Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort

In early November, I stayed at the Hilton in Santa Barbara for a conference, during which over 100 attendees, including myself and my co-worker, contracted a food-borne illness confirmed through laboratory testing in the ER as E. coli. We experienced severe vomiting and diarrhea for days. While confined to our room due to the illness, we requested additional toilet paper and water since our room was not cleaned or restocked. Shockingly, staff refused to provide either, leaving us to manage in an already dire situation. After leaving, we reached out to the hotel and corporate multiple times to discuss our concerns and the ongoing food safety issues, but the response has been dismissive and unhelpful. The incident was reported to the Department of Health and is under investigation, but the hotel has not offered any meaningful resolution. This was an awful experience, and I strongly advise others to avoid staying here. We are still seeking a full refund for this terrible ordeal. Read less

My husband and I recently stayed here for a wedding. We upgraded our room and had a beautiful ocean view with a large balcony and a two room suite. We paid over $750 a night. That includes the $40 a day for parking plus a number of added CA fees. This hotel needs a lot of repairs and love. The light on the balcony was hanging while the outdoor couch had bird poop an it and the balcony needed to be swept. Inside ALL the lamps had 3 way switches but only 1 worked. Don’t plan on having your room made up because they only have house keeping for the day you leave. Need toilet paper? You better look when you check in because we had to go to the front desk and ask. Decide the day you want to have coffee because you won’t get it again, there isn’t any house keeping remember. There are no bathroom amenities other than a bar of soap. This hotel was a HUGE disappointment. We have stayed at many Hiltons and we were looking forward to staying there. Never have we been more dissatisfied. I must add, however, it was an absolutely beautiful venue for a wedding, just don’t stay there. Read less

This resort has the singular notoriety of being the worse resort hotel I have stayed in after more than 3 decades of international travel. It started with the apparent disregard for basic service at this resort, rude and unpleasant behavior from the staff, and failure of basic maintenance in the room. It then progressed when we asked for extra blankets because the room was cold and we could not get adequate temperature control with the thermostat. We were completely ignored, the blankets never arrived. There was NO room service - apparently basic hygiene was not a concern for this resort. It then progressed to our large business group having an outbreath from a stomach infection (over 80 people), I suspect but cannot prove from the morning catering. Apparently Norwalk virus and E. coli were isolated in the ER from one of the group. When we asked for help, there was a complete lack of any support or concern. When we asked about access to a physician or clinic, we were told they didn't have anyone and made no suggestions for help. There were many other instances that I will not include in this review. This is without exception, the worst hotel, I have stayed in anywhere in the world and would strongly recommend all potential guests consider another hotel to stay at in beautiful Santa Barbara. Read less

I was torn about the rating to give this hotel. I had seen some low ratings, & had written this hotel off. But, after searching all of the options, none seemed perfect, & then found out we had Hilton points, that we could use for 2 nights with an ocean front room. That fact, along with the photos, made our decision to take a chance. Overall, we ended up loving our room and view, as well as the hotel lobby & location. I would have given it 5 stars, except there were several major maintenance & service issues that took up our vacation time. After a day of exploring, we returned after dinner to shower, pack, & be ready for the next morning, so we could spend our final hours in our hotel enjoying the beautiful view of the ocean and boats that we used up all of our points for. This room costs over $600, with tax & the daily $82 resort & parking fee. We found the maids had not come, all towels were on the floor, so showers had to wait. I called down twice before they came up with the towels. We’d had our maid service sign on the door, & I had said hello to two of them who were cleaning the room next to ours when we left the room that morning, so they knew we were gone. Finally got our towels, & ready to shower, then find the shower does not turn on! Called the front desk again to see if there was some trick to it, and they said they’d send maintenance. After 45 min., I called a 2nd time, as our evening was wasting away, and we weren’t sure when they’d arrive. It turns out, the lever on the tub was calcified, and wouldn’t budge. It looked fine, but was frozen. The maintenance man broke the lever trying to maneuver it with his wrench, and had to go get another faucet to install, then found the shower head was leaking, & fixed that. Meanwhile, the one main light in the room was flickering on and off all evening. We asked if they could fix that. He said it might be the bulb – but it was not. They realized it was an electrical issue, which could be a fire hazard, but asked if they could come back tomorrow to fix it. We were checking out the next day, & needed some light in the room beyond the beds to do anything. They eventually moved things to a different electrical outlet to get by. They then knocked on the room next door, so they were in demand. Our room had blue tape along the vanity counter saying “Wet caulking” in Spanish, so they had been to our room before our arrival dealing with other issues. I don’t know how the maids & other guests had not reported the tub/shower before, it was so frozen. After hours of dealing with our non-maid service & maintenance fixes, we didn’t have time to re-pack our bags and prepare for the next morning as planned, which meant our last several hours in the morning were spent doing that, rather than enjoying our expensive view. At the price of these rooms, I feel the Hilton should compensate for not maintaining the rooms properly & wasting valuable vacation time. Of course, they likely have not noted the issues, as the check-out clerk never asked us how our stay was, as is the norm in all hotels. Likely knowing it’s a loaded question! A few other details: - Check-in clerk tried to tell us the garden/pool view rooms are just as nice as the ocean view we booked. Not true for us; & prices on the rooms prove it. Even the bellman affirmed this. - Check-in clerk told us to go outside to another bldg. to get to our room, in spite of a map showing it right above the lobby. The bellman told us the clerk must be new, & offered to take us to our room through the lobby, even though we did not yet have our luggage. He was right. - Check-out clerk made no eye contact, did not ask us how our stay was. - Coffee shop in the lobby had a male & female worker talking behind the counter. They would not look up, nor acknowledge we were there, & would not stop their conversation…. When we finally interrupted them, they still seemed very reluctant to give any service. We ended up not bothering getting anything, they were so off-putting. Next morning, just the male worker was there. This time he was pleasant, made great drinks,... Their job is to serve customers. The initial day definitely mars the experience & convenience. - Toilets in the room are so low, you are in a free-fall. If you have any height to you, have bad knees, arthritis, or often need an ADA room with grab bars, you may have difficulty in the standard rooms. - No fridge or microwave in the room. - 1 luggage rack. Bellman told us the hotel has no additional racks. Room that sleeps 4, but 1 luggage rack. A very small investment could improve this. - Front desk often does not answer the phone. When told to call down to tell them if we'd take our room, it took 3 calls to reach them. The Bellman waiting at our car even asked if it took so long to come down, because of trying to reach the front desk. Obviously, this wasn't the 1st time. The Bellmen are the stars here! They had accurate information & were very helpful. They truly deserve raises; they were the best workers in the hotel. While the maintenance men were friendly, I do not want to spend my vacation time with them. With the amount of issues in our room alone, the Hotel should be examining every room. If our faucets are calcified, others are too. It is not okay to do it on the customers’ dime. While I loved our view (the amount of time we could look at it, beyond spending time tracking down maids & dealing with their maintenance crew), & the room was spacious and seemed clean and comfortable, it feels like there needs to be an overhaul in maintaining the facilities, ensuring properly trained staff, and not relying completely on the Bellmen to give customers an appropriate feeling of being informed, made comfortable, and just knowing the details about the room, hotel, & sights. Because I loved the location, view, and general feel of the room, I would try it again; but if I faced the same scenarios, it would be my last. If you are already booked here, you may have a spectacular stay; the potential is there, but there seems to be a need in better training, better staffing, updating the fixtures, and ensuring people answer phones and do their jobs. I am hoping my one visit was a fluke, and that most are just enjoying a wonderful vacation. I'd like to see this place flourish, and don't think it would take that much to do it. Either better management or an investment in the facility. For the rates being charged for the rooms, and the ridiculous daily $42 parking fee & daily $40 resort fee, the bar needs to be raised by the Hilton. The Hilton seems to be focused on saving on costs, rather than the customer experience. Read less