Santa Cruz Inn Riverside - Motel in Riverside - 3425 Market St, USA

Positive: Historically significant in the riverside area. Close to the mission inn that was the same architecture and designer. Negative: Staff rude and very upfront about there rules that don't jive with the reservation service. Negative: ""

Staff was rude and made us wait at check-in with rules that were unnecessary and not discussed to us apon reservation

I really wanted to like this motel. This is a super cool historic structure really close to the convention center. I think many of the rooms are different, I thought I was booking a normal room, but it was almost a small apartment with a kitchenette area and small balcony. This place could be fantastic and cater to the convention center crowd with a little more care.||||The entrance to my room was inside of a building. The door COULD have been shut and accessible only with a room key. But it never was. So this wide open door led me to find a homeless man sleeping outside of my room at 7:30 am as I left for my conference. I told the front desk person, and she sent someone to send him away, but her manner suggested this had happened before, and they’ve just chosen not to prevent it.||||One of the hallway windows seemed to be stuck open.||||I understand this is a historic building, so the windows are OLD. They don’t seem to block out any street noise. I wear ear plugs to sleep anyway, so this wasn’t a deal breaker.||||The smell of cleaning products is strong. I could tell something had been cleaned, but there was still mysterious hair in the bathroom. Also, the towels are scratchy, thin and could stand to be a bit bigger. The sheets were scratchy too, luckily I travel with my own pillow whenever I can, so I didn’t have to scratch my face against theirs.||||The parking lot is tiny & street parking is oddly restricted. I felt very lucky to have secured parking. This may be a major deal breaker for the convention goers and it doesn’t seem like there is an easy fix.||||I want to cheer for the little guy and people preserving historic buildings, but in this case, I just can’t.

We stayed in room 118, which was cute and not connected to the other rooms in the hotel. ||||The Pros.||||It was super clean, spacious, had lots of character and was well-equipped with a fridge, microwave and a mini breakfast nook with stools and chairs. The beds were clean and comfortable. The bathroom was clean and equipped with towels. The parking situation didn't affect us at all, because we arrived before check in. The location is well within walking distance to everything. They let us check in a half hour early, which was appreciated. ||||The cons.||||1. A call from the front desk after checking in to ask how many people were in the room. It clearly stated in my reservation how many people would be in our party. I have never been asked that by any other establishment upon checking in.||||2. Some freakin' dude with a lawn blower decided that 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning was a great time to maintain the grounds. He made sure to circle our room a few times, which woke us up. Check out time is 11 a.m. It is RUDE and INCONSIDERATE to do lawn work while guests are sleeping! Wait until after check out time when you have a THREE HOUR WINDOW to work with.||||3. The soap that was provided was VERY CHEAP and no shampoo was provided.||||All in all, it was okay. But at $125.00, I expected a bit more consideration for guests.

The staff wasn't the friendliest or most accommodating, but the room we had was very large and interesting. It looked like an old convent room or something like that. There were small stained glass windows and an old fireplace in our room. There aren't enough mirrors in the rooms though, only the one in the bathroom. The beds were nothing special, but fine for one night. Riverside has close to nothing going on, so you probably won't be in this hotel for very long anyways.

We were in town for the night during the Christmas events. All the other hotels were way over priced. We told the man we wanted a CLEAN room, and I got CLEAN! The room was on the top floor. It had a kitchen, with fridge, and microwave, there was a balcony, a separate dressing room and a very large bathroom. ENDLESS hot water was fantastic!! The building is a little old and the windows didn't close. That bothered us none as it was 70 that night and -15 back home. It was loud a tad loud when the traffic picked up in the morning. My suggestions would be this: better pillows, shampoo in the shower, and a little chair on the balcony. Otherwise the man at the desk was super nice and the charm of this Inn would be what brings us back again! It was so refreshing to get away from the stale cookie cutter hotels.

The room we were in was recently remodeled and was awesome. Very nice finishing, plentiful & easy access plugs for charging and very,very clean. We stayed one night in a Motel 6 and found this place the next day. Will absolutely stay here again. After reading previous reviews, this place clearly has new owners or new mngt.

Despite the quiet, peaceful atmosphere and cleanliness, I felt as though the hospitality from the front desk was rather lackluster, almost as if they didn't appreciate their job enough to even crack a smile for my patronage. Having done a little more of that, and they might've received a 4 or 5 star rating from me.