The recently-remodeled Mar Monte Hotel in Santa Barbara offers refreshed rooms in an ideal beachside location. While there is room for improvement, as you’ll read about in this review, this remains one of my favorite getaway hotels.
Mar Monte Hotel Review
In order to escape the oppressive heat and smoke, my family headed from Los Angeles up to Santa Barbara over Labor Day weekend. The is a Category 4 hotel and I used my anniversary free night from my Chase World of Hyatt card to pay for the hotel room (I could have also used 15,000 World of Hyatt points). Considering the rate for a standard room was over $400 including taxes, this marked an incredible use of my free night award.
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Hyatt Centric Santa Barbara Now Mar Monte Hotel, Part Of Hyatt Unbound Collection
I’ve outlined the recent name change at the hotel here. After several years as the “Hyatt Santa Barbara” and later under the Hyatt Centric brand, the hotel has rebranded to the Mar Monte Hotel and is part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection. After months of renovations, the hotel re-launched under its new name in August 2020.
The lobby has been remodeled and has a much more open feel now. Although original elements like the tile floors and fireplace remain, the lobby now opens onto a terrace with a water fountain and has a nice sitting area and a library. Hopefully once the pandemic passes the hotel will again offer free coffee service in the morning.
Many of the hotels’ original elements remain:
> Read More: Hyatt Centric Santa Barbara Now Mar Monte Hotel, Part Of The Unbound Collection
Location
Whatever deficiencies exist in the hotel, and there are some which I’ll discuss below, the location simply cannot be beat. Just off the Cabrillo Boulevard exit on US-101, the beach is right across the street and the neighborhood, filled with cafes and restaurants, is lovely. You can even walk to Downtown Santa Barbara if you are up for it.
Check-In
We arrived on a Friday afternoon and the hotel was at capacity for the holiday weekend. As such, there was a 10-minute wait to check-in, despite three staff members assisting guests with check-in. I was speaking to Augustine in German and two women in front of me turned around and started speaking to me in German. They also lived in LA and came up to escape the heat.
With the hotel full and me using a free night award, I was not offered an upgrade. Base rooms at this hotel have a mountain view, so there was no ocean view for this stay. I was thankful to get a room with two queen beds and a crib, which gave us more than enough room to spread out.
Parking
Parking is free right now for Globalist members on all stays and all World of Hyatt members on award stays, but what I love about this hotel is how easy it is to save on parking fees and park on the street. With the hotel located in somewhat of a residential neighborhood there is plenty of street parking.
Guest Room
Our guest room, 1182 in the main building, smelled like a new house. With fresh carpet, new furniture, and new paint the guest rooms are no longer tired. There’s also a split-level air conditioning/heater in each room, though the weather was a pleasant 78ºF with no a/c needed.
Beds are extremely comfortable and the bedding and pillows helped us all to sleep through the night.
My son got a kick out of hiding in the caned closet, which looked like a confessional booth!
Just inside the room was the wash area with a sink and mirror along with a refrigerator and Keurig coffee maker. Inside the bathroom was a toilet and shower-tub combo. The Mexican ceramic tiles gave the wash area and bathroom a strong color contrast and I loved the clothes hook, which reminded me of the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris.
View outside:
As you can tell by the look on my face, it’s not easy to blog when you don’t get a suite upgrade. Little Augustine was up before the sun even rose…
Note the hotel has several buildings, not just one. I have stayed in all of them over the years and do not have a preference.
Breakfast at Café Lido
Costa, the hotel’s main restaurant, was closed due to the pandemic. But Café Lido, the poolside bar, was open. With only three outdoor tables (poolside dining is also available), there was about an hour wait for a table. Breakfast is served daily from 8:00AM to 11:00AM (then all-day dining is available until 8:00PM).
Here’s the current menu:
As a Globalist, breakfast was included with my stay. At least it was supposed to be (see below). I’ve got to say, the breakfast was decent, but not great. The fried eggs, potatoes, and bacon were okay, but not anything special and a bit too greasy. The avocado toast was good, but the green drink was not properly blended and still had a lot of kale floating around in it. I would like to see omelets or waffles on the menu. And look at that anemic fruit plate for $12. Seriously? Granted, the menu was decent for poolside fare, but if that is going to be the hotel’s only restaurant for the foreseeable future, I’d like to see some additional choices.
Furthermore, the service was disappointing. Not so much in attitude, as our server and the manager were very kind and gracious. But attentiveness was lacking. We were ignored until I flagged down the waiter. I immediately ordered coffee and when it never showed, I had to remind him. The coffee then immediately showed up…lukewarm. The same thing happened the second time I ordered coffee. Also, no eating utensils were provided until I reminded the waiter that we needed them (minutes after the food was served). The pool area was packed and perhaps three servers was not enough, but I’d like to see more attentive service going forward. The good news is that I think this is an easy problem to fix.
The coffee, by the way, was excellent. I was happy to see the Spearhead Coffee on the menu.
Hopefully Costa will re-open soon…
Pool
The pool remains open during the pandemic. Guests are asked to space out, which most did a good job of. Few people wear a mask in the pool area. The jacuzzi is closed.
Fitness Center
Under state law, indoor fitness centers in California are currently closed. That meant no indoor workout, though I noticed the hotel has updated its fitness equipment with new machines.
Thin Walls…
You may have read about my incident with my neighbors here. That was a sad way to end my stay…
Just be warned that the walls are thin. That is not a dealbreaker for me, but do note I could clearly hear the telephone conversations of my neighbors and they could certainly hear my baby crying.
> Read More: My Next Door Hotel Neighbor Bangs On My Wall Then Claims I Should Be Put In Jail…
Billing Issue
Upon checkout I was told my balance was clear. No invoice was printed and I signed nothing. But when I got home I noticed an invoice in my inbox that included the breakfast charge. Sure enough, it posted to my credit card a day later.
I have reached out to the hotel’s accounting department twice this week to resolve the issue and have not heard back. I hate to involve the General Manager with this, but I guess I’ll have to.
Safety
With the exception of the pool area, people did wear masks around the property. At all times during my stay, I noted that every staff member was masked (with mask over their nose).
CONCLUSION
There’s some rough edges this hotel still needs to resolve and I am fully confident the new GM will address the issues competently. Even though this is not my favorite hotel, it is convenient and in an ideal location. That means I will continue to come back, as I have over the years. Santa Barbara is a lovely city to spend a day or weekend or week in, one of the many treasures of California. This hotel is part of the deal for me.
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How would you review the Mar Monte Hotel?
Hey Matthew,
Great review. Thanks for posting it. I’m staying here for my first time in 2 weeks from now. I’m also a Globalist and hopefully don’t have to hassle with the credit for it. Was there any limit on the breakfast? I see you had your wife and child with you. I was just wondering if there was any cap on it. The food actually doesn’t look bad.
Couldn’t you just let your Globalist concierge deal with it? I do that when I have issues with getting reimbursed for a charge like this and she always comes through.
Thanks again for posting it. Let us know once the breakfast charge issue gets resolved. Thanks.
I so rarely use my concierge, but that is a good point. I was not told there was a limit. As you can see, we didn’t order all that much. Overall, I think you’ll like this hotel. Nothing in this review will keep me from returning.
Nice, looks like the gym has multiple Pelotons.
Involving the GM over a simple billing issue. You should be put in jail!
Hello Joe Chivas, please make a sign about this for the next protest you attend
They are mostly peaceful protests.
Fantastic review, thank you for the details and many pictures!
Great review. I always wondered what this hotel looked like. Even though I lived in Santa Barbara for 11 1/2 years and then Ventura another 10 I never went inside. Only saw it when driving by or going to the Santa Barbara Zoo.
Matthew, have you been to the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort? I went there many times when it was known by the original Fess Parker name but only to have breakfast or lunch. Such a nice place.
I have not been to the Hilton, though I passed it on my most recent trip. Do you recomemnd chekcing it out? I only have Gold status with Hilton.
Thanks for this review! It’s a nice hotel and I will put it on my list for future visits.
Last night enjoyed lovely Happy Hour evening with friends in the beautiful pool area across from the ocean–Cafe Lido–Wow! Food was excellent, warm and professional service Isai — we’ll be going back soon 😉
Interesting, I stayed there around the same time as you. The hallway leading to our room smelled like piss for our whole stay. We were in a separate building with a suite. A/c did not work very well. The bathroom only had a drain in the middle of the room ala Europe so you got to slip and slide when getting ready. Shower had zero shelves so your soap and shampoo sat on the floor. Really reminded me of spring break in Rocky Point 20 years ago. Walls had flaking paint. I’d never go back there. Oh and my fruit plate had about half as much as yours. This room had supposedly been remodeled.