Before I write this review I want to mention that while my experience was not particularly good on this visit, I want to acknowledge that the property which has been through a lot with the mudslides and recovered nicely.
That said, I am afraid that is part of the problem. While you would never know the property was buried under mud last year, they have clearly lost most if not all of the staff that they had before the mudslides. We visited in May this year so this review is a bit old but we found that most of the staff did not provide the level of service we had when we stayed here in 2016. For example we were staying for my wife's 50th birthday and no one acknowledged it even though it was in our reservation. Also one of the front desk staff did not seem to know the area and Santa Barbara well at all so we had to figure it out for ourselves.
Also when we visited, the spa was closed and part of the property was still under construction and renovation from the mudslides. I wouldn't have cared about either of these if I was made aware and possibly received a promotional rate given all of this.
But the SYR is charging full price and not letting patrons know about the construction and closures. So you are paying premium prices for premium accommodations and service but that is not what you get. I don't think we can justify going back.
