Sandyland Reef Inn

just outside the beach area. Liked: nice single story. family run. good price. Disliked: they gave me front room next to on ramp of highway 5, and it was screaming with vehicles all night long. barely got any sleep

The stay was tolerable for... Liked: It was moderately presentable. Disliked: The front office staff wasn’t not very welcoming. The phone was not answered, the shower curtain was dirty, the doors and windows were not sound proof. The room next door also smelled like smoke although the motel stated “no smoking.” The sheets were stained and the motels did not have full sized shower towels. The bathroom floors and tub floor were both dirty, as well.

Bedbugs on otherwise nice property Liked: This property was less expensive than surrounding properties and had a good room layout. There was a large desk space and bathroom counter space. Disliked: This property was not fully clean and we found bedbugs in the room. We found them the night we checked into the property and our original stay was for 2 nights. After reporting the bedbugs, the staff working seemed unsurprised but accommodating and polite. Despite having no vacancy, they did offer us a room 3 doors over, which was technically another's guests reservation but those guests had not yet arrived to the hotel. However, the new room wasn't necessarily clean or inspected for bedbugs either. At the property, we alerted the staff we would be leaving since we felt the property was overall unsanitary and because bedbugs in one room meant there were likely bedbugs in others. We asked if there would be anyone we could contact to ask about a refund for our stay. The staff seemed displeased and told us there was no one we could contact, and that no refund of any kind would be allowed since we had already checked in. After calling Booking.com, the property did agree to refund the 2nd night but not the 1st, so we did receive a refund for the 2nd night which was significantly less expensive than the 1st night. I've called multiple times and have been unable to receive a refund despite not staying on the property for the 1st or 2nd night. I would have hoped there'd be a courtesy refund due to unsanitary conditions and because no full nights were stayed.

Good

I was very thankful to... Liked: Vintage inn with a lot of character and history. Noticed upgrades and bright paint since my last visit. Front desk staff so kind and accommodating. Other staff helped me when I needed some construction workers to stop their work for a while. Close to SB MTD bus line as well as walking area if wanting to walk to downtown Carpinteria Disliked: I was sad to see that someone might have vandalized the beautiful poppy painting over my bed sometime before my stay.