Kathleen Barnes

Review of Bacara Resort & Spa

We wanted to have a special anniversary weekend an...

We wanted to have a special anniversary weekend and booked an (overpriced) room here to make the weekend really special.

At $475 a night, the room was very basic with no frills and the staff was not accommodating. We emailed the concierge multiple times beforehand with questions regarding wine tours and I finally had to call to get them to respond to my emails.

We booked a room with a fireplace so it would be a treat from our regular apartment without a fireplace and it only worked half the time we were there. There was also a wedding happening and since we were so conveniently located right beside the ballroom, it was extremely loud until midnight with no apologies or warning from the staff.

We asked them to have ice in the room upon arrival and there wasn't, so we had to call and remind them. There were no slippers in the room and I had to tip the staff to bring some.

We realized the Keurig in the room didn't work so we had to call and have them bring a replacement.

After all of this, I accidentally left my $200 curling iron there and once I realized it, I called Lost & Found and they said they would check and call me back in 15 minutes. An hour passed and I had to call back and they said, "oh we couldn't find it."

For $475 a night I would really expect better customer service and satisfaction. The Bacara is really out of the way if you plan to do anything in Santa Barbara and the less than accommodating staff certainly doesn't make up for it. I was disappointed in my stay and would absolutely not recommend this hotel to anyone. I've stayed in multiple resorts all over the country and Bacara is definitely last on my list of memorable vacations. The landscaping is beautiful, but the rooms are nothing special and the staff is extremely unhelpful.