DJ_Iceman

I'm staying there next Sun-Thu on a business trip, but I'm taking my daughter and au pair as well because my wife is deployed with the military. Will they find enough to do on the hotel grounds to not go out of their minds with boredom?

Also, previous reviews (circa 2005) were not particularly positive but I did find one that said they were going through a renovation. As a PP my room has not yet been upgraded, and the Virtual Concierge options were extremely limited (and even then the few choices I did make have been unacknowledged so far).

What should I expect when staying at this property?

Ambassador

Stayed a couple of months ago..... while the Santa Ynez area is extremely pretty, this property is pretty tired. It is very close to the highway and it reeks of 1978. Rooms were old school and the grounds were a little disjointed.

I did enjoy the lobby bar though.... it is the new style with a community table and some nice service.

Enginerd

i stayed there for a friday night a few weeks ago. actually seemed pretty nice. Ambassador is right: it is right off the 101 so you get traffic noise. i think there's a movie theatre 50 yards away. the pool is pretty nice. the restaurants are OK. There's no concierge but they give you breakfast coupons for everyone in your party.

the hallways are, indeed, from 1978 ( good call ) but my room was actually really nice. high ceilings. got a suite without asking.

call the manager and tell them your situation ; my guess is you'll get a nice suite -- of which there seemed many.

there's plenty of necessity shopping within a walk, but nothing nice ( that I saw ) that would appeal to young girls. It's "Sideways" wine country . There's probably a bus that runs to Solvang, which would keep their interest for an afternoon. It's a little tourist Scandinavian themed-town. Maybe a 10 minute drive, if that.

that's all i got.

troydwhite

Was there last fall, just Missus troydwhite and I, so don't have first-hand experience w/ kiddie activities. My impression is that there isn't a lot to do for families that need to burn some time while you're in meetings.

The pool seemed nice enough, and Enginerd is right, there's a movie theater nearby.

I liked the property, we were also upgraded and I liked the rustic, wine country feel (most of my stays are at convention properties, so it was a nice change of pace).

Yes, it's near the highway, but we had a 101-facing room and I didn't notice the traffic in the room.

Also, can confirm that we received breakfast certs.

Good luck, I hope you enjoy it, if you stay.

DJ_Iceman

Thanks, everyone. My mini-review below won't add much to what others have said.

I did get upgraded to a roomy and comfortable suite, but only after asking at check-in. My room, too, faced the busy highway and the noise was noticeable but not intolerable. Still, when I visited the front desk to ask if they had any suites on the non-highway side, I was told that "those aren't available for upgrades".

The place does seem a bit old, with evidence of various renovations done over the years. The lobby is quite modern, for instance, while the "Marriott" sign out front looked weathered and worn. As others said there is no lounge, but the full and generous breakfast buffet was cheerfully offered free of charge each day.

The biggest pleasant surprise of the stay was the hotel's restaurant, The Starting Gate, which offered a shockingly good dinner! Even with all the splendor of the central coast within easy driving distance, we ate dinner there twice (it was that good). And reasonably-priced! In fact, it was a shame to see the place so empty.

My family liked the pool and the adjacent movie theater, and I ended up having more time to spend with them than I thought I would so we took the short drive to Solvang one morning. In short, I'm thinking of taking the whole family here again for a long weekend sometime. It's centrally-located for touring the central coast wineries, had friendly staff, and acceptable to good accommodations.

VickiSoCal

I'm thinking of staying there over the July 4 weekend. The kids have a swim meet in Santa Barbara and there's no Marriot to be had there. Husband is Plat, I wonder which days, if any, they would offer bbreakfast certs? We would probalby be there Friday thru Monday as I do NOT want to drive home on the 101 on Sunday of a holiday weekend.

DJ_Iceman

I can't say for sure, as my stay was Sun-Wed, but the impression I got is that they treat elites very well here. I suspect you'd get complimentary breakfast even on the weekend. You could always try calling the property to ask.

kymbakitty

Thinking about going to 5 or so nights for our anniversary this year (end of Oct) because we have a rather significant vacation planned in the Spring. It's not a big deal, but it would be a nice getaway for our anniversary.

Trouble is...even tripadvisor hasn't had any reviews on this property since 2007! Geez. It made me think it wasn't a Marriott any longer but apparently it still is....so, any recent visits?

I'm thinking maybe we'll go to Palm Springs if this place isn't worth going for 5 or 6 days.

Thanks.

Dawn

VickiSoCal

It's a nice hotel that treats Plats well- we were upgraded to a 2 room suite with 2 queen beds in the bedroom and a huge bathroom just last month- but, I'm not sure the area has evough to do to warrant a 5-6 day vacation? I'm not a wine drinker, Solvang is good for an hour or two, hmmm.

dd992emo

If you can spend two hours in Solvang, you're a better person than I! My eyes glaze over at the second Hummel or Rockwell plate....

VickiSoCal

LOL I like the mission and the bakeries but I am not a shopper.

DJ_Iceman

I'm the OP, and I've stayed at the property a few more times since on business. I'll be back next week, in fact, and then for a full week at the end of the month.

Sadly, they changed the restaurant that I had raved about so that it now focuses on Tex-Mex cooking. It's okay, but nowhere near as good as it was before. It's still virtually empty every time I go.

Upgrades have been hit-or-miss. Since the only upgrade they can really offer is to a suite, it all depends on the front desk agent at check-in and whether they feel generous or not. I have noticed that even on the non-highway side of the property that road noise is a problem due to the busy frontage road on that side. Probably my single biggest complaint about this hotel is the poor noise insulation.

To me, I'd rather spend 5-6 nights in Palm Springs at one of the fancy Marriott resorts, but if you enjoy wine country touring then I still think this place is a good springboard.

kymbakitty

I did find that there were plenty of tripadvisor reports when I typed in the name differently (correctly). And the one thing that I heard time and time again was how you could hear the conversations of your neighbors even if they were speaking very low. One report said they thought the other was snoring only to realize it was neither of them--but the sound was coming through from the room next door. Man, these are some thin walls. I don't typically give that much thought about "thin walls" when I see it written once or maybe twice--but for this property, it appears to be on everyone's list!!!! Also, the freeway noise. The winetasting is not an issue...we live an hour and a half from Napa/Sonoma/Amador/El Dorado Counties so we've been to enough wineries to last us a life time. We still do Passport Weekends even though I'm the only wine drinker in the family.

I am considering the Marriott...we've been to the Marriott Villas before and LOVED it. We could stay at the JW Marriott but unfortunately, it is the JW Marriott and "Resort," which means that they don't hand out any perks and I don't know about upgrades. I know I could get a "lock out" suite at the Villas but after you have stayed in one of their villas, that would be really hard to stay in a lock out suite. We've been to Palm Springs/Desert a couple times and there really isn't anything new to do out there.

I'm considering Vegas now....there is ALWAYS something to do there and we don't even gamble! I want to see Beatles-LOVE again...DH never saw it. There are a couple other shows that I would like to see too. Flights are cheap and quick from SMF too.

Thanks for updating this thread.

Dawn

DELee

Decided to use a camping trip as an excuse to do a 10-night elite credit run (Platinum Status in Eight Days and $800 - No Stays Required) to get to Platinum. Set up a meeting on 2nd September that, after tip and tax, ended up being ~$180.

Anyway, going up the elevator to get to the Boardroom where my "meeting" was held - which I did use for a teleconference meeting after all was said and done - there was a poster showing that the property is about to begin a renovation:




Unfortunately, if you look in the Standard Guestroom block, it doesn't appear to show any desks (The Idiots who Design Marriott Rooms). If you want a desk here, perhaps you could contact the design firm shown in the upper right corner (Linda Snyder Associates in Torrance, CA).

David

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the update re: the renovation.

Cheers.