ORD-TGU

No renovations planned, I inquired. This hotel is basic at best. I personally was satisfied as I had ocean front/view room, and the hotel is across the beach. But, if you get assigned a back room or a room at other wing, you will be unhappy. Most of these rooms have parking lot or building views.

My main concern was location since I was at a wedding and other friends were staying there. I was also looking for value, since I had a credit card free certificate. I guess I was lucky. I enjoyed the beach. The pool is tiny and in the shade.

But, it seems you are looking for a nice room, place and maybe disappointed from your room assignment and this hotel being very basic. I suggest you book at the Four Seasons, it has very high reviews in TA and it seems that is what you are looking for.

PS - The other group was staying at the Fess Parker, it was ok too, but no room had unobstructed ocean front views. Rates were very high and points were very high too, so IMHO, overpriced.

conde

I preferred the back rooms facing the parking lot or away from the ocean, in that there was less street noise than the rooms facing the ocean (and also facing a busier street). There isn't much sound isolation from the street noise.
The ocean facing rooms definitely have better views though.

joetro

I'm a Hyatt loyalist, and this is a steal on points and with free night certificate from CC. But I don't want super gross either. It seems like requesting and ocean view room and/or one in the main building is the best bet, right?

rbAA

15,000 points for this property is a steal? Maybe the hotel is the one stealing. I stayed there once some time ago, 11/2014, and while I thought the property was fine and I had a great view and balcony, I don't feel that a room there for about $230 per night is a steal, either on points or paid rate. I know weekends, especially in the summer months, get a little crazy in SB, but really.

joetro

Showing close to $400 for July 4th weekend, not including taxes, so I think it's a good point per cent value. But, if the quality is poor ...

conde

Lodging in Santa Barbara, particularly weekends during the summer months, is expensive. If one truly wants to stay in Santa Barbara, the Hyatt Centric there is a good option for points and anniversary certificates when cash rates are high.

When comparing the Santa Barbara Hyatt to the nicer Cat 4 hotels in Hyatt's portfolio, it won't compare favorably to some of the best. When staying here, it is all about staying in Santa Barbara; the hotel itself is not much of a drawing attraction. Personally, I have used Chase CC anniversary free night certs here, and might do so again in the future. Santa Barbara is a wonderful place to stay. It would be best to keep expectations in check though for the property.

wilma

I stayed here recently and was unimpressed. Both rooms offered to me had an odd, musty smell, hopde it would go away after opening the patio door but it never did. I was in the main bldg and they did offer a nice upgrade to oceanview with a balcony. As others noted the road noise is annoying and i had to keep the slider open due the room stink. The globalist breakfast was ok. The staff were untrained and unprofessional. The valet/bellman groaned when he saw the luggage (dive & photo gear) I needed him to handle. The unsupervised trainee at the front desk knew nothing about globalist status and could not answer my question about breakfast. She finally consulted with someone and brought a card to my room to explain it covered $23 for only one person (not sure if that is true). I would not pay more than $200 to stay here.

acsmashing

Property is now going for $550+ this week (Oct 8 - 14). I've never been to this hotel, but I'll gladly transfer 30k points for a two night stay, which I already did, instead of paying over 1k in cash for two nights

Hyatt is my favorite hotel loyalty program! I don't think there is any hotel program out there that offers more bang for the points?

SanDiego1K

Does anyone know the current situation with air quality due to the Thomas fire in Santa Barbara? Evacuation orders have been lifted for Santa Barbara. I called the hotel but no one answered the phone. I've left a message and am awaiting a call back. We are scheduled to stay here in a few days. The booking requires 3 days advance cancellation. Be honest. Are we foolish to consider an overnight here next week?

River in Sight

I’m not sure if this will help you, but: I had a four-night stay planned here for the 17th to the 21st and I was being stubborn and sticking with it. Last Monday, I happened to be in a meeting with a guy who lives in Santa Barbara and asked him what he thought of the plan. He told me people downtown were wearing masks, the air quality was poor, travel could be challenging, etc and said I needed to come up with a new plan. So I did and we went to Newport Beach instead. That was over a week ago and I’m not sure what has changed in the meantime, but wanted to share that for your consideration.

SanDiego1K

River in Sight, that's valuable information. It affirms my decision to cancel. Thank you.

dawg1k

How was your stay? I need to go up next week and I'm not sure based on the mixed reviews I'm seeing.

Thanks!

pinniped

Stayed here over the weekend. Used points for one night and an anniversary certificate for the other. Hotel was OK, paid rates were in the $400 range which is absurdly high for what you're getting here. This is *not* a luxury property - it's just a decent spot on the outskirts of Santa Barbara.

We have no real status (just whatever the credit card status is these days), so didn't even quibble about our room type. We were in some outbuilding across the street, away from the ocean, facing a soccer field. It was a quiet side street - no noise issues - and tons of free overnight parking right outside our door. Even coming back to the room late one night, there was no struggle to find parking along this street

The 2nd night we used Lyft: a ride into Santa Barbara (downtown) is about $8. Drivers were in ample supply on both Lyft and Uber.

No noise/smell issues with the room. Everything was OK...I think I just saw the cash rates and expected this property to be a lot more exciting than it ended up being. First experience with "Centric" so didn't know what to expect from the brand.

djibouti

They seem to also play games with inventory. They're only "selling" the base rooms for 3 night stays in a couple of weekends. Whether it's because they legitimately don't want to sell the room for less than 3 nights stays or because they don't want to allow awards, I don't know. A request from WoH to the manager to make an exception was declined.

joetro

The Santa Barbara House looks to be renovated in 2015. Is this the best bet for the least old room? Maybe I should request this?