The Upham - Hotel in Santa Barbara - 1404 De La Vina St, USA

This hotel is the reason the love of my life got run over by a car and went missing. The only cause of this was because of Bill Bradford (the manager of the upham hotel) he tried picking up my scared shelter dog to throw him out of the hotel. His collar came off in fear, and he ran for his life out the door, and other onlookers witnessed this tragedy and saw him get hit by a car. The Upham Hotel has caused me one of the biggest heartbreaks of my life. The manager's excuse is that dogs are not allowed but I have a licensed service dog letter, and the day before the girls at the reception knew of this and so let us check us in.. Not only did the dog hater Bill Bradford, a subpar excuse of a manager cackling through my tears. He also ripped off the "Missing Dog" posters that countless people on Facebook Groups helped put up and be on the lookout, including the 200 ones that I printed while running up and down on the streets for what felt like agonising finity. He removed the ones close to the hotel. Additionally, there was no heating/AC the rooms were not historical in the sense that you felt closer to a previous decade; only in the sense that all the utilises were outdated and all the rooms were overpriced and the breakfast was sickening. There are MANY wonderful hotels in Santa Barbara and luxurious ones in Montecito. I would not waste one cent on this hotel.

Super quiet and peaceful place. It has small little buildings that have rooms. It feels like a personal getaway and if like we were the only ones here. The room we had was small and personal but it has a private balcony where we sat and ate and talked. The receptionist Natalie was super friendly and even made me come out of my shell. You have to stay here at least once. We slept like babies since it was so quiet and didn't even know anyone else was around. I will definitely come back since this is not a large hotel complex with a busy and loud experience.

I recently stayed at the Upham Hotel in Santa Barbara, and unfortunately, my experience left much to be desired. It's with disappointment that I share this critical review of my stay, as I had expected more from this supposedly historic and charming establishment. The cleanliness of the room was far from satisfactory. The shower in our room was plagued with mold, which is not only unsightly but also poses health risks. Mold in a hotel room is simply unacceptable, as it reflects a lack of proper maintenance and cleanliness standards. Our sheets and duvet on the bed had massive yellow stains and left me wondering about the overall hygiene of the room. Another major issue we encountered was the noise disturbance. The hotel failed to inform us in advance about the ongoing construction outside our room window. Waking up to the sound of construction work was not the peaceful and serene experience I had hoped for when booking this stay. This lack of transparency regarding the construction was a major inconvenience and disruption to our vacation. To make matters worse, one morning, a trash truck arrived at 5 am, and its noise was nothing short of deafening. This early wake-up call was unexpected and extremely unpleasant. It's baffling that the hotel did not take measures to minimize this disturbance for its guests, such as scheduling trash pickups at more reasonable hours. While the Upham Hotel may have a reputation for being a historic and charming property, my recent stay was far from charming. The issues with cleanliness, noise, and a lack of advanced warning about construction and early morning disruptions greatly impacted my overall experience. For the price paid, I expected a much more pleasant and comfortable stay. Sadly, I cannot recommend the Upham Hotel in its current state to anyone seeking a peaceful and enjoyable stay in Santa Barbara. It is my hope that the management takes these concerns seriously and works to improve the overall guest experience.

I’d like to address our recent stay at this hotel. We were in Santa Barbara for UCSB parents weekend and stayed Saturday and Sunday nights November 4th and 5th. The property is quite lovely, but the parking situation is not! Disappointing that they only have parking for approx 50% of guests, but we made it work. We do have one MAJOR complaint and it’s a doozie. The first morning we got up and tried to shower but there was ZERO hot water. I took a freezing cold quick shower and shivered for a good half hour afterwards. My boyfriend opted to just skip it. We thought that surely we had ill timed our bathing after all the other guests had used the hot water and let it go at that… we knew they were at capacity. The NEXT morning, however, I attempted to shower again, anticipating a much more pleasant experience but no…. once again, there was NO HOT WATER. I was absolutely stunned as we knew that the hotel was hardly occupied at this point. I mentioned the problem to the front desk as I was completing my over $800 payment and the gal simply shrugged stating that I should have mentioned it to the staff. Yes… I guess I didn’t think to run out to the front desk naked, wrapped in a towel and shivering to discuss the problem. I was astonished that nothing was done to appease my complaint, nor did the front desk clerk even seem to care whatsoever. I would have certainly appreciated a refund of sorts, and I do believe that is in order. I emailed the innkeeper… zero response. No email no phone call… nothing. Also the garbage collection at 5:30am or whatever it was and the following carts or cans past our window was lovely. The breakfast was a sad display of dry pastries wrapped in plastic. We were in the Lincoln Building, room 20. I do not and cannot recommend

The front desk person greeted me pleasantly and quickly assisted. My wife and I found the room after some assistance from others as we were on the second floor. The afternoon wine is a nice offering although the choices were a bit pedestrian. Morning breakfast is also welcome but also just an average cold continental one. Maybe just because it’s Santa Barbara, but more than $300 for this hotel is too high.

Classic hotel, perfectly located for us as we were going to a concert at the nearby Granada theater and we could walk there. We have stayed here many times in the past. The restaurant is also very good and we recommend it. The beds are super comfortable. It is a very old hotel! Very historic. One drawback is the breakfast offered. It could be much improved - for the price we paid (440 a night for a king). Old pastries, packaged hard boiled eggs. May I suggest some chopped fruit, maybe scrambled eggs? I understand COVID is a concern, but still?

Staying here I write this. First, Bill (the GM) is a class act, friendly, courteous, accommodating and a professional who runs a tight ship. Second, the property itself is centrally located while still tucked away in the quiet parts of DTSB. A block or two away and you’re walking State Street if that’s your thing - which is a nice thing to do since they’ve made it a pedestrian only street. I’ll report more after we conclude our stay, if Bill, his staff and the property in general are top notch and just a great overall vibe.

I loved my guest experience at the Upham this last weekend. Having worked in Hospitality for many years, I was so pleased that the team here "hit all the high notes" and their "bedside manner" was wonderful. In my experience, in the last couple of years, hotels and restaurants offer hit-and-miss service so it's lovely to stay for 2 nights and have both everything I need and a warm, welcoming staff to offer kindness and great service.||Steve was at the desk when we checked in, and took excellent care of us. Natalie and Calissa (I believe are their names) were helpful and attentive on our way out Sunday morning. I was very appreciative of everyone who took care of us!||We thought the Bistro in house was excellent, with great food and wonderful service. In town we also liked Bouchon, the Santa Barbara Public Market, and Goat Tree.||We would definitely return! The grounds are beautiful and we had everything we needed for a well-deserved, relaxing weekend.|