Ritz-Carlton Bacara

One of my favorite books is "You can't go home again" by Thomas Wolfe.  A large part of my life was coming to peace with the fact that as much as I fantasized as to how wonderful places I had been and lived were so great I had to learn to accept that when I returned years later it simply was not the same place I remembered and too many times the reality of today was that those places had changed for the worst and were nothing like I wanted to remember.  Very sadly we are highly disappointed on our return to the Bacara.  It is not what it was 16 years ago.  The good news is the physical plant, buildings and architecture, and grounds continue to be beautiful and compelling.  Other than that the place has gone down hill. To begin with there was a serious lack of dining venues. My understanding from discussions with some resort managers is the hospitality industry as a whole is doing away with room service, fine dining, and any kind of up scale food service and instead concentrating on banquet services and low end dining venues with very limited menu selections at fairly high prices for what you get. Example a $30 hamburger or a $26 Pina Colada or a $48 breakfast buffet and all of them ++ and I should say for parties of 8(think families with small children) a 26% service charge the highest I have ever seen. They say they lose money on food and beverage especially room service. How the Bacara loses money is beyond me at those prices. All the bean counters do is concentrate on the bottom line of every venue. Instead of looking at the bottom line at the end of the year for the venue as a whole and a list of happy complimentary customers who appreciate the good service and great dining options the company higher ups decide to only concentrate on the big ticket items like gala dinners for 200 people at a company function. We live on an Omni Resort that has publicly stated as far as they are concerned they would offer no dining options on property. To their credit on check in they provide you with a list of nearby restaurants to go to for meals. The evening we arrived at the Bacara there were no available dining options for dinner other than limited room service as they were involved with a large corporate event that for all intents shut down everything. When staff was asked what alternatives they might recommend they stated "We don't know please hold why we ask someone else? In addition we had breakfast one morning that for two people was over $100 and had to complain to the manager as my wifes meal was never delivered to the table. Excuse me? Coming from a high end Ritz resort. To me unacceptable. There was a serious lack of attention to detail. Our first night after arrival we tried to turn on a lamp only to find out the bulb assembly area had broken loose and the bulb and wires were hanging down. We wanted to use the coffee machine only to find the water reservoir with a crack in it. We requested special bed linen procedure due to a medical condition and just prior to bed on returning from a walk they completely ignored our requests. But what was most alarming was every day we were there even after explaining the situation to the housekeeper in the room they just ignored us and refused to follow our requests, despite this being less of a comfort option and more of a medical need. Again too many small things which pointed to a lack of care and attention to detail. When were they going to replace a broken lamp, once someone got electrocuted? It seemed that no one communicated concerns or areas that needed attention and certainly did not reflect the kind of attention you should expected based on the price they were charging. I was clear communication that management is more interested in making money than taking care of their customers which is a 100% deal breaker for me and mine. I am more than willing to pay high prices for outstanding products and service. My experience is you get what you pay for and I expect to receive the service paid for. But at some point prices become completely offensive and have no relation to what you are receiving. I believe today it is because today's managers are following what I have been told is the Harvard business model which is to charge whatever the market will bear and you will eventually learn how high you can go when people stop buying your product. This is in contrast to what I believe should the model which is what I call the Henry Ford model which is produce and make the best high quality product at the lowest price possible making a reasonable profit and make money by selling millions or billions of units of your product. It took a while but I finally reviewed their better wine list and the wine prices were the highest I have ever seen and to me offensive. In general you did not receive good value for the prices they charged. In comparison today we love Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, California whose prices are as high or higher than the Bacara but the food, beverage, and service, even at a higher price, provided us with great value and we can't wait to return to Pelican Hill and hopefully it is a place we can come home again without being disappointed. It is my opinion that staff was unable to deliver service because their hands were tied by managements policy and procedures. It is obvious every staff person has been trained to say at the end of their conversation with you to say ":And if there is anything you need please do not hesitate to ask and we will take care of it immediately". It was very frustrating to speak with staff and have them tell you they could not help you and then tell you to go ahead and ask again for anything. It was maddening and obvious that management had no intention of the staff being authorized to do something different other than to tell you please ask for help over and over. We asked for housekeeping cleanup between 9 and 10 AM and vacated the room so they could do it. We returned at 11:30 AM and they had not been there and the rest of our stay showed up later in the day usually when we were trying to take a nap. Staff was friendly and available but in the end lacked any authority to actually help you. Here is an example of what we expect. We arrived at the Grand Hyatt in Tampa years ago late at night and worn out. We were going to get room service but nothing on the room service menu appealed to us. We called the front desk and explained the situation and they said let us bring all of our restaurant menus to your room and you can order anything from any menu and we will deliver it to your room. Forget the Bacara doing anything like that, they might lose $20. I can tell you to this day we have driven 100 miles out of our way to repeatedly return and stay at the Grand Hyatt Tampa which we highly recommend to you. The Grand Hyatt staff is empowered by management to care for their guests and make on the spot decisions to solve problems for their guests. Our experience is that the Bacara does not, but trains the staff to always say “Please call us anytime for anything and we will take care of it immediately” despite having no authority to do anything. One small insult was when we checked in a hold was placed on my credit card at check in to guarantee payment. This is not unusual as most hotels today do this but it is usually a modest amount so far in my experience. What was insulting is the entire stay plus in my opinion an excessive additional amount was added to I assume cover 3 meals a day for 2 people at inflated prices again to guarantee payment that of course would not be charged at check out if not used. But ask yourself what message does this send. I received the message we are primarily interested in full payment or guarantee of same at the start of your stay and we do not trust you and frankly don’t care because what is important to us is the money and not you. In the end we were terribly disappointed during our stay at the Bacara and have no intention of every going there again and recommend everyone else stay away. I have seen comments on Trip Advisor where I note multiple terrible and poor reviews echoing my comments. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Read less

Stayed as a family, with our wider family group over New Years. Had a lovely time and greatly enjoyed the grounds, cosy rooms, and beachfront walks. The views from the Bacara are simply fabulous. The pool is lovely, and the spa was beautiful if a little overpriced for treatments. Staff were very helpful and there is a lovely relaxed vibe overall in the hotel. It is a good location for families as they’re very welcoming to kids and our son loved running around the grounds. Hope to stay there again when we visit Santa Barbara! Read less

This oceanfront property is stunning with the various lodging buildings, outdoor space and on-site amenities. The bellhop's golf cart delivery to the room was much appreciated after long flights and travel delays. The spacious room with the soaking tub was a treat, though the property features encouraged me to explore and enjoy the tasting room, coffee house, gift shops, spa, gym, and the lobby's restaurant/bar. The drinks and food were fantastic as was the bartender who shared local tips and spot-on recommendations. The meeting staff was friendly and knowledgeable. All that, then add stunning views once the rain stopped. Enjoy this experience! Read less

Great hotel close to the beach in Santa Barbara. Staff was excellent every day. Loved having the golf cart transport around the property. The guys and spa in separate buildings. At least 3 restaurants on the property. We are at Angel Oak, steakhouse one night and enjoyed smoking cigars at Cobina restaurant. You can even get a smoking jacket and blankets for those chilly nights. We had a room with partial ocean view. Enjoyed this property and it was much larger than I realized. 2 swimming pools and 2 hot tubs. Also had kids activities daily. Onsite wine tasting room and outdoor activities for adults (meditation, beach walk, etc). My husband had special decorations in the room for my birthday from the hotel - balloons and flowers. And chocolates. Would come back for sure. Read less

DONT STAY HERE------Read Review Management-- I've stayed here multiple times over the years. Every time, its gotten worse, this was the final straw. Know your clientele. 90% of the staff are so poorly trained and are open about how awful the hotel has become. Over the course of my stay Bellman , waiter, and 2 valet openly, genuinely enjoyed giving me the inside scoop about how the resort had become Ritz by name only. Favorite comment, it was getting rebranded as a Sheraton because of how far the standards have fallen. Pricing doesn't isn't a major factor when I vacation, I just expect level of professionalism. If your busy I'll wait, crowed I'll wait. What I will not tolerate is apathy, indifference, and laziness by management. I knew well the former GM. Steve, appears David and Allison need to be running a Hyatt not a Ritz. You'll be getting a sight visit from corporate shortly. Read less