about them). HR HB is a MUCH nicer hotel than Hyatt SB, especially when you factor in a suite upgrade, but the location of SB is very nice.

thewalrus

I have a stay coming up there in January and tried to use one of the Diamond Suite upgrades and the person at Hyatt reservations (who was super nice and helpful), says "that's funny, this hotel doesn't honor upgrades. I've never seen that before." Let me know if you have a different experience.

I love the HR Huntington Beach. (Interestingly, twice when I've done the suite upgrades there, the reservation agent has said "Oh! That's my favorite Hyatt!) Can't go wrong there. If you can't get the upgrade in Santa Barbara, I'm not sure I'd mess with the good thing you've got going down in Orange County....

jcresq

I found out the hard way it really matters what room you get...stayed there last spring and was in a beautiful room across from the beach. Stayed there last week and booked a lower rate room (hoping the place would be empty being Thanksgiving week and they'd upgrade me); I ended up in a small room in a building across the street (away from the ocean, toward the...wait for it...railroad tracks). I was awakened in the middle of the night by a train coming through and never got back to sleep...and this after the desk clerk made a huge deal about my request for a high floor/quiet room (there are no high floors in this hotel, but I was on the bottom floor). To top it off, the night desk clerk was unable to retrieve the FedEx package I had sent to myself. Really disappointing stay. Takeaway...pony up for the ocean view rooms.

ToneDaBass

So has anyone managed to stay in a suite yet? What are they like? Can I use GP points for an upgrade? Is it worth it?

JackE

The property was originally built long ago, so they are constrained by design from a long-gone era. With it's coastal location, it would be almost impossible if they tried to build it today due to massive environmental restrictions.

oc2005

I was upgraded once to a suite for a one night stay a while back, and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures (other than of the view). Oddly out of my dozens of paid stays over the years, they upgraded me to a suite the one time I used my annual Hyatt award night.

Unfortunately, this property currently only has 5 suites, so you can not use points or a diamond suite upgrade for them. You have to pay for it or get really, really lucky!

The suite I got was in the main building (I think it might have been the Santa Clara suite if I remember right, but I don't recall for sure), and was fantastic!!! It was like a different hotel. The room was easily double if not triple the size of the other rooms I've had there (I'd say roughly 750 sq ft), had a nicely upgraded bathroom, decent size living room, separate bedroom, plantation shuttles, hardwood floors, etc.

Yeah, most of my complaints about this hotel are all things they couldn't fix due to these facts! When I had a complaint once about something, they said there were a number of issues they couldn't address during the renovations due to the historic nature of the hotel.

My only hope is with what I've read about the new owners, that they might turn the long term residence building into suites eventually like this article suggests, which would double the number of suites:

"The Trust is still evaluating its options, but has initial plans to renovate and convert the five-villa apartment building into an all luxury suite building."
http://investors.hyatt.com/phoenix.z...633&highlight=

The only change I've noticed so far with the new owners is the parking situation (and parking price) getting worse and worse!

ToneDaBass

Did the bathroom have a separate tub and shower?

oc2005

I believe it did (though like I said it was a while ago I stayed in that room!) If I recall correctly, the suite only had one bathroom, but you could enter it from the entry area into the toilet area or through a separate entrance in the bedroom into the shower/tub area, which then connected to the toilet area. And the whole bathroom (and room in general) had MUCH nicer finishes than any of other the rooms I've stayed in there.

oc2005

Turns out I actually did take a picture of the bathroom and just forgot about it! This is from June 2012, standing in the toilet room taking the picture into the rest of the bathroom. There is definitely a separate shower and tub (though it's a bit hard to see in the distance):

http://i.imgur.com/bE83wd9.jpg

HunterSFO

I recently stayed here for 5 nights. Tons of FTers tweeted me about "is it really as terrible as the reviews" and I was baffled.

The staff is very friendly, and at breakfast every morning I was addressed by name consistently by the server every time he refilled a drink or brought me something. This is unusual at Hyatts in the US. Breakfast by the way was fantastic, and you don't have to order the buffet as your free diamond breakfast. I picked an a la carte item and juice off the menu two days (Crab and Lobster Benedict - very good) and had no issues at check out with it having already been removed from my bill. They say the limit is $88 for up to 4 persons. I spent more than $22 by myself several days and it was still free.

The HVAC units in the rooms are the in-wall type, but mine at least seemed brand new and also had a remote control. I didn't find it terribly noisy though I mostly didn't need it.

I was upgraded to an ocean view balcony room and it was no smaller than any other typical Hyatt room in the US. The balcony has chairs and a table so you can enjoy the view. The bed was VERY comfortable even compared to the two other Hyatt beds I slept in on this trip at PH San Diego and Hyatt Westlake Village. The bathroom was modern and nice.

The restaurant is very good - I had chicken cooked under a brick the night I ate there, and the salted Carmel and popcorn ice cream sundae was phenomenal.

Unlike a poster upthread, I was able to retrieve a FedEx package that had been delivered without any problem at around midnight.

Contrary to older posts in this thread, the hotel is now valet parking only. This was the only real complaint I had about the property. It was pricey, but I was on a work trip so didn't care. The valets always remembered my name when I walked or drove up, and it was never more than 3 or 4 minutes to retrieve my car.

I can confirm that any type of suite upgrade instruments are not valid at this property.

The main building was built in the 20s, and other parts of the hotel at different times (some MUCH later). My room was in the newest part of the property.

So I don't know why all the hate for this property. It met all of my expectations for a Hyatt property that simply carries the "Hyatt" brand (IE not park or grand for example)

Nothing spectacular about the rooms (other than the ocean view balconies) but the service was above average and the location is waaay above average.

rajuabju

Just finished a 2 night stay here...

We had a 3rd floor room, 2 queen beds, decent size for a regular guest room. Nice balcony with ocean views. We were in the "Santa Maria" building.

The on-site restaurant is lackluster, uncommon for Hyatt restaurant's.

Staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful. I'd rate them very highly for a US hotel.

The property is just old. It's clearly a very old hotel which has gone through a hodgepodge of various renovations through the decades. Its well maintained, clean, and its sufficient, but its nothing that stands out or that I'd put on my list of "must go to again someday"... locatoin is ok, a few minutes from State Street, right across the beach and has great views if you are on the upper floors and looking that way (which we were). I think if you are on the other side of the hall, all you look at is a parking lot and residential homes, nothing exciting.

Overall, it was very MEH. Nothing horribly wrong, nothing spectacularly great.

Firewind

Hey, there's the (original #1) Motel 6!

I'll "+1" the comment re the staff. IMO, they "got it" quickly when this became a Hyatt - including/especially as it was being made into a real Hyatt.

And a question: Are there unobstructed views of the water - without the bath house across the street - to be had? It's always been included with my ocean view.

musikdude

finding great difficulty using points anytime in the next few months-
points seem to only work for a "traditional queen or king" room- which there seems to be very few of them -

it seems they added the "traditional" description SOLELY to limit the number of rooms available for points reservations.

very disappointing

tringer2103

Agreed, very difficult finding point availability, very disappointing...