Solvang, an hour or so north east of Santa Barbara is known as Little Denmark. Lovely spot. Lots on good wineries that are easy to get to far outweigh a town that is seemingly aimed purely at tourists. They do not let you forget you are in, apparently, "Little Denmark". Still. Mrs Eyes Wide Open and this reviewer went to Solvang for a wedding, and picked this hotel mainly for its location to middle of town but also, relevantly, for its reviews on Tripadvisor. Tip? To get here, US Route 101 north from Santa Barbara is quicker than the smaller, more trafficked, US Route 154, tho - in small parts - the 154 has some OK views.
The hotel itself was, in this experienced reviewers opinion, rather underwhelming. I read the reviews, and I see the positives, but quite frankly, there is some large gaps in this hotel's resume. Especially in this price point, which was eye watering relative to the quality it delivered. Usual format for my reviews; the room itself, the good, the not so good and the conclusion; We would not return and urge others to very picky about which rooms upfront. Some tips below..
The room itself? Normal. Average. Flat screen tv, decent selection of in-room TV channels (different languages), in room a/c & heating, fridge in room that was empty (a good thing in my view) Water was free (funny how that is a perk, though probably because it was sponsored by the local casino). Wall 'art' looked like a piece of balsa wood though the attempt at a feature wall was noted. Power points plentiful, tho not in the most useful places. Bathroom/Shower was modern and had good pressure: the room we had had two sinks, with one having a make up mirror. There was in room iron and board, tho no in room safe. Alarm clock had iPod/iPhone charging (not 5g compatible tho).
The good?
1) Free wifi with decent speeds. I have written nearing 40 reviews and this is a pet peeve of mine: this hotel gets it right, tho with this price point per room, you expect it to.
2) Location: as others have mentioned, the hotel is in the middle of town, 20 foot from Copenhagen Street. That said, 'town' is maybe 4 blocks. So walking is not exactly challenging either. In the positives column.
3) If gambling is your thing, there was a shuttle to the casino. Easily accessible.
4) Parking is free and ample. Plenty of parking for people with disabilities too.
The good however, were (far) outweighed by the bad, not all of it the fault of the hotel to be fair, but how they handled it - as other reviewers have commented - badly needs tightening up.
1) Front desk was a very mixed experienced. Check in good, especially so given it was quite late. Check out was nothing special, no questions about the stay etc. Complaining about the 2 yr old screaming at midnight received very short shrift.
2) Re check in request for one king or one queen bed not honored. Other reviews mention this too: We requested but did not receive the room: instead, two double beds. Bed comfort, for this reviewer, as a result was not great. Subjective, agreed, but this reviewer has stayed at plenty of hotels to know.
3) Guest placement: hotels fundamentally know who they are putting in what room. You do not, for example, put a young family with very young children in an interconnecting room. Young children scream. Alot. Inter-connecting rooms have paper thin walls (and these were especially so: you could hear conversations clearly next door). Hotel did not have ear plugs (we checked). And could not move us because, apparently, they were full. A bit better foresight and planning by the hotel would save everyone hassle: simple stuff in this reviewers opinion. We asked to move the following day and hotel management, bluntly put, did not seem to care. And did not offer any options or compensation. Tip? Do NOT stay in one of their interconnected rooms. Ask to move.
4) Room itself was noisy: as other reviews mention, the lobby - bellmen free - is loud. The above said child could be clearly heard screaming before we even got to our ground floor room. And then we discovered it was inter-connecting. Tip? Do NOT stay on the ground floor. Avoid the noise..
5) No 'hassle free' check out. You had to line up, wait, sort it all out and then go. Again, small thing easily fixed.
Conclusion? I can see the merits of the hotel and that is reflected in the positive reviews: that said, those other reviews miss some obvious flaws. Which is why this reviewer would not return. The tips above may remedy some of the issues, which I would head.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
