Best Western Plus Pepper Tree Inn

Seems nice at first… Heater doesn’t work well as it is an 80’s wall unit, sheets are so old they have little fabric balls on them and «free water bottles» looked shady and with a closer look, they were not sealed. The «complimentary» fruit was old as well.

We stayed in this hotel for two nights. We enjoyed the free water, fruits and even Q-​tip. On the other hand, the room is a bit old.

Our car window was bashed in, car completely ransacked and stuff stolen. Really regretting staying here! No one at the hotel seems even remotely surprised or apologetic. Beware!

My boyfriend booked this «motel» from Priceline and I hoped for the best but this place is terrible. We got a «suite» and the whole room was brown and I didn’t want to touch anything because everything looked so old, dated, and like it was picked up on the street. It was cold and there was no heat so we called the front desk to get a space heater and there were none. My boyfriend agreed the room was terrible so we canceled the room we had booked for 2 nights and booked elsewhere. Thank God. Update your hotel rooms. Unacceptable.

I never stay at Best Westerns because I feel like their quality is lacking and my theory was proven here. If this is a Best Western «Plus» I’d hate to have to stay at a regular Best Western. For a $ 150+/night price point, this hotel is dated, dirty, and overpriced. If I’m paying that much I should get free breakfast, my room should NOT open to the outside and I shouldn’t have to drag my own bag up 2 flights of stairs. This is more «motel» than hotel. I’m a frequent business traveler and usually stay at Marriott brand hotels. For some odd reason there are no Marriotts anywhere near this location, so it was suggested we stay here for the week while working out of my company’s SB office a couple blocks away. Well I’ve been here 7 hours and I’m dreading the next 4 days, and looking to find another hotel.
CONS: It looks like the 70s and 80s threw up in this room. It could be on the set of the Golden Girls. There is literally a brown Lazy Boy recliner in the corner. It’s just missing a can of Natty Light. The room smells musty. There is a window A/​C unit, and a microwave and refrigerator that were worse than the ones I had in my college dorm room. The linens on the bed are heavy and gross… most modern hotels do NOT use comforters anymore because they are so germy. The bathroom has zero counter space and it is covered in brown tile and brown WALLPAPER. I turned, pushed, and pulled the shower knob for 5 minutes and got no water, so I called the front desk. After 20 minutes a maintenance man came up and said it seemed «loose». After he was done tinkering with it, the knob was so tight that when I went to take a shower I had to get in the tub and pull it as hard as I could to get the water going. The hot water kept going in and out throughout my shower.
I asked the front desk about a quick bite to eat within walking distance. I just wanted to pick something up. He suggested some random diner and a very expensive steak house. He did NOT mention the Chipotle, Panda Express, Panera Bread, and Starbucks all within a block that I found myself. The TV is updated and has DirecTV, but the channel guide is off and we supposedly have HBO, but I’ve been scrolling through 100s of channel listings and I’m yet to see it. The Wi-​Fi is super slow… it’s a labor just to write this post. It appears Best Western thinks adding hard candies and free bottled water to the rooms, and having a bizarrely ornate lobby, makes up for the lack of clean, safe and modern rooms.
PRO: location, Bath and Body Works brand bath products, staff seems friendly

The room we stayed in had one king bed. It also had a mini fridge, microwave and a coffee maker. Definitely family friendly. The staff was nice and friendly. We needed a light bulb replaced which they did fairly quickly, but not until I had to call the front desk twice about it. Other than that the rest of our stay here was pleasant.

This is a nice hotel to stay at and pretty clean. If you stay in one of the rooms by the street, it does get noisy as you can hear the cars passing through. Ask for a room in the back. it may be a walk to get there but well worth it for a good night’s rest. The bonus is the free water, fruits, and candy! And bath and body works toiletries!
Tree Top Conference room: spacious room that already has 2 white boards and a projection screen included. The only hassle was that the door to the room is locked at all times. The lock is the same as the guest rooms in which you need a plastic card to unlock and only the employees can unlock it. This means during the meetings, you have to crack open the door which gets noisy because it faces the street or close it all the way, locking anyone who wants to enter from gettig in. Water, fresh fruit, and candy are provide by the generous hotel.

We went skydiving in nearby Lompoc and wanted to spend the rest of the day and night in Santa Barbara. Booked a room here and it was great. Staff is friendly, rooms are clean, and the pool & jacuzzi were a added bonus. It is about 5 miles from downtown State Street which was still a very short drive. Hung out in downtown for a bit then headed back to our room and spent the rest of the evening/​night in the jacuzzi and pool (pool hours are until 9pm). Each room has a balcony which I think is great. We were able to sit outside have a few drinks and enjoy the weather. Our room was downstairs (302) and our balcony lead directly to the jacuzzi. Parking was just outside our front door. It was quiet and we slept peacefully. I’ll definitely stay here again. It accommodated us perfectly.

Very nice looking on the outside, worn and aged on the inside. Seems it’s been 30 years or so since the «Inn» (code word nowadays for Motel) has had a refresh. Musty and somewhat depressing, entering into the room one’s mind begins to run wild on the fearful side. Mirrored walls hasn’t been a popular décor since… Well, I’m not sure if it was ever popular in any healthy society.
Front desk staff weren’t friendly and bordered on rude. If it wasn’t rude, then it was short tempered with little patience for guests care.
Ownership may not have to care about any of this as vacancies within any of the Santa Barbara Inn’s (remember code word) is very limited. When ownership isn’t concerned with balancing people AND profits, they get a profit centric business, such as this, in which the people (read: customers) suffer.

DO NOT STAY HERE IF YOU LIKE TO SLEEP IN!!! The room was clean, outfitted with everything you’d need, but all the good was taken away by all the outside voices, footsteps outside our door, people dragging their luggage on the textured walkways, cars starting up, and slamming noises from toilet seats being dropped in neighboring rooms. The bathroom is made up of two sections divided by a door. Each section has louvered windows for windows, which we all know don’t offer much insulation from outside noise. You can only close the door leading into the section where the shower and toilet are located, the other section where the sink is located has no door so all the noise from its louvered window comes into your room. THEY NEED TO DITCH THE LOUVERED WINDOWS AND INSTALL DOUBLE PANE WINDOWS!!! On the other side of the room facing the pool area is a large window and sliding glass door. Each are single pane so all of the noise from that area comes into your room too. Being woken up constantly was so frustrating. The owner of this place really needs to invest in replacing these windows to give the guests more peaceful sleep and a much quieter environment. The walkways outside need to be modified to where they don’t generate so much noise when carts and luggage are dragged over them. The texture of the surface is too aggressive which it really doesn’t need to be.
It might seem like I’m noise sensitive, but I’ve stayed in many hotels/​motels over the years and this place by far has been the loudest. There is a certain amount of noise which is acceptable, but at this place it’s constant and the owner of this location should greatly improve the noise situation. Until they do I will not return here.

I’ve been here multiple times and it’s consistently good. The people are cheerful and helpful. The lobby is stocked with a coffee and beverage selection and fruit. The rooms are clean and comfortable. The décor does feel like a grandma’s house though, complete with a bowl of hard candies. The pool areas are enclosed and great to lay in the Santa Barbara sun. The location isn’t bad. Close to shops and restaurants and easy to get downtown or tho the beach. Always a pleasure to stay here!

Not bad. Clean and up to date. Cheap! But what do you expect for a
BESTWESTERN? Way too far from pier and downtown. Had to Über over there. Nice fire pit! Santa Barbara is a pretty place, but really kinda sucks for things to do if you’re not a shopper.

We got this place for $ 146 on Hotel Tonight. Seems expensive, but great for Santa Barbara. We ended up really loving this place. I was unsure at first because of the location 4 – 5 miles away from downtown right across from a big mall.
Once we got in our room (#237) and saw our large balcony and the beautiful gardens and pool below, I was very pleased. Everthing is so green and lush it makes me feel like I were in Hawaii. The pool felt slightly warmer than many pools. The hot tub was hot during the day, but when we went back around 9:00 p.m., it was just warm. There is even a fire pit.
The front desk was efficient at checking us in, and he gave our two kids each a blow up beach ball. There are huge fruit bowl of oranges, bananas, and apples for you to enjoy. In the room, there were complimentary apples, two watter bottles, candies, and a small package of shortbread cookies.
The towels very thick and nice. The beds and pillows were comfortable. Everthing seemed very clean. They even have the TV remote in a pouch that says it was cleaned before our visit.

My husband and I chose to stay a little farther away from the noise and buzzling downtown. For what it is, it’s a good Inn. However, paying a 4-​star rate for a 3-​star rating ($ 215/​night) is what kills it for me. There seem to be a mix of long-​term and short-​term vacationers. The bathroom was mangky, small and the windows/​doors are not double paned, so you can hear everything. The room is small and the bed was too soft. Sheets weren’t luxurious.
That being said, I like the accesability of the hotel, if you have a car. The inn is literally across the mall which is convenient for breakfast and other needs. It is a few miles from the sea, then again, we wanted it to be that way.
The staff was friendly enough but I wish they had better facilities.

The best Best Western I’ve ever stayed at!
The service at this Inn is exceptional! Came here with a group of girls for my birthday gathering and couldn’t ask for a better place to stay. Anthony the supervisor went above and beyond to make our stay a fantastic place away from home and did his best to accommodate us. To the manger of this Inn, you have mine and 3 other friends business if we’re ever in SB again due to Anthony. Such a valuable staff.
I called down regarding the blow dryer not working and in less than 5 minutes, a maintenance staff was there to replace it. Anthony called within a minute shortly after to ensure we were satisfy.
My friend called for extra towels and a toothbrush, again a hotel staff was there in less than 5.
We stayed in a double room and it was nice and clean. Beds and pillows were very comfortable. Swimming pool couldn’t be more sparkling. Wow to our experience here!

ITS RIGHT NEXT TO A CEMETERY!!!
The staff was very friendly when I called to make a special requests for our room. I asked if they can put a sign up saying «happy anniversary» and the guy at the front desk said sure and he will also include a bottle of champagne too.
When we checked in, the gal up in the front checked us in super quick and also said happy anniversary to us.
Our room was faced towards the cemetery (room 263). We had a balcony view of the pool side. The room was very clean and cozy.
Pro:
–Friendly staff!
–Clean facility
Con:
–You can hear people walking and babies crying.
–Right near the the cemetery

I give this place two out of five for the friendliness of the staff & nice exterior & cozy location. They lose 3 stars for:
1. Having a dusty not-​so-​clean restaurant & checking us into an uncleaned room. To give you a better picture: upon our entrance to the room we were greeted by a dirty male underwear & tanktop on the floor.
2. Poor communication between management & the staff as well as unprofessional guest service.
3. Very loud room due to paper thin walls and count-​yard style rooms. You could here maids vacuuming, cars running, doors banging, people talking & walking on the top floor, LOUD and Clear.
So if you take ear-​plugs, don’t look at the floor much, and use hand sanitizer every 10 minutes, you should be fine staying there.

My husband and I have stayed here twice over the last 6 years. This hotel has always been clean, comfortable & nicely priced for what you receive.
We stopped here to break up a long drive from Monterey & the hotel we had been at up there was comparably priced yet offered less in almost every area.
This place has clean and well kept up rooms. The TV is a nice flat screen with several channels to choose from with direct TV. The beds are comfy. Free apples and water in the room. It’s really quite nice.
The only downfall is that the walls seem a bit thin. However snoring neighbors can be mostly drowned out by turning on the fan/​ac/​heater wall unit.
This place is great.

Girls trip 2014 started as a stay in this hotel, right when we walked into the reception, Jarrod greeted us promptly and courteously! We checked in and went straight to the room, within 5 minutes of us being there we had a hotel employee greet us with a complimentary bottle of Santa Barbara Chardonnay and 4 glasses. WOW never expected such thoughtfulness from a hotel before! They knew we were starting a fun filled vacation and made sure we started it off with a bang! Our room was great with a cute balcony and nice view of the pool.
Everything was clean and functioning great, the hotel inst too far from downtown which was very nice. There’ s a shopping mall across the street in case we needed anything, which is very convenient. Next time we are in town we defiantly will be staying here again!
Thanks Jarrod & Best Western for a great experience!

Shame on those Unilocalers who gave this motel more than one star. We came to S.B. for a wedding and the whole town was booked so we gave this place a try based on Unilocal recommendations.
Let’s start with the locker room smell. Absolutely disgusting. And when we complained, their answer was to mask it with stinky perfumey carpet powder that set all of our allergies ablaze. We had to keep the doors open to clear out the smell, only to discover an old man (guest from another room) hanging over the balcony watching me undress. Again, my complaint went completely unanswered.
Just sticking with the room, the 70s called and wants their furniture and mirrors back. My back is aching from the bed and I’m sure we brought bed bugs home with us. No central air and the room air conditioner was loud and froze out my son, who was trying to sleep in the bed next to it. The bathroom was clean, but tiny and so outdated. And the walls were paper thin so we heard every toilet in the place flush.
We love Santa Barbara, but this place was horrible and we won’t be back. And, after the city tax, we spent over $ 500 for two nights. I would expect a place like this to be about $ 69 per night, not $ 265.