I stayed at the Kimpton for a wedding where the venue was on the rooftop. It was a beautiful rooftop wedding. I understand why having the wedding there. The hotel being part of IHG was another reason for me to stay. BUT I feel even with the wedding discount, this hotel is overpriced. For what I was paying I would assume we were closer to the water or each room would have an amazing view, mine was of the gas station across the street. The wine tasting was a nice touch, but come to find out all hotels in the area are doing the same. So what makes this hotel stand out? The four poster beds are nice, but that's all I could think of. A very nice hotel, but just over priced. I understand it is S.B. and everything is a bit over priced to begin with. I am sure there are other options in the area.
Suites not as pictured on site, small and no balconies or patios. Water pressure is non existent and our windows overlook the parking structure. Misleading site. Small tiny suites. Update, the tv doesn’t work and the phone is unplugged and to connect to the front desk we have to call from our cell. Ridiculous. Because of our window overlooking the parking garage we were awaken at 6.30 with loud car noises and chatter. 6.30. Don’t come here to relax. Day two. Tomorrow is day three, let’s see if they move us as promised on day one. Update on day 3, grant at front desk totally made a 180 for the hotel and found us a beautiful suite to move into, very happy, only one night left but it’s coming together. Thank you Grant. Update again, our suite on our final night hadn’t been cleaned as promised so we had to clean it ourselves! Made the bed and cleaned the dishes and now we’re settled in. Wish us luck.
I stayed at the Kimpton Canary on July 13th for 2 nights. I arrived early and had lunch with a colleague at Finch & Fork since my room was understandably not ready. I had the delicious Black Garlick Caesar salad with steak and a dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives. The front desk was very helpful and accommodated an early check in at about 3pm in a beautiful corner room. The room was very spacious but it did face a gas station that received deliveries around the clock so it wasn't quiet but that is not the hotels fault. When I called in for room service on Thursday evening I was delighted to see the same salad on the menu but when the room service attendant took my call he said they don't sell the salad with the option to add steak. I opted to go to the restaurant to try to get the salad as featured on the menu and sat at the bar but the bartender also said he's never seen the salad served with steak. I then tried to order a martini with blue cheese stuffed olives but the bartender said they didn't have blue cheese stuffed olives. He was very helpful nonetheless and there was no shortage of politeness from everyone I encountered. I look forward to visiting again and maybe I'll get lucky with the salad on the next try.
Forget the pics you see on their site. The suites are tiny and overlook the parking lot, prego floors and no balcony or patio. This place has a very misleading website and the rooms are not what you’re thinking you’re getting. Very, very disappointing and sad. Had to keep all my curtains closed as I was directly across maybe 5 other rooms looking in.
My family and I are on a tour of the US and have stayed at a number of 4 and 5 star properties in cities across the East and West Coast and this was possibly our favourite. I was a bit nervous prior to our arrival due to the negative reviews preceding this. I need not have worried. The hotel has just undergone a full refurb so is in excellent condition. It has not lost any of it's character in the process. It has a lovely boutique hotel feel. We really liked the location just off State Street The heated rooftop pool is just lovely and when we stayed it was quiet and peaceful No difficulty getting a sun-bed. The rooms are a good size and in great condition with period style furniture. The beds are the most comfortable we have slept in on our trip. The wine hour in the afternoon is a nice touch and the wine was of good quality. The staff were on the whole exceptionally friendly, welcoming and accommodating. Breakfast was very good with some great choices. Well cooked and good quality. Our only gripe was service at breakfast. Only one server for the whole restaurant so service was slow although the servers were friendly and doing a valiant job in the circumstances but an hour for breakfast is too long in my view. Overall I would return in an instant. Thanks in particular to the guy doing valet parking, Eric at breakfast and Benjamin on reception.
This hotel would be fine if it were a 2 or 3 star hotel priced in the range of $200-$350 per night. But the price I paid along with the four star ranking feels like a scam when compared to other hotels in the area. This is an old downtown hotel on a busy street. It was clean and the staff were friendly enough. However, nothing about it fits the "luxury" description or the high prices and it's definitely not a place for a honeymoon. All of this sounds insignificant and complainy but I still can't get over what we paid and how this place was advertised. Our room was super dark. We paid extra for the double doors with the juliet balcony only to find out it looked directly into a large cement parkade where cars consistently do burn-outs throughout the day (not the hotel's fault but again, more fitting for a more budget hotel). It is so close to the parkade I made eye contact with a family getting out of the vehicle as I laid in bed, hah! I asked for another room but it was even darker and looked out onto a wall and down into the steady chaos of the valet (super narrow and constant traffic). It also cost another $150 per night so I turned it down. Because it was our honeymoon and our first vacation in four years, we ended up just leaving the hotel and eating the cost for the night so that we wouldn't have to stay there. The room was outdated, the furniture was beat up, and the toiletries were budget. I was also really excited for the rooftop pool only to see that it was really shallow, small, and closes early. There is no bar or restaurant on the roof. I wouldn't normally be bothered by any of this if I was paying for a reasonably priced hotel. But this was a luxury hotel for our honeymoon and I paid more money to stay here than I did at the Palihouse or the Santa Barbara Inn which are both much nicer in different ways. Please don't get sucked into this like I did! Unless you really need to stay in that exact location or pay less than $300 to stay here, I really wouldn't recommend it!
This hotel is a charming historic Spanish building and most staff from valet thru hospitality were very friendly. We are a family of 4 with two younger children who chose this hotel primarily for the pool and pet friendliness representation. The rooftop pool deck is split into two levels, and beautifully appointed. As we attempted to utilize that amenity we were told dogs are not allowed, not even on leash. The man working the pool deck was very empathetic stating he did not agree with the new policy and they are under "New Management" with a lot of new rules. Most hotels do not want pets left alone in a room which is understandable as not to disturb others with barking and with Santa Barbara a warmer place, it is not really an option to leave the dog in a car. I contacted the Manager on Duty to see if I could at least keep our dog in his crate on the pool deck and he agreed only on the lower level (out of view of the pool.) In order to use the pool my husband and I had to split up to stay with the dog and one to watch the children in the pool on different levels of the roof deck. To me, this seemed short-sighted by management to insist this when the hotel is advertised "pet friendly". After two days of dividing up between kids and dog on our family vacation I approached the new General Manager, Richard Cox, and explained our situation. He pretty much disregarded how their advertised pet-friendly hotel vs actual rules affected our family vacation. He insisted it is California Health Code -though I question if the pet is contained in a crate with a bottom if that is truly the case? He struck me as rude and interrupting as I tried to explain our disappointing experience as a family. Interestingly, I booked the next few days in nearby Ojai and when I called to clarify their pet policy with regard to the pool they stated a leash is fine ...and it was!
On the way to granddaughter’s graduation at SLO from San Diego area, we stopped in Santa Barbara where we had booked a room at this hotel. Room was aver $1, 000 per night. Very disappointing. Small, small room with no table to eat room service breakfast the following morning. Just not comfortable, bathroom was also tiny. The staff was one of the best. We have traveled extensively and this room just didn’t measure up to other hotels we have stayed for far less money.
The hotel is a bit over priced. Santa Barbara is a complete dump. I would have never stopped here if I had known the amount of homeless people around State street. The hotel would have been perfect but they charge around $40 for valet and they also charge a resort fee which I don’t understand what it is for. The pool which is on the roof is pretty with great views. I like this hotel chain as it allows dogs of all sizes to stay. Too bad Santa Barbara had gone to the homeless. Sad state of affairs.
I booked a suite at $2000 for 3 nights. I specifically asked about the balconies, etc. When we arrived we discovered all the suites are inward facing. So each window and balcony is literally 10 feet from the suite across from it. As a consequence literally every suite had all the windows and doors closed and covered. When I asked for a room that would not require us to keep windows and doors closed, they moved us to a room with a 1 foot by 2 foot window and doors with a Juliette balcony blocked by a large oversized chair. The room was dark and dingy, and the bathroom was very small. Also there were no hairdryers or coffee makers in the room. Absolutely no amenities. The staff on the first day appeared to be helpful and offered us a move back to one of the 3 suites that had outward facing windows. On the next day when we asked about that, we were told that that was not possible. Really uncooperative staff. Very, very disappointing. I will NEVER book a Kimpton again. We actually spent half a day trying to move hotels. Of course since the date was already here, there was nothing to be had.