Inn by the Harbor - Hotel in Santa Barbara - 433 W Montecito St, USA

We had a great stay at this property over the New Year's holiday. What drew us to this hotel was the location, free parking, and complimentary breakfast & wine reception. While it's not within walking distance of any of the destinations we were interested in visiting, it was still very, very close. And not having to pay $30-$40 parking each night allowed us to spend more money on meals, attractions, etc..,. The bottle of bubbly waiting for us in the fridge was a welcome surprise. The staff was friendly, the room was clean and the bed was extremely comfortable. We were very impressed with the breakfast the next morning--it was much more than we were expecting. Hot oatmeal, hardboiled eggs, cereal, delicious pastries--we enjoyed it all. And I very much enjoyed the merlot they poured at the evening wine reception. We took full advantage of the amenities--my kids even went in the pool. The hot tub is small, be warned, but overall the property is charming and cozy. There were all sorts of travelers staying at the property but the majority seemed to be families and couples. We would absolutely stay here again.

Lovely boutique style motel close to everything, exceptional service. This was my first visit to Santa Barbara (for business) and The Inn made for a lovely and affordable stay. They had a complimentary lemonade/wine/cheese/cracker/cookie 'happy hour' each day from 430-630, which really helped me get through the day, coming in from work, having a snack, and getting ready to go to dinner. There was champagne in my mini fridge when I arrived. Breakfast every morning was also good. The rooms are small but clean and quiet with basic amenities. I would not hesitate to recommend.

The rooms were nice, not anything special but rather nice. The service was amazing and they gave us a complimentary bottle of champagne. The breakfast was simple but nice, and the cheese and wine in the lobby was nice to sit and relax.

Good location, chatty and helpful staff. Cold buffet breakfast was good, food was replenished often. They had storms the day before so our carpet was wet and a little smelly. A lovely bottle of champagne when we arrived was a lovely gesture. Would stay again.

We spent a few nights here while visiting SB and were very pleased with our experience. Our first floor King room was very roomy and clean. The staff are very attentive and the breakfast was surprisingly good, given our medium expectation. The common grounds were lovely and spotless. It was a bit of a hike to State Street and the Pasea - about the same distance to the harbor restaurants. Don’t miss visiting the Mission and, yes, we would stay here again

Our check in experience was fine - however when I booked the room I asked for an upstairs room as I am a light sleeper. They said an upstairs room was unavailable upon our arrival. We could hear the people in the room above us, and they did wake us up every day at 7 AM (although if you are used to apartment living, may not be a big deal). The room itself was fine - bed was comfortable but the pillows were pretty cheap. The shower had almost no pressure and the water heat wasn't great. ||I think its probably hard to go wrong with location in Santa Barbara but this is on the fringes of the popular area (about a 15 minute walk). As several have mentioned there is a run down looking apartment that shares a parking lot with the motel. There is also a few homeless people scattered around the area as well.||If you are looking for a romantic getaway as I've seen some people say they tried to do at this place, I wouldn't count on this place. There is also a lovely sign warning people not to get in the pool if they've had diarrhea in the last 2 weeks - can only imagine what led to having to put that up!||As far as the harbor goes, this is nowhere near the harbor in relation to other hotel/motels/B&B's in the area. We paid several hundred a night for a 4 day stay. Although as I say it was a fine experience, we would look elsewhere the next time.

Let me preference by saying that I am not a paid reviewer but my own REAL experience. ||The place itself is quaint, very clean well maintained however the location was not exactly where you wanted to vacation. It shares a driveway with the back of an apartment building and a school field. When we arrived, there were two individuals fixing their cars out of their car port. Not something you want to see when you want a romantic weekend away right outside of your bedroom door. The outside of the building can also use some sprucing up. Perhaps some new doors and windows.||When we first walked into our "queen size" room you can tell they did a partial renovation but they didn't go 100%. When we walked in we noticed that the front room was something from the 60s, old carpets, ceilings bubbled, old shelving and flat closet doors. The bedroom was pretty but soooo small and the bed went right up against the sliding doors. ||As for the size of the bed, it was classified as a queen size but it was actually a full size. That's right, we were two grown people expected to share a full size bed that is meant for one person. Don't get me wrong, there was no way they were going to fit a queen sized bed into that room so that's all the space would allow but they should have been up front. ||The people at the desk were very nice and very knowledgeable of where to go and dine, a big plus. Unfortunately, not big enough for a return.

We stayed two nights at this end. The service was very good. The afternoon wine and snacks were nice. The breakfast was good. The room was ok to good. However, the photos on the website look better than the actual inn. It is basically an older renovated motel than is nice now