My family and I enjoyed the huge pool, hot tub and exercise room. Was also close to the downtown area and beaches. Very good value for the money and extremely family friendly. Will definately return.

This Santa Cruz motel also doubles as a college dorm, so beware of dorm-like rooms and dorm-like noise, including undergrads hanging out on the balconies right outside your room. Some of the rooms have fridges or maybe even a couch; some have not much of anything. Free wireless Internet is one redeeming quality.

I don't think Santa Cruz has particularly good motel or hotel solutions. Being a recreational and vacation spot, motels and hotels in the area get away with murder. Overpriced and spotty quality IMHO, and the city seems to be looking seedier and more crowded. That being said, I sometimes come to visit friends and conduct business. I came into town on a whim so didn't reserve my normal fave and got a bit desperate when I realized it was booked.

So I THOUGHT the UCSC inn would be a good second bet. I mean, after all, it's run by the University, they are in charge of running the city on the Hill, housing feeding dealing with thousands of students, how bad could an Inn be?

Answer: Pretty bad. If I had to grade it based on quality for price, I'd give it a c minus or a d+.

The problem is that it's a dorm. And it feels like one. which is great I guess if you're 17 and happy to be away from home...but if one is an adult and needing someplace to relax or godforbid feel pampered in, this is NOT the place. It's kinda dingy, feels dirty, the furnishings are worn, it's ...old but not in a cool seedy motel way. More like a ...I'm being ripped off way. There;s a photo in their promotional material of happy kids jumping up and down on a bed, well, that's what I think was going next door to me. LOUD. Noises echo.

It's not cheap either. The good news is that there is parking. And you aren't in beach flats. And they have wifi. If you are a pig you can stuff your face at the continental breakfast, my friend did, but he had the runs later in the day.

I think the deal is, from watching people stumble in and out of the place, is that the University mostly uses it for housing students and then tries to send anyone and everyone that has anything to to with UCSC via a conference or employment or whatever to stay there. I think the best thing that could be said for it is that it's probably best for a captive audience who either doesn't have a choice of where to stay or who has never stayed any place decent.

I would hope that someone can take, whoever is the head administrator at UCSC in charge of this place, and give them a lesson in hotel/motel management. And maybe too, force them to attend a class in interior design. The colors and patterns on my bedspread and room were enough to induce a psychotic break. And the front desk people, I don't think they would understand the concept of what a concierge is even if they were given a multiple choice test.

Come on UC, you are training people to be geneticists and brain surgeons. Can't you run a hotel that's better than a roadside inn?

Took a very last minute family trip to Santa Cruz on a Saturday afternoon so we had to try and find a vacancy once we got there. We found no vacancy at 5 other motels before we saw this one, which looked somewhat inviting from the exterior. We were desperate at this point anyway and it was nearly dark out. Our 3rd floor room had one king bed and a sofa bed. Paid too much at $179 plus 10% tax. We did NOT get what we paid for.

The room was pretty bad - worst I've been to in a while. I couldn't go by Tripadvisor reviews this time since we had no reservations and boy am I sorry I didn't have time to check around more. Hard bed, very poor soundproofing - heard the guy in the next room clear as day coughing all night plus the kids outside in the pool were extremely loud long after our kids were ready to be asleep. Holes and water damage and cracking paint on the ceiling of the bathroom, especially above shower. The showerhead was not all the way in the wall.....it was sort of hanging out there like it could fall out. One exposed pipe ran along the ceiling from one end of the bedroom/bathroom to the other. Nasty brown stains up high on the wall, toilet was not secure....it rattled and rocked when you sat on it and the sink didn't drain well at all. When I went to retrieve something from under the bed, the floor felt sticky to the touch - YUCK! The rest of the unit seemed fairly clean overall - just so run down that it felt dirty and of course the stains didn't help. Thankfully this was a quick stay - we were checked out before 8am the next morning and skipped the continental breakfast for fear of more of the same experience.

The only features I appreciated were free parking & the need for the 'card key' in order to access the stairways that led up to other levels of rooms. At least that made me feel a little more safe. Beyond that, there is very little I can say good about this hotel - the front desk was very uninterested (not rude but just kind of there) and I was dying for them to ask how our stay was at check out but they didn't say a word about it. I guess they have probably had enough negative responses by now! Will not return here ever again.