The hotel is right across the street from the beach, but the room only provided a peek-a-boo view. The price was right. Staff was extremely nice and helpful. Walking distance from the pier. Room and grounds were clean.

Stayed a couple nights on business. I was upgraded to a bigger room ovelooking the garden. Relatively well appointed room for it's class hotel. Great location by the beach. Nice breakfast spread and dining room overlooking the beach.

This hotel has the potential to be a fabulous property. An attractive facade, attempts at customer service, and relatively comfortable rooms anchor this property. However there were a number of concerns during my stay.
1. A disturbance by drunken guests from midnight to 2AM. No apologies. I requested a room change if the guests did not check out and was informed I would be notified one way or the other. The hotel did not follow up with me in any way.
2. A locked or jammed gate near the pool leading out of the property required a walk through a back alley, by the laundry, in order to get out of the hotel property. This was just ridiculous.

Lots of hotels to try in Santa Barbara, I suspect I will not stay at the Oceana again.

I will admit that this hotel is a little dated. That said it doesn't suffer because of it. Hotel Oceana looks nice, its clean and you could not ask for a better location. The hotel and grounds are very pleasant; it doesn't have the chain hotel, block of rooms feel. No featureless and repetitive corridors of doors. Our room opened onto a lovely little courtyard with a fountain. This place feels unique and like it belongs in the town. It had a quiet, unrushed atmosphere that was very relaxing.

We had a classic single room on the ground floor. This is the smallest room available and as someone from the UK it was much bigger than I would normally expect. The room decor was a little dated but still welcoming, comfortable and clean.

The staff where excellent, very helpful, and nothing was too much trouble. They gave us some great advice on things to go see and places to eat.

We only stayed one night as part of a longer trip but I would have been happy to stay much longer at Hotel Oceana.

What really sells this hotel is its location. The beach is across the road, the Pier, Marina and State Street/Downtown are 5-10 minutes relaxed walk away at most. It is also very accessible only 2 minutes off the 101. One of the best located hotels I have ever stayed in.