Harbor Lights Motel

First let me say that I have loved this place and stayed here for years and never had an issue, we have since moved to Santa Cruz county so not a huge need to stay. Unfortunately there is an issue and this is a big one for me. My brother has also stayed here for over 10 years for a getaway. He booked the room months ago. he was told they were doing some renovations and the price may go up. He called a couple of weeks ago to confirm his reservation etc. He was told that the OWNER changed the dates for the season to March 20^th and the rates for the 4 days he was staying was no longer $ 600 but $ 1200. No one called him this was the first he knew of this. He called to try to work something out with the OWNER and would not budge and I spoke to the people that work there, and while they were sympathetic to his situation, there was nothing they could do. I am so disappointed, our mother passed away in February and this would have been a great time for him to have the room he booked and loved one last time at the before price. My point obviously money is more important than people here. I will never send anyone there (which I have in the past). If the OWNER had not arbitrarily changed the dates this would not be a problem. It is always disturbing to see greed take over. That is also a downfall for many that live in that darkness.

My husband and his family have been coming here for over 40 years. We spent this past weekend in Capitola and booked Harbor Lights due to it’s location. As long as you know what you are getting, you shouldn’t be surprised. There is active construction going on, Friday afternoon it was not an issue and did not go on during the weekend. We stayed in the biggest room, 110 on the 3^rd floor. The views can’t be beat. You are maybe 30 steps to the beach and a 2 minute walk to the Village. There are no frills with this motel. The shower is tiny, the toilet is very close to the wall, if you are taller or on the husky side, it won’t be comfortable. The stairwells are narrow and could be dangerous if you do not take it slow, there is no elevator. Not sure what the new construction will bring, we weren’t able to tell from our room. The décor, carpet and kitchen is dated, but fully equipped. Room 110 has a separate bedroom and could probably sleep 6 comfortably. It has a king bed and queen bed with partial divider in the bedroom. The living room has a futon and there was a roll out bed in the closet. This room also has a fire insert and instructions with a clean burning log were left for use. The balcony is where we spent most of our time, views of the Village, beach and Wharf from it. Parking spots are a little tight, not for a full size truck or oversized SUV. With construction, only 4 rooms come with a parking spot.

If you are looking for a wonderful capitola experience, then the harbor lights is where you need to stay. There are so many options when it comes to food places to stay for a weekend get away, but nothing comes close to the heartfelt love that capitola brings.
Harbor lights is an older motel but the rooms are very clean. As of right now they are not updated, like they have that 70s feel to them. But they are currently fully remodeling the rooms, so by summer they should look different.
All rooms come with a little kitchen. I’ve stayed in many rooms here over the years and all the rooms are totally different. None I have stayed in look the same– they all have their own personality. I think that’s a really rad quality. This time we are staying in room 109. It’s on the top floor, but the view we have is to die for. You can see the ocean, the colorful houses, margaritaville too, the wharf! It has 2 sliders and a balcony which is SO cool.
The prices are expensive but honestly, it’s worth it. They have different seasonal packages too. For example, the room for winter is significantly cheaper than in the summer… But if you are only staying for a few nights, the price isn’t bad, probably normal for a Vegas hotel. But you’re by an actual beach and you can see it from your window! Not all rooms have a beach view, but not all rooms have a large kitchen, either. So it really just depends on what you need.
I highly recommend this place to anyone and everyone.

Stayed here this past weekend with my boyfriend for our year anniversary. My parents recommended it because of the view and the price, and I was very happy with our stay! It was so nice having parking, a refrigerator for beer and leftovers, and coffee for a morning on the balcony enjoying the view. One star off because the tv was broken and the noise of the stairs right by our room was a bit loud, but otherwise a really nice getaway from SF. Will be back!
Tip: take the one down so you can stop in Pescadero for some artichoke soup!

***under construction!!! Dont subject yourself to the awful noise. Not a relaxing beach vacation i hoped for! Staying here in Oct 2015. Had 2 nights booked, but checking out a day early, & searching for a new hotel due to the unbearable NOISE (hammering, drilling, banging– starting at 8am!)
The staff called & warned me a couple wks b4 my trip– but I booked this months in advance & took the time off work already. They said the noise should not bother us though! NOT TRUE.
Very disappointed that we now have to pack up & move hotels during our trip!!!
We stayed here this summer, on a holiday wknd, & had a fabulous time & couldnt wait to come back. Our room last time was much nicer than this trip. The appliances are from the 70’s/80’s. Black out curtains are a joke. Sun blares in at 7am. Also im a light sleeper, & the street noise is terrible. ***But u cant beat the location & ocean view. The staff is under par– except the 20 something guy was super nice & helpful. The older ladies– not so much. Also the parking in summer was awful– only some of the rooms get a pkg space. Otherwise good luck finding a space down the street. July was terribly busy– now in October, its abt ¹⁄₃ the business. Parking is now available.
Enjoyed our trip last time. Good deal for what u get. No frills though.
Awful NOISE ruined our trip this time!
Wait until construction is over!

I stayed in early May. It was beautiful! And I mean the views, not the rooms. Yes it is older but we had a great stay! Beach, drinks, food & shopping are all in walking distance & the views cannot be beat! There was no real service to speak of but then again we were not really expecting any. We were accommodated with a late check in and never saw hotel staff our entire visit. It was perfect. No one bothered us and we made great memories there. We consider that room ours now and will be booking it again at least 2 more times this year. Thank you for a great bday weekend Harbor Lights!

I thought the «hotel» business in general was supposed to be all about accommodating it’s guests. Didn’t feel like Barbara cared one bit about doing that over the phone. I get it, you have a prime location, I’m from Santa Cruz. But she couldn’t have wanted to hang up the phone on me quicker.
Would have been nice of you had been a little more friendly and helpful. Looks like according to the reviews others have experiences this same woman. Harbor Lights, maybe you need a new receptionist?

WARNING DO NOT BOOK HERE!!!
I booked 2 rooms for 2 nights (total was over 1k) back on April first, I just got back from Alaska and was going to book another room… when I called the lady was totally rude and then to boot she said she had no records of my other bookings. She didn’t care, didn’t apologize, just said what do you want me to do about it. I have asked the owner to call me as she was the stand in mgr with her only working today.
The rooms are def older…70−80’s, but doable. You are paying for location not in the actual hotel itself.
i have stayed here before and it is a great deal, and obviously planned to come again however with this experience I will NEVER come back and I will spread the news. I am local and would have come back a ton of times. Good news, Go through Airbnb for something. instead of this place! You don’t want to show up and not have something like I almost did… good thing we were going to try to add another room!

I never actually stayed there, but when I called to ask about pricing the lady on the phone was extremely rude like she was angry at me for calling. I actually just said nevermind, hung up the phone and called another hotel. I will not call them again.

This place is perfect and amazing… for what it is. Don’t expect the Four Seasons. Don’t expect a super fancy room. If you pay these rates and expect that, you’re …delusional.
This place is probably one of the best deals for an ocean view room you’ll get in the area. You are STEPS to the beach, can sleep with the sound of the surf, and never have to drive anywhere.
The rooms have not been updated in a while, yes. But they are IMMACULATELY clean and well stocked. Our room has a full kitchen complete with dining table for four. Fully stocked with cofffee, cream, hot cocoa, and all the basics you need. Tiny tv, but they have a huge cable selection. I would definitely rather stay in an older, super clean place than an updated place that isn’t as well kept.
And you simply cannot beat the balcony view. Breathtaking and more than worth the price of the stay.
No, this isn’t a place for 20-​somethings to come stay with their homies, and for that I am grateful. A couple of incredibly nice older ladies run the place, and they are informative and helpful, but I can see them not taking kindly to rule breakers. And I’m ok with that. Our stay was peaceful and delightful.
We got a gift card for this place for a wedding present and it’s probably the best present I’ve ever gotten (aside from my pink Reebok high tops I got for Christmas in 6^th grade). We have had the most amazing stay and I cannot wait to come back!

Second time here. First time much better. The women who checked me in was really rude, did not pay attention to the prepaid credit card given to her, and she repeatedly told me I was doing things wrong. I was told these were non smoking rooms, there are no smoking signs everywhere. I was taking a nap, and the room filled up with cigarette smoke from the room next to me, and I got really sick.
The room need new carpet real bad, has structural damage, and is out dated in too many ways. I will not be staying here again, nor do I recommend it to anyone,

Just stayed at the Harbor Lights motel for the 4^th of July holiday weekend. We had friends staying in a 3 bedroom condo/​house on the River, and we where joining the fun for 2 nights staying at the Harbor Lights Motel. We were going to be a bit later then the 7pm office closing time when we arrived, so we called in and got it arranged that the keys would be left under our mat for our room #102. That was nice and worked out perfectly. No hassle at all.
I was a bit annoyed that our older son had to stay down the road at our friends condo, so we could save $ 20 bucks a night. That is a upsell that I wasnt willing to pay for, as the room was already $ 220 a night (if he had stayed with us it was $ 240 a night). I might add our other son is only 3 and that upset me that they wanted to charge us 20 bucks more for the 2 of them staying with us. If we had not had that option of leaving our one son with friends, it would have really ticked me off.
First impression, «oh wow this is old.» Second impression was «wow this is the hardest bed I have ever layed on… and the pillows sucked!» Flatest pillows ever mixed with the hardest mattress is not a good night sleep. Only saving grace was that we had exhausted ourselves so much during the day, we basically just passed out, so it was liveable and fine. This unit #102 was convient to unloading all your luggage, etc and right up from the carport parking. It had a good sized main room that had a sofa, chair and room for the futon fold out bed. The sofa was newer which was pleasant, and had a nicely equipped kitchen with table for 4. The bedroom had a double bed and the bathroom was inside the bedroom. It was pretty small. but it had everything you needed.
Then came the good parts… you are SO CLOSE to the beach, and we just kept using our room to get stuff we forgot while we where at the beach, make breakfast and lunches in the nice little kitchen and save money not having to buy breakfast and lunch… use the bathroom at the hotel instead of the beach port-​a-​potties, and all around convience of the location. The location just can not be beat, we would stay and pay this higher then usual price for a motel just because of the location itself. Location Location Location they say, and this place can has it.
It is noisy though… if you plan on sleeping in. We sleep good until about 8am, but then the garbage trucks, pier traffic, drop off trafiic, etc make it so you are unable to really sleep past 8am.
Will we be back? Yes, for sure — but dont except fancy that is all I am saying!
AND get the rooms with the parking space. I think they have one room that doesnt come with a parking space. That room would be a problem as there is very limited parking in Capitola on a whole. Doesnt sound like a big deal until you get to Capiltola, and realize there is hardly any parking in the town!

So i’ve been here two times already… the first time was awsome. yah a lil out dated… but our room had a small kitchen a couch and a queen size bed… not to mention a balcony with a beach front view. had the time of our lives the first time. came here again last night. with a party of 12… ended up getting kicked out cuz our party was too loud and causing a bad scene! i would have loved to come back but yes this place needs some updates. this time, our bed and whole room when we check in were still not clean! like someone just slept in there! great price, but unfortunate night last night since our reservations were on one whole name so they kicked out the whole party.

I spent a weekend at Harbor Lights when I was in town for a triathlon and really enjoyed my time there. The rooms (I stayed in 2) were very clean, the staff was very friendly, the price was great, the proximity to EVERYTHING was great… I didn’t get into my car for 3 days!
My only little complaint is that the kitchens are not as well stocked as they could be. Neither room had a working corkscrew. Knowing that, I can’t wait to return and will just make sure to bring a couple kitchen esentials if I plan to cook. The full kitchen is a huge bonus especially when traveling with family.
Love this place!!!

GREAT VIEW. Great value, walking distance to restaurants, store and pier.
Try the off season for a stay-​cation and great rates. Some come with kitchenette so this could work for a family and extended vacations. I was pleasantly suprised.

Great for a motel! stayed in 110, the biggest room. Has full kitchen, dining area, living area with tv, bedroom, with a futon couch for extra sleeping room. Great view of the beach/​sunset/​sunrise!
Great location with bars, restaurants and shops walking distance.

This is a small, independently owned motel with about 10 rooms, all of which have ocean views, balconies, and small kitchens.
I booked our room over the phone since it didn’t appear possible to book it online. That was kind of nice since I was able to speak with a real person and not have to worry about losing a reservation or getting an incorrect price quote like some of the chains.
Most of the rooms have a parking spot but since ours was a last minute booking we were only able to book one of the two rooms that do not include parking [and are 10 $ cheaper because of that]. Luckily we found a parking spot across the street from the hotel and only ended up paying about 5 $ total because of good timing [meters are in effect from 8 am to 8 pm]. We did notice that there was some free parking available a few blocks away.
I am a light sleeper and always bring earplugs when I stay in hotels/​motels. The car sounds on the street are noticeable but with the earplugs in I had a good sleep. There are signs on the room doors stating that the Harbor Lights Motel is a family motel and to keep the noise to a minimum. I barely heard or saw any of the other guests.
Other bits to know:
No pets and no smoking.
Free wifi
Walking distance to most restaurants and shops.
I’ve included some room photos and the view from our room.