New Listing! Melarose Suite at de La Vina Inn Studio Bedroom Hotel Room

Amazing place! So glad we decided to stay here! We were only people staying here and never saw anyone else, but that was FINE with us. The inn is lovely..well kept, clean and our room (Somerset) was perfect - beautifully decorated, comfortable bed and lovely fireplace. You must use the link in the text message to access the inn as well as your room. Coffee was available in the morning and check out was as easy as check in! I’d definitely stay there again!!

Never encountered a human being in our two nights here. Prior to arrival I was asked to provide a lot of personal information to a third party website, copy of driver’s license etc. upon arrival we were texted a code to use to enter the hotel. Troublesome, and it seemed to be common for folks arriving. No one responded to Ring doorbell. We eventually got into our room, the Windsor Suite which had a separate entrance. Unlit entry way. Door did not lock properly, we put our valuables in our car when we went out. Bed and sheets were good, shower was better than normal. No housekeeping, fireplace had one log for a two night stay. No tools for fireplace. No response to my texts about housekeeping or fireplace. No reason to use any of the common areas in the house. No hospitality, charm or response to issues. Not what one expects from an ‘Inn’. Checkout is at 10.

I just spent 5 nights with friends at the De la Vina Inn in Santa Barbara. We used 6 of the 8 rooms and enjoyed them all! I was in the Windsor, with its own outside entrance, a fireplace, Jacuzzi tub, and refrigerator. All the rooms have some combination of those features plus lovely furnishings and linens. After dinner in the evenings, we gathered in the comfortable living room to enjoy Bridgerton on a large TV. In the mornings we enjoyed coffee in the dining room, and sunny afternoons made the lovely garden our favorite gathering place. The inn is located near downtown’s shopping and restaurants. This inn is one of the best places my group of longtime friends has ever stayed. I highly recommend it!

We were looking forward to going to this Inn for a month, but I'm sorry to say, it was a big disappointment. The pros: nice balcony, very hot water, soft sheets, well-kept backyard. Cons: You get into your room and there is a huge sign telling you to not make any noise (very uninviting vibe to set, I mean, come on, we're grown ups), everything is run down (the wallpaper is literally peeling off the walls, there is a couple years of dust the curtain rods and doorways, the jacuzzi tub doesn't work and looks like it hasn't worked since the 80s), traffic wakes you up at 6 AM, you get a text at 8 AM telling you to check out --just in case you already didn't feel unwelcome enough. It basically feels kind of like an abandoned youth hostel (maybe that's why they have the signs telling you to shut up.) I understand that it could be a better experience depending which room you get, but it just generally felt like they didn't care much about the guests. I know that Santa Barbara is expensive, but this was way overpriced for what it was. It should be half the price per night for what it currently is. Instead of $300 per night or more, it should be $150 a night. Then the youth hostel feel would be no big deal.

I found this advertised as a quaint 8 bedroom house with exceptional stars about 8-10 blocks from the train station, and after looking at the pictures of the rooms, (BTW, pictures are always deceptive, and in this case for sure) I picked the Melrose Room. It was advertised with a fireplace and nice bathroom with "waterfall shower" Perfect, right? We got there around 2pm, and Initially it looked like a very historical Victorian sort of house. Nice little grassy (Astro turf) seating area in the front around the fountain, big porch, shading trees. We were supposed to have received instructions by 2 pm in how to check in but we didn't, (first clue). We waited and checked around the place to see if there was anyone available to let me in to use the restroom. Shortly after, we rang the "Ring" doorbell, no answer. After waiting another 10-15 mins finally a lady came to the door and she was pissed! "Absolutely No check in until 4pm" she said, "fine but may I use the restroom?" She seemed confused and contemplated for a few minutes, as the pee was starting to cross that barrier, and said "okay but I'm not done cleaning yet!" She was angry she directed me to a small tiny bathroom in the kitchen, on the floor were dirty sheet next to the bathroom, and I thought, okay not very sanitary but she's still got 2 hours left to clean this area. She kicked me out as soon as I was done washing my hands. We sat outside afterwards texting the Inn's manager/owner who didn't respond for awhile in regards to the "check in registration" we never received. The management, I believe she identifies herself as Emma, responded via text, (not phone call), stating that the text is automated at exactly 2pm and to check my phone again. I text back saying it's after 2:20 and there is no text, she began to contradict me via text and within seconds after saying this, a registration link came to my phone, okay I'm a little annoyed about this type of hospitality. This person stated she "UPGRADED" our "Melrose Suite" to the "Somerset Suite". A couple pulled up just then and began to bang on door. They were pissed! They said that their reservations were just cancelled and they were from out of state, and because the hotels in Santa Barbara were all booked for the weekend had no where to stay! They stated they had booked a room at the Inn weeks ago and just received a text, not call, that their room was unavailable, but they felt since it was no fault of theirs they wanted a refund and the management to rebook them somewhere else in town. They also said the management would not return their text, (you can only get ahold of the Inn by texting, the number provided as it doesn't except calls, Also you have to pay in advance and it's a non refundable booking).. No one would come to the door, meaning the housekeeping lady who was left there to her own devices, to reconcile with this poor couple, they left very upset and abandoned. So we waited, at about 3 pm, another young couple

I suspect that this venue is best for a whole house buy out. We rented the Darcy Room, which was very nice except for: room and balcony was not clean to normal hotel standards (dust on the furniture, trash on the balcony), window ac unit was in pieces and we had to put it back together, nice old stuffed chair in the room had a ripped arm rest, The shower, taken in a 24" deep spa tub had no grab bar to help you get out, the shower head was calcified, and water faucet was partially defective: no idea where hot/cold was and it took me 5 minutes to experiment with the waterflow to work it out. To add to that the hall light outside our room was burned out. All that said, the bed was comfortable, the common areas on the ground floor are quite nice and the parking is convenient. There is no elevator so for 2nd nd 3rd floor guests you have to schlep your own backs upstairs. Why, because there is no check in staff. The procedure seems easy but when you are travelling and want to check in so you can get into your room all of a sudden you have to download your ID to get the codes to access your room. Try that on the 101. The whole thing seems like a great idea, gone bad, with lots of deferred maintenance. I did not mind fixing the ac, and if I had a few simple tools I would have fixed a few other things in the room. We wish them the best, but they need to get their act together. We won't be back.