The Upham Hotel

I recently stayed at the Upham Hotel in Santa Barbara, and unfortunately, my experience left much to be desired. It's with disappointment that I share this critical review of my stay, as I had expected more from this supposedly historic and charming establishment. The cleanliness of the room was far from satisfactory. The shower in our room was plagued with mold, which is not only unsightly but also poses health risks. Mold in a hotel room is simply unacceptable, as it reflects a lack of proper maintenance and cleanliness standards. Our sheets and duvet on the bed had massive yellow stains and left me wondering about the overall hygiene of the room. Another major issue we encountered was the noise disturbance. The hotel failed to inform us in advance about the ongoing construction outside our room window. Waking up to the sound of construction work was not the peaceful and serene experience I had hoped for when booking this stay. This lack of transparency regarding the construction was a major inconvenience and disruption to our vacation. To make matters worse, one morning, a trash truck arrived at 5 am, and its noise was nothing short of deafening. This early wake-up call was unexpected and extremely unpleasant. It's baffling that the hotel did not take measures to minimize this disturbance for its guests, such as scheduling trash pickups at more reasonable hours. While the Upham Hotel may have a reputation for being a historic and charming property, my recent stay was far from charming. The issues with cleanliness, noise, and a lack of advanced warning about construction and early morning disruptions greatly impacted my overall experience. For the price paid, I expected a much more pleasant and comfortable stay. Sadly, I cannot recommend the Upham Hotel in its current state to anyone seeking a peaceful and enjoyable stay in Santa Barbara. It is my hope that the management takes these concerns seriously and works to improve the overall guest experience.

I’d like to address our recent stay at this hotel. We were in Santa Barbara for UCSB parents weekend and stayed Saturday and Sunday nights November 4th and 5th. The property is quite lovely, but the parking situation is not! Disappointing that they only have parking for approx 50% of guests, but we made it work. We do have one MAJOR complaint and it’s a doozie. The first morning we got up and tried to shower but there was ZERO hot water. I took a freezing cold quick shower and shivered for a good half hour afterwards. My boyfriend opted to just skip it. We thought that surely we had ill timed our bathing after all the other guests had used the hot water and let it go at that… we knew they were at capacity. The NEXT morning, however, I attempted to shower again, anticipating a much more pleasant experience but no…. once again, there was NO HOT WATER. I was absolutely stunned as we knew that the hotel was hardly occupied at this point. I mentioned the problem to the front desk as I was completing my over $800 payment and the gal simply shrugged stating that I should have mentioned it to the staff. Yes… I guess I didn’t think to run out to the front desk naked, wrapped in a towel and shivering to discuss the problem. I was astonished that nothing was done to appease my complaint, nor did the front desk clerk even seem to care whatsoever. I would have certainly appreciated a refund of sorts, and I do believe that is in order. I emailed the innkeeper… zero response. No email no phone call… nothing. Also the garbage collection at 5:30am or whatever it was and the following carts or cans past our window was lovely. The breakfast was a sad display of dry pastries wrapped in plastic. We were in the Lincoln Building, room 20. I do not and cannot recommend