Santa Barbara luxury: FS Biltmore, SYR, Rosewood Miramar, El Encanto, RC Bacara

Santa Barbara luxury hotels overview

While staying 5 nights at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara here in Santa Barbara, we had the chance to visit the other luxury hotels in/around town with a few friends. Here is a quick summary of what we thought. I now have added photos to better illustrate!

Properties are listed in the order we saw them...except for the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, where we were staying for 5 nights. 

(1) Four Seasons The Biltmore Santa Barbara

I expected to dislike it. But we all loved it. It has a rich, authentic, and beautifully historic and timeless decor. A real sense of place, much more than even the very lovely but much larger and newer Ritz-Carlton. At 206 rooms it isn’t boutique, but it didn’t feel as big as that, either. Few rooms and suites really have great ocean views; most have over the rooftop views that I wouldn’t normally characterize as ocean view, but that didn’t detract at all for me from the quality of the hotel or experience.

The garden/jungle rooms and bungalows had a spectacular location on the property’s amazing gardens and immaculate landscaping, and those actually were our favorite. The rooms had quite a bit of different looks to them, so the room or suite or bungalow category can make a big difference in ambience—and concomitant price.

Service from the valets, the front desk, the concierge, the gardeners, and even the agent who toured around with us was stellar.

Highly recommended. It ain’t cheap, but it’s one of the best Four Seasons I’ve seen in quite some time.

Regular room:

Specialty (honeymoon) suite:

Bungalow with plunge pool:

(2) San Ysidro Ranch

Wow. The epitome of the getaway luxury boutique experience in every way. With only 41 bungalows/units, it was truly special. The gardens and landscaping are truly amazing here in the hills above Santa Barbara’s most exclusive enclave of Montecito. It’s incredible that only 3 bungalows are still closed and being refurbished/repaired since the tragic Santa Barbara mudslide of 2018 took the lives of 23 people and did massive damage to this property. You couldn’t tell beyond those 3 being repaired that anything had happened here in decades other than an interior refurbishment.

The bungalows we saw were spectacular. Wonderfully calming and warm interiors, giving the sense of a mountain retreat more than a hotel. Spacious, spectacularly appointed, and very private. With nature flooding in through windows as French doors. Decks usually had jacuzzi tubs and plenty of space to take in the beautiful scenery all around you.

Lunch at the famed Stonehouse Restaurant was not as impressive. While we were grateful that they’d agreed in advance to allow our dog, they seemed unaware of that previous promise when we arrived. They finally relented, but that was disappointing. The service then was shockingly slow and tedious. We waited almost 10 min for water, and 20 min for ​​​​​​sometime to take our orders. It took over 90 min for our lunch, and the food wasn’t so great. The chicken sandwich tasted fine but was so poorly constructed as to fall apart at the first grab. My husband’s chicken was underdone in parts and over cooked in others. Our salads were bland. Complaints about our friend’s tortilla soup being cool caused barely a reaction, though they did bring a warmer soup for her husband. All in all, it was all a bit sad and pitiful.

Still we highly recommend this property—the service otherwise and the hard product overall are really intimate and incredible. We just might eat elsewhere or hope they get their act together before then!

The 3 buildings still being repaired/renovated that got pretty much wiped out by the mudslide:

Stonehouse restaurant:

I swear my love for the property had nothing at all to do with how beautiful the "scenery" might be:

Seriously.

(3) Rosewood Miramar Beach

I expected to love this the most. But we all hated it. The sterile architecture was uninspired and felt more at home in the Hamptons than California. The whole place felt austere and forced, from its unusual location straddling the railroad tracks to the obviously see-and-be-seen crowd of people who cared far more about what they were spending than what they were getting in return. The staff was way too pretty not to notice, and the service betrayed that almost immediately: people were hired who looked good and not because they had any experience with or interest In hospitality at this level.

We weren’t able to see any rooms because they were fully committed, not that we even could get to ask at the front desk due to the sheer chaos. I don’t know whether they were too understaffed or just had the most demanding guests of all time, but the front desk was madness—staffed by only one woman. It was the emptiest reception I’d ever seen for such a busy hotel scene. The concierge wanted to help but couldn’t seem to figure out whom to ask. He did love our dog, though. I waited at reception for about 10 minutes and got nowhere. So we moved on.

We tried to have dessert and drinks by the seaside bar on the cliff across the railroad tracks...only to have the most clueless server in some time. Pretty, but clueless, indeed. He couldn’t remember what we ordered not a few minutes after we ordered. He brought me a coffee even though I’d ordered an iced mocha. Then he brought me an iced coffee. After that, I asked the hostess if someone might assist us with the debacle. I went to the washroom only to return to find nothing had happened and the server and hostess laughing it by the entrance. They apparently had comp’d our drinks...even though I’d not received mine yet. How gracious. We left quickly.

I don’t recommend it. I absolutely hated it. Pretty people can learn, but dumb people never will bother. Service looks to be atrocious. There's nothing intimate or even remotely appealing about the aesthetic: it felt as forced as its layout and architecture suggest. I've seen nursing homes with more charm.

Reception...is anyone there?

Oh--only one FDA is there. Even with many people waiting. Including me.

Careful crossing the tracks!

Shuffleboard. Seriously. And now we know it's for the geriatric set:

One level down:

Oceanfront rooms/suites:

(4) Belmond El Encanto

I didn’t know what to expect, but we arrived to find a beautiful hilltop location with wonderful views and surly staff. We had been told in advance there would be rooms available to view, but were told differently on arrival. The person who said she’d be there to welcome us was nowhere to be found. We discovered soon that she wasn’t the only one!

The property looked lovely and boutique, of a less sophisticated veneer than the others but with a freshness nonetheless. Then it all went downhill again.

We were seated for desserts and drinks since I never had gotten mine at the Rosewood. A lovely server took our order for drinks and 3 desserts—strawberries and cream and 2 orders of s’mores. Our drinks arrived maybe 10-15 min later as we were beginning to wonder if delays were contagious at luxury hotels in Santa Barbara today. Then that was it: no desserts even after another 20 min. I finally had to ask a nearby bartender if he could track down our desserts or our actual server. He came back 5 min later to let us know someone would be out. Another 5 min and I was ready to go...as a lovely manager came to meet me as I was heading to the front desk. She said she’d be happy to look into the matter. Seriously. I told her they could comp the drinks and we would be leaving. She capitulated and apologized. Then she agreed. But I think they still might be searching for their server and our desserts even now...or tomorrow. We left.

Of course, getting away proved trickier than we thought. The valets had lost the keys to one of the cars in the entry car circle. So after some maneuvering, we had to back out to make our escape. I may have uttered a few choice words to suggest the place had some problems as we backed up.

Ironically, our friends had been several times for lunch and dinner here and said the valets losing keys was something they’d seen before. Oh my.

Not recommended. They’ll still be trying to process your drink order on arrival as you check out. And then they won’t be able to find your car, anyway.

No one was eating. Probably because they all ordered and died before they got their orders. 

But there's a view...even though you'll die trying to enjoy it.

Valets can't find the keys, so you'll have to stay. You can never leave. It really is the Hotel California.

(5) Ritz-Carlton Bacara Santa Barbara

We have spent 4 nights already here and tonight is our 5th and final night. Because of my Marriott Ambassador status, we were upgraded before arrival from an entry level award room to a One Bedroom Garden View Suite. After some noise issues from kids running loudly above us and some other not so impressive service issues with that ground floor suite, we were moved on our second day to a 3rd story One Bedroom Oceanview Suite—one of the best on property as it were.

The property is quite large at 367 rooms—and it most certainly feels like it. While our first garden view suite was ground floor and didn’t have views, it also felt a bit dark and still felt a bit exposed. Most of the rooms here that look into the central part of the resort are very exposed and don’t have balconies or even windows that are private at all.

The property is expansive, lovely, and and feels very of Santa Barbara. It actually is a very nice hard product—authentically Santa Barbara feeling with the mission white wall/Spanish style. The landscaping is also lovely. But the Four Seasons puts it to shame in terms of majesty and historical authenticity.
The pool area is probably the most impressive of any of the hotels discussed herein, with two dramatic pools looking out at an angle onto the Pacific Ocean, with jacuzzis on the sides and between them. The overall effect is quite impressive, even more so when they are lit up at night.

The dining at the fine dining restaurant, Angel Oak, is fabulous. World class food and service. We loved it so much our first night, we booked again for our last night (tonight). We can’t wait. 

Breakfast and lunch at the Bistro, on the other hand, has been a bit less stellar. The food is wonderful. The breakfast buffet is nice. But the service has been very uneven, and sometimes downright stupid. Two servers on our first day tried to change propane tank for the heat lamp right next to me just as I was seated. The Bistro for lunch the next day seated us on wet cushions by mistake...and then barely apologized or offered any recovery. The Bistro server two days ago insisted I use the buffet omelette chef rather than order through him off menu—and then literally walked me to make sure I did that and didn’t order as if I were in a proper restaurant. The Bistro yesterday said the kitchen was backed up after it took 20 min to get cappuccinos and 35 min for us to get our order...and it wasn’t even half full. The Bistro hostess on our first day said she’d get a towel from the adjacent pool for our dog...and then never did.

Service elsewhere also also has been messy, Housekeeping today knocked on our door—twice—despite the privacy sign obviously displayed and after I’d complained the first time. Housekeeping for 2 of our 3 nights thus far has made the bed improperly in 2 different suites in a very strange/awkward manner that keeps coming apart/loose during the night. Calls to the hotel or to the operator ring endlessly and unanswered for 12-15 rings, forcing us to call back and wait for an answer way too many times. Housekeeping forgot to bring extra water for our new suite. Parking valets forgot to bring our car around despite being called in advance. Trash and empty alcohol bottles were outside our first suite door on arrival—very poor impression. We asked for larger dog bowls on arrival, which they never brought.

It’s been a comedy of errors of stupid mistakes, thoughtlessness, and poor training. We retuned from our luxury hotel visits at 5 pm to notice our room service dishes and pillaged food still siting outside our suite. Not impressive again.

Even as we’ve had those many fails, other staff have been incredibly warm and helpful. The “luxury guest curator” here has been amazing. She basically put together out wine tasting excursion for two days, as well as arranged our hotel visits today. She followed up on all of our dining reservations, making sure everything was right and that everyone knew it was our 9th wedding anniversary. She put rose petals throughout our second suite for our actual anniversary evening, along with wine and cheese as a special amenity. A bartender at the pool bar struck up conversation with us on our actual anniversary—and had a round of champagne sent to us at dinner in town at Bouchon that same evening. That was a great touch and really moved us. The entire team at the Angel Oak fine dining restaurant know us by name even after that first night and keep asking us to come have a drink at the bar before our final night’s dinner there. Some of the parking valets have gotten pretty friendly with us, too. So there’s definitely some real potential with the staff here.

Overall, this hotel reminds me more of a convention/conference JW Marriott than a Ritz-Carlton—both in terms of the size and unfortunate density of the property and the lack of proper 5 star luxury service across the board. While we maximized the value of our stay and got more luxury than most, I don’t think it quite compares with the level of luxury afforded at least by the Four Seasons or San Ysidro Ranch. With the service blunders at the Rosewood Miramar and Belmond El Encanto, though, I’d be more pleased to return to the Ritz-Carlton!

For my complete exhaustive review of the RC Bacara Santa Barbara, please see: 

https://www.flyertalk.com/hotel-reviews/r-amazing-ambassador-treatment-at-beautiful-but-too-large-resort-that-felt-more-jw-3277