Check-in was a breeze. The room was spotless, though my principle traveling companion thought it was a bit cramped, in spite of my suggestion that we'd been seeing a lot of suites of late. The writing table had two chairs, and it appeared to be set up for computer work. The beds were very comfortable, but the light between them was malfunctioning with no ability for just one of the two lights to be on. There was an offscreen channel guide to help navigate through the local array of about forty-five channels, and the flat screen always came on to promote the handful of 'pay for somethings' available. Somehow I don't think the awful range on the remote was meant to drive the consumer to buy that stuff, but the battery cover was screwed on, and my self-esteem was too low to storm down to the desk demanding my rights; so I spent my stay in sunny Goleta mashing my finger pads to mush pushing on the buttons. I'm sure the last time I felt so secure standing in a motel shower was either in another room there or in another Hilton property in a different time zone.
The complementary continental breakfast was organized and extensive, including fresh fruit, and I'm always noticing there how groups are so at ease lingering about. Also, fruit and coffee are are out all day and into the evening.
Check-out no longer requires a trip to the front desk, though that is where the complementary getaway snack bags are kept.

It's funny, but it doesn't seem to take much to change a decent Hampton Inn experience into a bad one. This property is clean, the rooms are spacious and the breakfast is, well a Hampton Inn breakfast (which is to say not bad for a comp. breakfast). The staff were amongst the best, most helpful I've encountered at a Hampton Inn.

So how comes it got an average rating? Well, for starters, including Santa Barbara in the name is a bit confusing - the hotel is a few miles from Santa Barbara and it's situated in an area that is somewhat different. Then there's the air conditioning - one of our room neighbours was obviously feeling very hot and had their air conditioning on high. That's fine, but we got the benefit of listening to it grind away all night. Never mind, if you can't sleep you can surf the web - except that the advertised High Speed Internet is pretty bloody slow.

I like the Hampton Inn brand, and I guess I have come to expect something a bit better - on a positive note, the team there was very friendly and very good.

Have stayed at the Hampton Inn in Goleta a few times over the last few years, most recently in October 2012. It's a 3 story hotel, in very good shape. Only a few miles from the West Entrance to the UCSB campus. On the far southwest side of downtown Goleta, with nearby gas stations, small restaraunts, and a 7/11. Rooms are clean and good sized; beds/linens are very comfy, like almost all Hilton related hotels. Has a small clean (and mostly unused) pool, and a very small fitness room. Parking is free and plentiful. Prices are high for a basic 3 star hotel, typically $160-230 per night, but high hotel prices are the norm in this area. Free wifi works wells. Free USA Today newspapers in the lobby. The free Breakfast has both hot and cold items, reasonable selection of things; good enough, but nothing too great. The front desk folks are very helpful, and the check in/out is very quick. I would rate the Pacifica Inn (just a few block down the road) as slightly better at about the same prices. But I'm an avid collector of HHonors points, so I try to stay at Hiltons when I can.

Just got home from a one night stay in the Santa Barbara area for our anniversary. It was a busy weekend in SB due to students moving in on campus and the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. We were lucky to find a room in Goleta. I was worried about not being in Santa Barbara proper but it's a short 5 minute drive. We were able to check in early and careful consideration was taken by the front desk staff in choosing our room. We mentioned it was our anniversary to Yvonne and Casarah (front desk staff) and, after going to the pool, came back to champagne and a basket of goodies with a sweet handwritten note from them. We had a slight parking issue which they also fixed quickly. We've stayed in many 4 star hotels that were nowhere nearly as clean, staff not as accomodating and food not as tasty. We had a very nice time and will definitely be staying here again.