The Ritz-Carlton Bacara

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

The Ritz-Carlton Bacara was a dream come true for my wife and me. Luxurious accommodations. Professional staff focused on superb hospitality. Beautiful scenery. Sunsets on the beach. Anniversary celebration! The staff and other guests who we met there were wonderful!!! Benjamin, the assistant rooms operations manager, went above and beyond...

The Ritz-Carlton Bacara was a dream come true for my wife and me. Luxurious accommodations. Professional staff focused on superb hospitality. Beautiful scenery. Sunsets on the beach. Anniversary celebration! The staff and other guests who we met there were wonderful!!! Benjamin, the assistant rooms operations manager, went above and beyond our expectations to accommodate our preferences for our special occasion. Sam and Mia assisted us with cordial and helpful attitudes at the registration desk. Matt gave us a private tour of the resort in the shuttle vehicle. Rosie, the in-room attendant, maintained our room with perfection. I want to extend a big “thank you” to all of the staff for genuinely treating us so nicely and with kindness. My wife and I really enjoyed ourselves at this beautiful resort. We will always favorably remember our stay and hope to return here on future vacations to Santa Barbara.

Travel Date: February 28, 2025

Let me start with the good. The property is gorgeous. We enjoyed walking on the beach and the nature trail, visited the hot tub (great service at the pool - especially for a cloudy and cool day!) Alicia at O Bar was WONDERFUL. So personable and friendly. She provided great...

Let me start with the good. The property is gorgeous. We enjoyed walking on the beach and the nature trail, visited the hot tub (great service at the pool - especially for a cloudy and cool day!) Alicia at O Bar was WONDERFUL. So personable and friendly. She provided great recommendations for food. The green chile chicken soup was wonderful for a cold rainy day and the ceviche was excellent - very fresh tasting. Valet and bell staff were also excellent. Super friendly and prompt. The room was lovely. Very spacious, loved the fireplace in the room and firepit on the patio and used both during our short 2-day stay. Now, onto the bad. The bed in our room was AWFUL. Literally the worst I've ever slept on, including the Best Western in Palm Desert that I had to stay at with a large group for a family funeral. I could feel every spring, and my limbs kept going numb during the night because of how bad the mattress was. The hotel is currently undergoing renovations so I hope mattresses are included in the updates. Now for the worst: My husband had the warm crab dip appetizer at The Bistro (which has an odd setup, btw. Why does it feel like a dressed up warehouse? Is it also part of the renovations?) The "warm" crab dip, served in a small skillet, was ice cold in the middle. He sent it back to finish being heated and when they brought it back it was hot all the way through. He enjoyed the dish (I tasted it and it was good, if a bit overly fishy.) Unfortunately, several hours later my husband ended up having a very upset stomach that lasted most of the night. We had also ordered a mushroom pizza, but weren't as hungry as we thought, so had them box it up and took it back to the room. I mention this to point out that my husband hadn't eaten anything else that day since our lunch 8 hours earlier. All that said, we still enjoyed our stay overall and plan to return. Will steer clear of the crab dip, though.

Travel Date: January 31, 2025

Had an overall pleasant and relaxing weekend getaway. The lobby and valet area is organized and very inviting. Staff were always polite and a few were exceptionally thoughtful. Special thanks to Lina at the front desk for getting us settled earlier, and Galina the tennis pro for re-stringing our racquet...

Had an overall pleasant and relaxing weekend getaway. The lobby and valet area is organized and very inviting. Staff were always polite and a few were exceptionally thoughtful. Special thanks to Lina at the front desk for getting us settled earlier, and Galina the tennis pro for re-stringing our racquet within one day! A few areas we felt could be better: -the rooms are spacious and clean but clearly old (chipped furniture, peeling paint, rip in curtains, bathtub wouldn’t drain). The current condition is not aligned with the $800/night weekend rate at all. -valet never answered their phone, but if you called front desk sometimes the message didn’t get passed on. We called early but occasionally the car would be retrieved only when we showed up. This is crazy given the valet (your only parking choice) is $70 per night. -we ate breakfast twice at The Bistro, the hostess team are lovely and the produce quality is excellent! On Saturday they had the buffet, however between sitting down and getting our check we never saw our server, and thus never informed that there were options you could order. We didn’t know pancakes were included until we heard another family order them as we were leaving. Also, the coffee is burnt and very bitter. The buffet for two ($120 after gratuity) would be worth it if those two things were improved. -the grounds are immaculately maintained with the exception of broken glass along some trails and beach areas. It’s further (toward the golf course) but a hazard if you’re in sandals. The property is a jewel and we hope to see them at their full potential.

Travel Date: December 31, 2024

Absolutely lovely Oasis for a break from the grind. Beautifully maintained facility and gracious staff. I had some concerns from reading the reviews of this hotel -- but I had a great experience -- and I would stay here again if in the area. Staff across the board were gracious...

Absolutely lovely Oasis for a break from the grind. Beautifully maintained facility and gracious staff. I had some concerns from reading the reviews of this hotel -- but I had a great experience -- and I would stay here again if in the area. Staff across the board were gracious and accommodating from check-in to check-out. I'd recommend opting for a Club Level room. The 5 meal services offered by the Cloud area great -- even if touted as light and appetizers -- we found them more than sufficient. There were lots of extra on Christmas day - Prime Rib, Ham, Salmon -- I wouldn't expect those to be standard fare. The beach and water area scenic -- but there isn't much to do there and they aren't too accessible. Overall a truly great place -- which of course comes at a high price -- but worth it for a treat.

Travel Date: December 31, 2024

The Ritz Carlton Bacara is a great place to stay if you are going to be in the Santa Barbara area. The resort is just beautiful. The location is amazing. The rooms are nice. But what makes the resort so wonderful is the people. My wife and I wanted to...

The Ritz Carlton Bacara is a great place to stay if you are going to be in the Santa Barbara area. The resort is just beautiful. The location is amazing. The rooms are nice. But what makes the resort so wonderful is the people. My wife and I wanted to have a quaint getaway. Somewhere private, quiet and relaxing. We have stayed at this resort in the past and had a very nice time. This time our experience was made even more special by the attentive staff team at the resort. While they were all very nice - from valet to housekeeping, the concierge and the restaurant staff, there was one person who was a standout for us. Mr. Benjamin Kessler. Mr. Kessler is the Room Operations Manager. He was fantastic. He was personable, friendly, courteous, professional and just a pleasure to chat with. I spoke with him a few times during our stay. He would always remember my name and consistently asked if there was anything he could do to make our stay even better. Each time I spoke with Mr. Kessler I walked away understanding that he genuinely cared about our experience at the resort. If you are in the area and looking for a wonderful getaway, this is the place. Leonard

Travel Date: December 31, 2024

Fabulous four days at Bacara. So nice to be there in the off season. The hotel/grounds themselves are beautiful and every staff member we interacted with genuinely wanted to do everything they could to give us the best experience possible. Speaking of which, there are several staff we especially wanted...

Fabulous four days at Bacara. So nice to be there in the off season. The hotel/grounds themselves are beautiful and every staff member we interacted with genuinely wanted to do everything they could to give us the best experience possible. Speaking of which, there are several staff we especially wanted to thank because of the truly top-level caring they extended to us. There was some miscommunication between Marriott central reservations and the resort and Pat (the Rooms Controller at Bacara) went absolutely above and beyond to resolve all of it quickly and make things a stress-free pleasure for us (and then on a day when Pat was out of the office, Bonny seamlessly picked things up and took care of us wonderfully too when we decided to extend our stay). We sincerely appreciate both of them and all their true thoughtfulness. Also, our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Maria Sanchez, who was the housekeeper for us during the duration of our stay. Not only did she do the most detailed and outstanding job in bringing our room to a magnificent standard, but she also was just so incredibly warm, kind, thoughtful and caring, wanting to do anything she could to help make our stay better and more comfortable. The three of them made us feel some of the most taken-care-of we've ever experienced in our 25 years of global travel. Food/Drink at the resort overall was really impressive. Some memorable dishes include the truffle fries from Room Service (perhaps an odd dish to comment on, but these somehow arrived still so shatteringly crisp and hot that they certainly warrant mentioning) and the pizzas (also, not something we'd normally order at a resort, but clearly there is a passion for high-end pizza here so we ordered several of them, and they were outstanding- even the gluten-free crust options were really good). Also, we should mention that the resort took tremendous care any time a gluten allergy was mentioned. Cocktails were all top-notch. On a small note, somethings we would have loved to have seen more of on the menus were local/regional specialties like the steamers, oysters and crab that Central Cali is known for, and Santa Maria BBQ. The Spa was also outstanding. A beautiful space, and all of our treatment experiences were super. Thank you so much to everyone at the Resort for making our stay so memorable, with sincere appreciation to Pat, Bonny and Maria. We're really looking forward to our next visit.

Travel Date: December 31, 2024

Stayed here on weekend and had great stay. We were pleasantly surprised to have been upgraded to nice room/suite with partial ocean view (we are Ambassador status). We also used the concierge Dorothy Shaner was wonderful! She gave us so many great recommendations for wine tasting. She was pleasant charming...

Stayed here on weekend and had great stay. We were pleasantly surprised to have been upgraded to nice room/suite with partial ocean view (we are Ambassador status). We also used the concierge Dorothy Shaner was wonderful! She gave us so many great recommendations for wine tasting. She was pleasant charming and witty! We took her wonderful recommendations to heart and visited two wineries she recommended Sanford and Pence. Nhi Le, concierge, was also was helpful for dinner recommendations etc. Overall we had a great stay and would come back!

Travel Date: November 30, 2024

We had a wonderful stay for our anniversary. The service was amazing and every staff member we encountered was warm and helpful. They are very well staffed just in general, and you can tell that they take a lot of care in who the hire. From the front desk to...

We had a wonderful stay for our anniversary. The service was amazing and every staff member we encountered was warm and helpful. They are very well staffed just in general, and you can tell that they take a lot of care in who the hire. From the front desk to the valet team, they were terrific. There are a lot of nice touches (sparkling wine every evening in the lobby, transport with your luggage via golf cart, etc.). Our room was private and cozy with a fireplace. It is a close drive into downtown Santa Barbara, but there are also multiple restaurant options at the hotel, including a nice buffet (or menu) breakfast. The hotel design and location next to the ocean feels secluded and relaxing. There are multiple heated outdoor pools and Jacuzzis and a nice gym and spa. The rooms could be updated a bit, but they are charming and we loved the design and feel of the hotel and grounds.

Travel Date: November 30, 2024

The Ritz Carlton Bacara is a beautiful resort with friendly customer focused employees. The food was excellent - the breakfast buffet was outstanding! The entire property was clean & very well maintained. We appreciated the complimentary E-bikes.

Travel Date: October 31, 2024

Can’t say enough wonderful things about our experience. From the start we were greeted by the friendly valet staff. Sam checked us in and he made us feel so welcomed and at home. Everyone was absolutely friendly and warm. We were here celebrating our anniversary and so glad we have...

Can’t say enough wonderful things about our experience. From the start we were greeted by the friendly valet staff. Sam checked us in and he made us feel so welcomed and at home. Everyone was absolutely friendly and warm. We were here celebrating our anniversary and so glad we have been doing this now for the past few years. This lovely resort will remain an annual tradition. Their grounds are beautifully maintained and service is impeccable.