John H.
Yelp
I had a very negative experience at Inn by the Harbor and i would never stay there again. On Tuesday, August 23, 2022 i checked in at about 3:30pm. I had booked through AGODA. First, the man at the desk, Esteban, told me that they could not find my reservation. I provided the booking number and confirmation number and after five minutes of looking through records, the reservation came up. I had reserved a king room. And I paid the price for a king size bed. The gentleman told me that there simply was not any king bed available and that I would have to make do with a queen size bed. I expressed my frustration, that that was not what I paid for. He said without any further explanation or apology that this was a problem with Agoda and if I had an issue with it, I should take it up with them.
For a receptionist at a hotel, in the hospitality industry, this is an unacceptable way to deal with a customer who is travel weary and simply wants to check into the room that he paid for it. There was no apology, no empathetic posture, simply the statement that if I had an issue with accepting the queen bed, that I needed to take it up with Agoda. he tried to tell me that Agoda doesn't have the right access or information and that this is a problem with Agoda - not a problem with their hotel.
As the customer standing there at the desk, I totally disagree. The hotel needs to determine with greater care what kinds of vendors they want to partner with and if Expedia and then Agoda are not a good partner to accurately reflect the merchandise they are selling... In this case - a king size bed room... Then they should stop partnering with that vendor. Or they should clarify the problem and fix it. But to literally tell me, as the guest, that I need to fix it... That is totally unacceptable.
I really had no other choice, so I did check in to the queen room, even though I clearly had paid for a king room. The room was neat and tidy but it had a terrible musty smell. It smelled as though somewhere in the room there was mildew and mold. The bed was uncomfortable, especially because they were two of us in it and we had actually paid for a king but we're jammed into a queen that actually might've been a full size bed and not a queen... and the musty smell was terrible. Finally, at five in the morning, we decided to check out and leave because the musty smell was so awful. we had planned to enjoy a nice morning in Santa Barbara, but we simply could not bear another moment in that mildew or mold infested room. we literally packed our bags and left at 5 AM!
Fully one day later, I still have the latent smell of mildew, mold, and mustiness lingering in my nose and in my sinuses... It's pretty terrible.
This was my experience with this hotel, which is actually more of a motel... By the way, the name of this place is disingenuous. The name makes it seem like maybe the Harbor is in view or close by... It is not. It is a 15 minute walk to the Harbor and you will certainly not see the harbor whatsoever from this place. what are you will see and have a view of is the 7-Eleven and a gas station.