Jacq E.
Yelp
Our stay was for two nights during our daughters spring break. We traveled along the coast, visiting colleges along the way. I originally planned to stay at the Tapestry in Santa Barbara, but after looking at reviews of The Leta we decided to give it a go as it was closer to UCSB and away from the congestion of State St.
The hotel is nicely decorated, the staff are friendly, the pool was warm, the shower had good water pressure, and you can park right next to your room!
The room though... not great. Once you leave the lobby/restaurant area it feels like you are at an inexpensive roadside motel. The walls are really thin - both between rooms and to the exterior. We could hear every person coming and going to/from their room or car. The noise from adjacent rooms was ok most of the time, but bad when the neighbors dog wouldn't stop barking.
After our first night in the room we left for the day to tour UCSB, go to the beach & shop downtown. When we returned we were unable to get back into our room. We had to put our bags back into the car, trek back to the office to find out why. They kind of said "oops", and reissued cards - no explanation or apology.
Like a few other reviewers mentioned the doors were difficult to close fully for the lock to engage. I felt very unsafe. If I had been traveling alone, I would have insisted a new room or switched hotels.
Before bed on night two we noticed quite a bit of mold on the ceiling above the bathroom sink. There were lots and lots of gnats & small flying bugs. We let the reception desk know when we checked out.
We used the pool one late afternoon. There was work being done to the space, but the pool was open and the workers were wrapping things up. The gentlemen sat at one of the pool tables with a table full of beers, chatting and smoking while watching the teenage girls swimming. It was uncomfortable. The other group didn't last long once they realized they were watching them. Soon after we got our daughter out and left too. I let the front desk know about this too.
I think I may consider staying there in the future if the doors/locks were addressed, or I stayed in an interior room - facing the pool. That would have felt safer. The hotel has potential.