My husband and I are attending our niece's graduation at the University of California, Santa Barbara in June. Most hotels we tried are already booked for that weekend. We did manage to get a room at the Santa Barbara Inn but it was quite expensive. Is it worth it?

Not sure about the amenities as I've never stayed there. But its location is EXCELLENT - the best place you can dream of...

How much is very expensive? We chose Paris over Santa Barbara because S.B. was more expensive--including air! S.B. is very expensive. There are B.+B.'s there for $650. a night!
So, I'm guessing that you probably did well. I have not stayed at the Santa Barbara Inn but I have heard that it is nice. I think they have a website where you can actually see the hotel and the rooms. S.B. is a beautiful place and I am sure you'll have a good time. Just bring beaucoup bucks!

We stayed at the Inn of the Spanish Garden recently (12/27-12/30)and really enjoyed the hotel. It has only been open for about 5 months - so everything is new. They may have some "reasonable" rates. Nothing is inexpensive in Santa Barbara!

Topping for Bernice

The Harbor View Inn is a bit nicer and usually a better value. Most of the hotels are probably full for graduation.
Goleta and Carpinteria are close by if you will have a car, and usually quite a bit less expensive. Coast Village Inn in Montecito is also a good value, nothing fancy but a beautiful location and easy to find.

We stayed at the Villa Rosa - very affordable - a great bargain - only one block from the beach - cute rooms - friendly staff - it also has a pool in the courtyard - check it out on there website - we were very pleased with it. Good luck - enjoy CA!

ttt

Santa Barbara is very Spanish and very friendly. Great climate. Smashing people. The Santa Barbara Inn is not I am sorry to say worth the money. The website is very misleading and drastically overstates the quality of the hotel. A lot of the hotel needs serious money spending on it. I understand that they have fitted new carpets which were desperately overdue in the corridors during the winter of 2001 - this really was a minimum requirement - the bedrooms are very tired and need fully renovating and I have been told by the manager that this is not scheduled for the near future - mountain view rooms look over the tatty car park and refuse area - pool view rooms are better - REPEAT - IGNORE THEIR WEBSITE! - We were so disapointed that we cut short our stay - we would have liked to have moved immediately to The Four Seasons which is fabulous but it was fully booked - it is more expensive but ten times better! If you don't go for the Four Seasons go for something cheap as a lot of the other hotels have seen better days. And don't forget to go and eat at Brophy Brothers - great food - fantastic atmosphere - our teenage kids could live in the place!

Bernice

Did you try the Upham Inn or Upham Hotel. We stayed there and loved it. Huge wine and cheese thing at night and enormous breakfast. Walk to downtown

Hi Bernice - I have just looked at the Fodors rants and raves for the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara and they are very mixed and quite worrying! Suggest you have a look before booking. We never stayed there so I would not like to mislead you. I have been inside and it does look very nice.

Hi,

I stayed at the Santa Barbara Inn. Nice, nothing fancy. They do have a great restaurant-Citronelle.

Make sure you ask for a room facing the ocean or you will be overlooking the parking lot.

Cintronelle Restaurant within Santa Barbara Inn is in my opinion nothing great unless you like a stuffy formal atmosphere with exceptionally slow service and incredibly expensive food. $80 for 3 breakfasts and they couldn't even get the order right - we were in there for 90 minutes!! Thank goodness for the views!

Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Oceana? I think it's newish, and the web site looks pretty nice, but would be good to get some opinions. Thanks.

I'm also attending the graduation at UCSB and staying at the Santa Barbara Inn. Like everyone else locally, they have jacked up their prices for graduation weekend. Since I am familiar with the place, I know that what I am paying is not worth it, but it was all I could find in the area. Too bad places do this as it makes it very likely I will never stay there again.