Santa Barbara Hotel
 

Looking for a last minute hotel for my parents for this weekend. Any suggestions for a nice hotel that's not $400+ a night? Looking at the Doubletree, Harbor View, and Hotel Oceana. (I've read the reviews on this board already). Any other nice cute hotels? Thanks! Priceline doesn't do Santa Barbara anymore, any ideas for cheaper rates?

Harbor View Inn all the way, though it won't be cheap!

We stayed at the Franciscan Inn in August. Nice, reasonable, very convenient; short walk to the beach.

Doubletree is nice if they want to be on the beach. It is a bit impersonal and large, so if you want "cute" perhaps try the Hotel Oceana. Also, closer to downtown and shops is a new-ish hotel, Inn of the Spanish Garden. It is really very lovely, but a little pricier ($250-$350, I think...)

Check out their website: www.spanishgardeninn.com

I had to be in SB this past June for work and wanted to stay somewhere nice but, since my room was being paid for by a client, I had to keep it reasonable. I found a good deal at the El Encanto which is an older hotel up the hill near the SB mission. It has beautiful grounds, a great restaurant, outdoor bar with a fantastic view, and a very nice pool area that serves food and drinks. However, you have to have a car there. No walking to town or to the beach.

Other places that I looked into that were nice that haven't been mentioned are:

Bath Street Inn
Secret Garden Inn
The Upham Hotel
Country Inn by the Sea
Bayberry Inn

I specifically wanted a hotel with room service as I was traveling by myself for a week. Some of these didn't offer that service.

We stayed just a few minutes outside of Santa Barbara at a wonderful inexpensive place that is right on the ocean! It is called the Cliff House Inn. Incredible views, nice little pool, and a restaurant on site that is pretty good. They have a website at cliffhouseinn.com

Cliff House is more than a few minutes outside of SB!

More like a 25 minute drive, if you're lucky. If you leave during the Ventura to Goleta rush hour commute, more like an hour!

Not to mention, it being isolated from anything else, and dangerous to get on and off the freeway since there are no onramps, or offramps there, just stop signs. Tricky if you're not used to it.

I would second Parker's suggestion of the Upham and Secret Garden Inn!

True, I never drove into town during rush hour. I thought the drive was 15-20 minutes, and for someone trying to find a nice hotel on a budget, especially if you want to be ON the ocean, I think it is a great deal and worth the drive to save the cash. You pay a big premium to stay in town. To each their own!