Presidio Motel

1620 State St, Santa Barbara, California, 93101, United States

91%

of people enjoy staying here

4.0 our of 5 stars 168 Opinions

Excellent: 82
Very Good: 49
Average: 25
Poor: 8
Terrible: 4

More about Presidio Motel

Best Motel

by kennyosehan

The weather,the ocean,the beautiful Spanish Architecture and last but not least the Amazing Presidio Motel... The Motel experience !!!!!!! Free bikes,awesome staff, and really amazing rooms !!!!!!

The Best Motel in Santa Barbara

by TripAdvisor Member LADoctor

For starters, each room has the same minimalist decour of the famous modern hotels in Los Angeles (but more warmth and comfort). All the linen is shiny white, with more fluffy pillows than anyone would need. The beds are extremely comfortable, the atmosphere is bright, and every night I returned home to the Presidio from work I felt so relieved to arrive at such a nice looking, peaceful room. It truly was like staying in a miniature version of the Standard, and at a fraction of the price.
The young couple in their early 30's who run the establishment are both professional and outgoing in their hospitality. Anytime I needed anything, they were right there to help me. During the course of my stay they made me feel as though the Presidio Motel was my home, and not simply a room to be rushed in and out of.
In the beginning of 2008 I began staying at the Presidio several nights a week while doing research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I live in Los Angeles, so I was looking for a nice place to call home a few days a week during my work here in Santa Barbara. I can't say how lucky I feel to have happened upon this small motel.

absolutely loved it

by TripAdvisor Member MZ&M

My boyfriend and I stayed at this motel when we stopped in Santa Barbara on our road trip of CA. It was definitely the best place of all motels I've ever stayed at!!! I aways travel on a budget and am used to not-so-luxurious rooms, but this motel had blown me away. The room was so cute I ran around taking pictures. It was designed in IKEA style - in fact most things were from IKEA, which is my favorite store. The bed was super comfy and had crispy clean sheets. The bathroom was clean and towels smelled good (we got only one set of towels for both of us, but it was enough for us so we didn't request another set). Breakfast was awesome (croissants, scones, fruit, coffee), though you have to eat it in your room. The front-desk guy was very friendly. Oh, and the location was great: we were minutes away from all the shops and restaurants, but not close to the beach at all (it wasn't exactly a swimming season so we didn't care). I would definitely recommend this place and hope to go back!

For Santa Barbara, very decent price

by TripAdvisor Member GD2004

The room itself was small but very clean, bright white, cool little mirrors on the walls, nice ikea type furniture. The bathroom was not so great, shower curtain had mold/rod had rust - so easy to fix and replace it seemed silly to have this issue. The towels were also very silly - small and thin, not particularly new either - if the towels were decent and the shower curtain was changed I'd go four stars for sure. Also one of the two beds in our room was very, very hard, i.e. old/bad mattress, while the other was just fine.

No street noise to speak of and the cute little breakfast trays to bring back pastry/tea/coffee to the room were very nice touch.

Liked the feel of the place, liked the owners, and for SB, this was a VERY good price. If it wasn't in SB....

and nothing to do with this property but why does an upscale pretty beach town like SB have such a rampant homeless problem. Really sad and unattractive. Surely some mansion owner somewhere in SB county could put up a shelter?

After having a whole group of sad looking homeless people with dogs watching me eat breakfast at a trendy state street french restaurant, i gave the group twenty bucks. If I can do that (and stay here) why can't the rich? Or hey, how about everyone who stays in SB pays 10% of room cost to help homeless shelter?

Have never been a huge SB fan (we were up for a very specific event) and I believe the homeless situation is a strong reason why.

Loved this little place!

by TripAdvisor Member swaggyp

All we needed was a place to stay for the night; we were in town to see Lisa Lampanelli at the Arlington Theatre. After searching the nearby options there were only two that were in the $100-125 range. Our friends were staying across the street at El Prado, so I figured we would try out the Presidio.

First off clearly, management has changed, which really does not matter, but the "hip couple" has apparently turned this place hip and sold. This place is so freaking cute. For this to be of use to you, first off, I love IKEA, so this place felt like an IKEA showroom, so I was home. If you want floral prints and oak beds, this is not the place for you. If you want really cute IKEA-like accommodations here it is.

We stayed in #8, the rooms seem similar but each one I noticed has different stuff on the walls. When you walk in, to the right there is a counter with 2 tables, handy for surfing the web or eating. Then the bed... more on that later. To the right are a mini fridge, and a mini microwave, and TV table/ TV.

Straight ahead is a spacious bathroom. I don't know what purpose that would serve unless you are staying with a girlfriend and you both have lots of appliances and make up stuff, but it was nice anyway. Water pressure great, very clean. I mean spotless.

The bed was super comfortable and the pillows were as well. I swear there were 2 kinds of pillows both I love. Anyway, 4 pillows for sleeping, 1 decorative, white crisp clean sheets, new down comforters and an extra blanket. The ceiling was high and I was fully entertained by the origami mobile over my head.

We were 2 doors down from the "sundeck” which is cute. The signs clearly state that it closes at 10 pm and I would bet that would be so that #7 and #8 don't have to listen to drunks partying on the deck. It was quiet when we were there. Plenty of hip people around, but everyone was very respectful and it was not noisy, so I cannot comment on whether noise would be a factor is you had inconsiderate people staying there. There was no one on the road when we came home at about 1 am so there was no road noise either.

We didn't really stay long enough to say what exactly is around there that is exciting. There is an Ihop really close by, and also a market on the corner. At the presidio they have ice and a soda machine... in the a.m. a cute continental breakfast is supplied... oranges, bananas, assorted muffins, Coffee and Tea. Very cute as well.

This is within walking distance of the Arlington Theatre if you are going for a concert. It is like 5 blocks away... there is a restaurant right next door called, Opal, which was good. If you continue heading towards the water you will find a bunch of bars to choose from. Off State Street, we tried a "dive bar" but it ended up being an either gender issues night or a gender issues bar. Which I couldn't care less about since there was foosball, pinball, and a pool table. I believe it was called Sportsbar. I would just be on guard, very touchy feely people. If you cannot handle that was humor, don't go there :)

Cabs are always around up and down State Street but if it is nice out, and you are not in heels, walking would not be a problem to get back and forth from the bars and restaurants and theatre and the Presido.

My fiancé was a slow go in the morning, I asked the nice man at the front desk if it was okay if we stayed a bit longer and he had no problem with our staying an extra 40 minutes. Housekeeping was clearly annoyed.... but they would have been more annoyed had I not completely cleaned out the minifridge... a warning... don't turn the fridge to the coldest setting because it will freeze your sodas!!

I did utilize the sundeck even in February I was roasting in the sun at about 10 it hits the deck. The chairs are fiberglass and keep your backside cool. Clearly not for back tanning since they are shaped in the lounging while reading a magazine pose.

Anyway, my total bottom line for a Friday night stay was $123.10 and I was pleasantly pleased. Well lit, A/C, clean, and cute. If I could have gotten some room service, it would have been perfect!

Overpriced and overrated.

by TripAdvisor Member Michelle0609

This place is essentially a Motel 6 or equivalent that a some people IKEA-fied. No doubt about it -- they were creative and they made it look very cute. And they clearly took some time to do it (the wall decals in unit #1 seem like they would've taken forever to put up).

Cute wall decals and down comforter notwithstanding, however...

Both the towels and the walls are *paper* thin. T

he comforter must have been left over from when California belonged to Mexico it was so broke down and saggy in the middle.

The shower had limescale and rust all over it.

Separate from the comfort of the room was the service. Whenever I saw someone at the front desk, they were very nice and accomodating. However, when I needed a plunger (damn those low-flow SB toilets!), no one was at the front desk and the door to the front desk was locked. So I rang the "night bell" (this is at 8:00 p.m. -- a little early for the night bell, no?), but there was no answer. I went back every 20 mintues for an hour, to no avail. Finally I called the "emergency number" -- at which point someone (one of the owners I guess?) who was clearly out at a bar answered, heard my problem, apologized profusely (to his credit), and told me that apparently the night bell doesn't work but someone would be by soon. (I'm no MBA, but perhaps you could put a note by this bell indicating that pushing it would be an exercise in futility?) The girlfriend-hotel owner came by about 45 minutes later with a plunger and again apologized, but still... by that point it was 10:00 p.m. and we were feeling more than a bit inconvenienced.

It's a cool idea, turning an old place like this into something hip and comfortable, and I heartily salute the couple who is doing this (we specifically considered this when we decided to stay here -- why not support people who are essentially "recycling" and making something for themselves?). But there's still a ways to go before these hipsters can justify charging 180/night. So here are my recommendations:

Invest in some new towels. Go to Tuesday Morning for pete's sake; they have good deals there. (We even mentioned this to the owner in the morning, and he said "Yeah, other people have said the same thing". THEN DO IT.)

Get some hard core cleaning products for the showers. Retile and invest in new hardware in the not-to-distant future.

Get some new mattresses. STAT.

PUT A NOTE UP BY THE NIGHT BELL EXPLAINING THAT IT DOESN'T WORK. HAVE SOMEONE READILY AVAILABLE FOR FIXING PROBLEMS. Yes it's an incovenience, hipster hotel-owners, and yes you may not be able to go out with your friends on Saturday nights, but you wanted to own a hotel, so make sure your guests are comfortable and happy. Either that, or drop your rates SIGNIFICANTLY.

A ´Gem´

by TripAdvisor Member Justinevw71

My wife and I have just spent 4 weeks driving round California, Nevada and Arizona. Along the way we stopped in quite a few motels and hotels.

The Presido is excellent – it looks like it has been decorated. Our room was upstairs by the sun deck, the room was very clean, nice linen and towels.

There are some nice touches eg the sun deck and free breakfast and we would certainly go back there.

It was excellent value.

Nice and clean

by TripAdvisor Member loves-to-travel76

We stayed in this motel for one night but we would have stayed one more if there was any room available. The rooms are newly renovated, nicely decorated and very clean. The location is great. Just about 10 min walk to all sorts of restaurants and shops and 20 min to the beach. The staff is friendly and helpfull and the rates are quite good.

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Super modern sun-loungers on sun deck.Free bike usage,coolest vibe I have experienced.Great mountain views.Closest location into the downtown area.

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Presidio Motel

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Address: 1620 State St, Santa Barbara, California, 93101, United States

Presidio Motel

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THE HIPPEST SPOT IN S.B.

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Best Motel

The Best Motel in Santa Barbara

absolutely loved it

For Santa Barbara, very decent price

Loved this little place!

Overpriced and overrated.

A ´Gem´

Nice and clean

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