Mar Monte Hotel, in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt

I am sad and embarrassed for this hotel. Stayed 8/20-23. The only good interactions with staff were the valets. Everything else, and i mean everything, was a complete disappointment. The staff also signed for and lost an important package. Sure mistakes happen but the complete indifference about it has been unlike anything I’ve experienced in my 51 years of travel. I’ve had to call Hyatt all week to determine how they will remedy their employee signing for a package and “losing it” not an hour later. A week later still no word.

My husband and I stayed and it was lovely. Super cute with a comfy bed. Right across from East Beach. Make sure there’s a tag on the water bottles. There weren’t any on ours so I thought they were complimentary with the room. I did not find out until I checked my credit card transactions a few days after we checked out and I was charged for the water. There was no signage to indicate they were for sale. However, once I spoke with the guest services, they did credit my card.

This resort, on a quiet strip across from the Santa Barbara Beach, is a hidden gem. Hospitality and cuisine are delightful. The architecture and design feel like old world charm. We didn’t even go into town to dine, as the food was so good in the hotel’s restaurants. Vaket parking is a little pricey, but the service is outstanding and speedy. It’s a bit off the main drag, but we found it relaxing and preferable.

Struttura con ottima location comoda e di gusto

The Mar Monte Hotel triple billed me for my stay. After the first night (I was there for three nights for a wedding), my credit card company notified me of irregular charges. At that point I had two pending charges for the full amount of the stay. When I went to the front desk I was told that it was an "authorization charge"... At this point I had been double billed. I asked the desk not to run my card again. The next night I saw that not only were the charges still there but that I had been billed AGAIN! I checked with the desk and asked for an itemized receipt of the charges and was told that they could not give me a receipt for those charges. The desk manager is Luciano, and his recommendation was to "trust him", this after I had over $5,000 charged to my credit card for a stay that totaled 3 nights. After speaking with the other 30+ people that had flown in to this conceited hotel for the wedding, we discovered that many other guests had been similarly charged and that the desk had said that the third round of billing in full (which occured after many of us asked the desk to stop. running. our. cards.) looked different (the third round was broken down into two smaller amounts) because their system had maxed out the credit limit. When another member of the wedding party asked what that meant exactly, the desk clarified that they were running into the maximum amount that the system was allowed to bill a guest in one day. So while I was there for a family wedding I had to spend time away from my family filing fraud reports with my credit card company while my travel card was frozen because the Mar Monte seriously thinks that "authorization charge" means take the full bill and tack that onto someone's credit card THREE times. Seriously the rate for the wedding block of rooms was $479 per night and I was there three nights. There is no way that you should ever have charged $5,122.91 to my card. Thankfully the credit card stuff got cleared up on my end after the trip but I was traveling to a family wedding with my wife and two young children and the card we were traveling on got locked up because of either ineptitude or attempted fraud on the part of the Mar Monte. And when I asked for help, I was told to "trust" the same crew that did this in the first place all while being denied a print out of what the "authorization charges" were. That was just the issues with billing. Look this is a charming historic building but for those rates, I'd expect handrails to not feel sticky, carpets to look like they weren't installed 40 years ago and not cleaned. Apparently in California cob webs and spider webs in light fixtures are protected ecosystems because they were everywhere. It looked like a hotel that HAD been an extremely ritzy place at one point and has slowly been living off the royalties that its one hit wonder made back in the 80's and now it struggles to maintain the palace it bought when it first signed its record deal. Our microfridge smelled like a biology lab, water pressure was at conservation levels so it was barely trickling out. But after the stellar service I got from the desk where I was either told I'd have to wait to speak to accounting, denied receipts, or just told to trust you, I frankly didn't want to talk to you guys about anything that might require you to get off your high horse and actually do something to help a guest. My biggest positive for this hotel is that it showed that despite California acting like it's better than everyone else sometimes, you have the same issues as any other state might have. Congratulation Mar Monte, you are overpriced mediocrity. I hope you smell the Santa Barbara Zoo every time the wind shifts (it's a really nice Zoo and I recommend visiting. My kids loved it and it's less than a mile from this dump. But it does have large animals.)

Overall a very nice experience if you get the right room! You might want to be purposeful in asking questions about room size and view. The location and the vibe are wonderful. The little pool is nice... kind of old school but befitting of the classic Santa Barbara style of this old hotel.

The location is perfect and the hotel interiors was sample in a good way. The lobby and the setting area at the pergola was great. The room was very good . Everything was there. Only one issue the Air conditioner sound was very high and need fixation. The value was great compared to the location and services. Another issue , i was expecting that i will hace a self park spot. But this is not a big deal as i found a parking just beside the hotel.

Had a great time. Nice clean room. Chill pool area. Proximity to beach. Easy free bike and beach chair rentals. Great spot!

The location is a bit far from State Street but can't beat the beach at this end of town. Walkable but would suggest using the bikes. It's a beautiful hotel and fits the Santa Barbara aesthetic in so many ways. Pool was great and the pool bar is nice. Would avoid the restaurant in the hotel and go some place else for meals. The rooms are well appointed and tastefully decorated. Could definitely stay closer to down town for the same price and probably will next time.

Beautiful facility, friendly and helpful staff, would stay here again! We stayed one night on our way from Nor Cal to San Diego and it was a great spot to pause.

This property is absolutely wonderful. The location is great; the staff is great; and the property itself is amazing. On a roadtrip with my 22 year-old daughter and really enjoyed time on the property, a bery short walk across the street to the beach, and then we walked up to the pier and downtown area . We can't wait to come back again and stay longer. A truly magical place!

Paulina was wonderful, thank you so much for all your help, we will def be back again!

This review happened in August 2026. My wife and I were visiting Santa Barba, CA for the Spanish Days festival. It was our first time going. We stayed at the Mar Monte Hotel for 4 days (Wen-Sun). Everything about this hotel was perfect, from its location, staff, to the restaurants at the hotel. The hotel is very beautiful and located right across the beach and close to the pier and State Street, so it's located close to everything you want to see and do. Our room was perfect and our balcony faced the ocean. Every morning my wife and I would take out morning coffee on the balcony and look out to the ocean. The room was large and very comfortable; it had a refrigerator and housekeeping serviced the room daily. The staff was very friendly and helpful, and they check in on you regularly. We had the breakfast plan without stay, and it was well worth the cost. We had breakfast daily and it was great from the options to the quality of the foods. We had lunch and dinner once on the property and it was also amazing. Cafe Lido is well worth your money if you want to eat at the hotel. It was better than some of the local spots we eat at in town and on the pier. The food tasted great, was fresh and high quality. We loved or experience at the Mar Monte Hotel. We highly recommend you give them a try when you are visiting Santa Barbar. We will be defiantly be staying here again.

Easy walk to the beach and zoo. Great for our family vacation with a short trip to State St and the pier. The waves were not huge and made playing in the surf a lot of fun.

My wife and I had a lovely stay. The Costa restaurant and bar are both excellent, with beautiful views of the beach and ocean just across the street. The food was so great! E ate dinner and two breakfasts there.
Our room was large and comfortable. We had a patio and could sit looking at the sparkling ocean all day!
The service personnel were uniformly friendly, helpful, and responsive. All in all, we had a very relaxing time!

Beautiful hotel, run by friendly, efficient staff, who genuinely care about creating a great experience. Located across the street from the ocean, great views, cool old styled rooms, and great food at the restaurant.

Nice clean rooms. Great breakfast. Good value for the money. Nice location with great amenities around and easy access to beach.

I came up to Santa Barbara from LA to participate in the Fiesta with some Santa Barbara friends. The hotel was spectacular and well located for the celebration.
My room was inviting .

We had an ocean view room with a great balcony. Beautiful and quiet, large and comfortable. Nicely updated - even the shaving mirror was terrific.