Originally Posted by
beachfan
Also bummed, as I live near Santa Barbara but it's nice for a quick getaway. The prior hotel was not special but good enough. It makes sense as a cat 5 now due to the supply/demand of rooms due to the college. But it seemed like that would have been taken care of by high vs. low.
Those Wailea properties have an amazing location, just a few hundred yards from the Andaz on what I think it the best part of Maui. Haven't looked inside, but it certainly is more affordable. While I love the Andaz, it's 23k vs. 35k in high season.
I lived in SB for years just moving last year and SB definitely doesn’t have high demand. Their highest demand month is July for the 4th fireworks show which was cancelled. As far as demand due to the college all classes are distance learning so no demand for families to visit. Also they just built 2 Hiltons right next to the campus in Goleta along with a Ritz right there while MarMonte is a good 15 minute drive from UCSB. It’s a good location don’t get me wrong, just I don’t see it as being a Cat 5 like Andaz Papagayo at all. I feel like it’s perfectly placed at a Cat 4 which 15k points are worth $225-$300. I feel like the owners investing so much into the renovation and pressing Hyatt to bump them up to do that had a lot to do with it.