Bacara Resort

They have an awesome fitness center in the spa. A large room full
Of
Elliptical machines and treadmills and bikes. At least 8 – 10
Of each. With a separate weight room, combo of free weights and resistance machines and a separate room for yoga etc.
The spa is super expensive though. $ 160
For a 50 min
Massage.

I was traveling on business and needed a place to stay in Santa Barbara so I went onto a discount website to see if I could find a deal for a nice place cuz I was very tired and wanted to splurge a bit. First of all I think places that do not have any free parking should tell you that when you call I and I did call ahead to confirm my reservation since I used a booking service and also confirmed my charge for the night. They did not volunteer that there was a whopping $ 35.00 valet parking charge with no free parking available. They also did not advise me there was a resort amenities fee, (I think this was an additional $ 25 …Wow !!!) for the conviences and amenities they put in the room, bottle water and a bottle of wine) These are nice touches if they are free but don’t just add it in and tell me later!
To this places credit the gardens and grounds were very beautiful and immaculate. Unfortunately that was it though, the service was terrible. I was there on a Thursday night and the place was dead. It is a huge property so I asked if a bell man could take me to my room in one of their electric carts, it took 15 minutes for one to show up. He barely spoke English so I actually had to show him my room key since he could’nt understand me. The room had stained carpet and grout on the tile that looked like it had never been cleaned. I called the front desk and requested a 5 AM wakeup call. The next morning came and I never got that call !! Ive been a business and pleasure traveler for 20 plus years and have never had that happen anywhere, ever !!!
After waking up late I wanted to go to the gym for a quick workout before going to my meeting so I called the front desk to ask to have a bellman meet me at my room to take me to the gym since I did’t know where it was. I stood outside my room for more than ten minutes, so I called to let them know and they appologized and said they’d send someone. Ten minutes later he shows up in his cart, we get to the gym that is supposed to open at 6Am and the door is locked so the bellman tries all his keys to open it and none worked, REALLY !!! So he says follow me we walk for ten minutes through all the back service areas of the hotel past the smelly dumpsters and dirty laundry and finally enter through an open back door into the gym. Much to my disappointment its all cardio equipment with not a single weight machine or free weight. So I ask the bellman to give me a ride back to my room and decide to go for a run on the beach which was very nice and I needed the breath of fresh air to cool me down.
Other people may have a better experience here and I certainly hope they do because I am done with this place and would not recommend it and will not go back. Honestly I have had much better experiences in 2 and 3 star bugdet accomodations.