two luxury hotels in Santa Barbara
Dec 6, 2018, 6:06 pm
#16
formerly declinespecificinformatiom
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: USA
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well... it turns out that bill doesn’t mind it when people from Costa Mesa say they live in Newport Beach! The more the merrier
Dec 6, 2018, 10:48 pm
#17
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Location: Southern California, USA
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I simply indicated the fact that the driving time between the RC Bacara in Goleta to the center of Santa Barbara isn’t quite so different from the driving times from properties you feel more comfortable with labeling as being located in or nearer to Santa Barbara.
Please reread. Thanks. No offense intended, nor was any given.
Dec 7, 2018, 11:11 am
#18
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: So. California
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Posts: 1,385
The RC Bacara is about 12 miles north of Santa Barbara proper, or a 10-15 min drive right down the 101 freeway. The former San Ysidro Ranch was about 6 miles south of Santa Barbara proper, but also about a 10-15 min drive due to winding and smaller roads along the route.
The FS Santa Barbara is 3-4 miles south of Santa Barbara proper, actually in Montecito, still a 5-10 min drive.
Belmond El Encanto is 1-2 miles from the center of Santa Barbara.It still can be a 5-10 min drive to various shops and restaurants or to the beach.
I advise about university admission for a living, and the RC Bacara property is just a bit north of the UC Santa Barbara campus in Goleta. I'm up there quite often. I wouldn't let the RC location necessarily dissuade one as much as its size. It certainly can take as long or longer to get to "town" from the closer (but now closed) San Ysidro Ranch as it could from the RC Bacara, ironically.
So the impact of the distance can be a bit misleading.
The FS Santa Barbara is 3-4 miles south of Santa Barbara proper, actually in Montecito, still a 5-10 min drive.
Belmond El Encanto is 1-2 miles from the center of Santa Barbara.It still can be a 5-10 min drive to various shops and restaurants or to the beach.
I advise about university admission for a living, and the RC Bacara property is just a bit north of the UC Santa Barbara campus in Goleta. I'm up there quite often. I wouldn't let the RC location necessarily dissuade one as much as its size. It certainly can take as long or longer to get to "town" from the closer (but now closed) San Ysidro Ranch as it could from the RC Bacara, ironically.
So the impact of the distance can be a bit misleading.
Dec 7, 2018, 4:01 pm
#19
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I know we've discussed this in other threads but just repeating here for continuity were someone to read this and not another thread. While you're right that the driving times are not much different, I believe that location still matters. The San Ysidro Ranch, Rosewood, Four Seasons Biltmore and the Belmond El Encanto are all located in prestigious residential neighborhoods. Driving (or better yet bicycling) along the coast from Rosewood to downtown takes you along some of the most beautiful coastline and prestigious neighborhoods in our area. The entire route is dotted with boutiques, restaurants, and beautiful vistas. The same can not be said for Bacara. It is surrounded by modest development, big box retailers and lacks the sense of place that the others have. I know you're not shopping for a home when you choose a hotel location, but being in the heart of a luxury area with the services that luxury travelers expect, I believe makes these hotels better located than the Bacara. For locals we see a huge difference between Santa Barbara/Montecito and Goleta and I think that many travelers do to as evidenced by some of the comments here (yours excepted of course).
If it requires a mere 10-15 min drive, I don’t think the location matters at all to us as much as it does to you. We heard the same “location is crucial” nonsense for Istanbul when we stayed at the Park Hyatt vs the FS Sultanahmet; it was just an easy 15 min taxi or train ride to the touristy Sultanahmet. No big deal for us at all. Perhaps a big deal for you.
Perspective matters. What seems so impressive about Santa Barbara and Montecito to you doesn’t necessarily seem so impressive to us—because we live in Newport Beach and visit Laguna Beach quite often. Those beaches and that coastline puts Santa Barbara largely to shame to us.
We’ve stayed in Santa Barbara. We’ve stayed in Montecito. Now we’ll stay in Goleta at the RC Bacara. And we still can drive into Santa Barbara in almost as little time as anyone staying at the new Rosewood or the Four Seasons.