Step up from Motel 6!
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 4/13/08
This hotel was truly a step up from the Motel 6 a couple blocks away, that we stayed in on our last trip to UCSB. Although the rooms are basically the same size, the Holiday Inn has real stone floors and walls in the bathroom! The SLIDING GLASS door on the bathroom didn't provide much privacy, but was unique to look at and get peeks of the person inside. Normally I like a bit more privacy when on the toilet, but I guess I am getting older and don't appreciate modern design.
Unlike the motel 6 which had unlimited coffee and sugar in the lobby, this hotel provide a coffee maker in the room! I wish though that they would provide a little more sugar that the two little packs, as I had to pad down to the restaurant to get enough sugar to have that first cup of the day. It seemed like a nice enough restaurant, with the same kind of stuff you would find in the free breakfasts at many hotel chains, although here it was aprox $10 per person to enjoy, so I skipped it and went to the Denny's across the street.
I was a bit disappointed though by the weeds in the planting beds, this area is so beautiful and plants grow so well that a few dollars of bedding plants could have choked out the weeds.
The staff was friendly and that is probably the hotels best feature. That and Kentucky fried chicken across the street and the inexpensive off brand gas station!
So if you need a perfectly adequate accomodations that you will not have to complain about, at a price that is not too out of line for the area, close to UCSB or the airport and freeway, this might be the place!
A sure 2 star experience! (Maybe even 3!!)