We make frequent trips throughout the year to go to the SC beach and boardwalk. We always stay at the Hampton when we go. It's a Hilton chain hotel so you pretty much know what to expect: a dependable, reliable, and clean room (with free breakfast). In Santa Cruz, you essentially have a bunch of inns and motels that are privately run and you have no real clue as to what to expect. This member of the Hilton chain takes away the guesswork. Front desk staff were friendly and accommodating (although I also think it doesn't hurt to be a Hilton gold member). There does look to be some riff-raff lurking around the hotel and the next door Denny's, although we've stayed there about 4 times in the last year and have had no problems in terms of folks breaking into our car (despite the prominently displayed signs outside the hotel that say the hotel is not responsible for damages to the cars in the parking lot). The only downside would be that you have to drive to the boardwalk and park down there. The flip side to this is the closer you get to the boardwalk, the more prevalent the questionable characters become.

Our son goes to UCSC so this is the 4rd or 5th stay in SC in a year. I've posted a few reviews and I guess this is as good as it gets.

But why??The Hampton Inn is always rated #1 or 2 but that's not saying much for the area. Santa Cruz has a lot to offer a visitor..... couldn't it support some nice accommodations?

Not located anywhere special, it's on a busy intersection of Ocean Ave. and highway 1 but it's convenient to the University.

We had to interrupt the front desk personnel from her personal phone call when we arrived. She was not enthused about the room choices. We had request the quietest location on our reservation and she shrugged saying "well, they're all noisy." It's a relatively small hotel but she could not recall if the one we had been assigned had finished it's renovation. Here's chocolate to say "sorry" she said. The parking lot was full of empty liquor bottles and trash in addition to the dumpsters from the renovation.

The room was relatively clean but the carpet was sticky in spots. It was surprisingly quiet from outside noise but we did hear diners in the lobby around breakfast.in the morning.

The pool was laughably small but we had no plans to use it anyway.

Breakfast was muffins, fresh fruit, fruit salad and something cheesy in the warming dish. About the caliber of th Denny's next door.

There was really nothing wrong with our visit but nothing spectacular either. It served our purpose and we might return sometime.

My question is......... why aren't there better options in the area?? I'll keep trying or maybe this will prompt me to open my own!!!

My wife, 21-month old son, and I needed a place to stay in Santa Cruz for one night over President's Day weekend.

It was hard to find a hotel - everything was booked up. We did a search and nothing looked good - most of the places that showed availability were cited as being run down, not clean, unsafe....several were even cited as having bed bugs!

When we came across the Hampton Inn, it was a big relief - a room opened up just prior to our heading out for the weekend.

The reviews on Trip Advisor were good - and I can corroborate these other reviews from personal experience.

We had a king size bed - cost $139/night + tax. The hotel is located just as you get off Route 17 coming into Santa Cruz. The location isn't perfect - you're a little bit away from downtown and the boardwalk....so you'll need your car to get around, but hey, that's California.... And the atmosphere is generic/anywhere America - you don't necessarily get the ambience of being in Santa Cruz.

That said, the hotel is new, very clean, the room was large, and the bed was comfortable. Lots of pillows - even a lumbar pillow. Nice clean bathroom and the shower was hot with good water pressure. Furniture was new as well... And everything well taken care of.

And Hampton Inn is a good deal. You get free Internet (so I can check those work emails and Yelp for local restaurants), they have an indoor pool (small, but perfect for little kids), and an extensive breakfast buffet. Yes, the food isn't organic or local - it's very standard American supermarket stuff....but it was very clean, very well attended (the person managing the buffet kept coming out to refill items and keep everything clean), and very convenient. Again, with kids, the less hassle the better. They even brought us a high chair...

And the managers both in the evening and the morning were VERY friendly and nice.

All in all, a very well managed property and a pleasure to stay in. You won't be coming for atmosphere - it's corporate - but you will be well taken care of and have a reliablly good stay, And again, when you've got kids, you don't need any extra challenges...

So all in all, strong recommendation. And I'd be inclined to stay at a Hampton Inn when we need to travel to other places...

We enjoyed our one night stay at the Hampton. It was extremely clean and pleasant. The hotel staff were particularly helpful and very nice. There is a small indoor pool which was very nice also. I would definitely stay there again.