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The Capitola Hotel
- Price Range:
-
$$$
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Mission Inn
- 12 reviews
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"my boyfriend and i had a fantastic time staying here for one night on valentine's day. the room we got had an in room jacuzzi big enough…" read more »
4 reviews for The Capitola Hotel
Nice place, cool town, and friendly staff. But I would never stay there again.
When you walk a hotel room and see earplugs - leave quickly. There is a reason.
We stayed there on a Friday night in June. After a wonderful night walking around the beautiful town, we retired to our 2 rooms. My wife and daughter in one, son and I in other because the only room that would accommodate all 4 of us was booked. My room faces the street - nice view during the day, but faces several noisy bars at night. Loud crowds kept me up till 2:00 am. When the crowds dispersed, the bar clean up began - including the throwing buckets of beer bottles into the metal trash/recycling bins. The loud sound of crashing bottles lasted until 3:00 am.
Kept my wife up too. At about 2:30 she texted me seeing if I was still-up. We went down to the lobby area and had a cup of tea while we chatted.
Finally around 3:00 am all was quiet. so we were able to drift off not realizing that all that trash had to go somewhere. Sure enough, and a little before 6:00 am the garbage trucks came to collect the bottles and other trash. Another round of crashing and breaking glass.
Just didn't work out well.
They have coffee and danishes in the lobby and a little patio outside to relax in. It's right downtown in the old part of Capitola, so the location is ideal. Right by the beach too.
But only stay there is you can sleep through all the noise.
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We had a four-star experience and one-star customer service and employee interaction. This unfortunately tainted and negated anything positive. I should mention that I grew up in the Capitola/Santa Cruz area and lived there for over twenty years. Having said that, the Capitola Hotel is ideally located across from numerous restaurants, cafes, shops and of course the Capitola Wharf and beautiful beach. The rooms, patio and lobby's decor are mildly Caribbean, and we were very happy with our room. Even the price was not that bad compared to lodgings up and down the California coast (Big Sur to Fort Bragg). But that is where the positivity unfortunately ends.
Parking in Capitola Village is horrendous during most of the day. It is almost impossible to find a spot near the hotel. The alternative is parking 6 - 8 blocks away in the Village Beach parking lot. Also, this hotel is a favorite among weekend bikers. This particular group stayed up late and overfilled all the trash cans in the lobby with wine and beer bottles. I ran into one biker during the night and he had a grocery bag full of beer, we both simultaneously looked at the closest filled trashcan to which he said, "It's OK. We're going to pee in them later!" Weird. I was unclear whether he meant the empty bottles or the trashcans!
Two weeks after our stay, we find that two separate cards were charged the same amount by the hotel. One card was used to pay over the phone, the other, quite by mistake, we used to check in. This last one was so unexpected that it caused an overdraft on our account. It took us several days to contact the Manager, Susan. We left two messages which were never returned. And when we finally did reach her, she first tried to argue that one charge was a pre-charge and was pending which was not true. Then she offered no refund or compensation and absolutely no apology. She simply said she was on vacation during our stay as if this got her off the hook for over charging us.
Finally, after much effort and inconvenience, we worked it out. There still has been no apology. There are far better hotels and b&bs in the area for around the same price and without the hassle. I would stay clear of this place because you don't want to be dealing with customer service mistakes weeks after your vacation.
I would have to echo the comments of the other 2 reviews before me.
I enjoyed Capitola and I had a good time, but I would not return to Capitola Hotel. If the rooms were about 1/3 to 1/2 the price, then I might consider it.. but, at over $150 a night for a 11'x12' (tiny) room and the necessity to wear earplugs to sleep.. well, let's face it folks, you can do much better, even in Capitola.
Unfortunately for us, they DID NOT leave us earplugs the first night and we had no idea how much noise there was going to be from the nearby bars.. the live music was tolerable. The hooting and hollering until 2 am was really obnoxious... that coupled with the phones ringing at 7:30 am and fire alarms sounding in the rooms (for no apparent reason).. let's just say the stay at the Capitola Hotel was definitely the LOWLIGHT of our stay. Of course, when we complained to staff about the numerous issues, we were given excuses and blank stares. But, you can bet we did make sure we had earplugs for the 2nd night!
I found the Capitola Hotel through http://bedandbreakfast... and for that reason, I was under the illusion that it was a B&B. Boy, that was a mistake! Unless you consider comp. coffee/tea and a plastic wrapped danish to be a breakfast, you are going to be sorely disappointed if you are looking for B&B service here! It is really a motel with no dedicated parking, at B&B prices. It is clean and well maintained, I will give them that. The staff was polite, sympathetic and somewhat helpful, if not a bit misinformed and apparently unable to remedy any problems. The location is ideal, as it is right in the middle of downtown and that makes it easy to run back to the room to freshen up or drop parcels while shopping. But, keep in mind that even with the parking pass they issue guests, you are on your own to find a parking place and even in the off-season, that can be nearly impossible.
If you go to Capitola, I suggest the Inn at Depot Hill ( http://www.yelp.com/bi... ). I would also suggest you make advance reservations for dinner at the Shadowbrook Restaurant ( http://www.yelp.com/bi... ) and have lunch (or brunch) at Zelda's on the Beach ( http://www.yelp.com/bi... ), the service is spotty, but the food and the views more than make up for it. Also, I might suggest you book a few hours at Caress Day Spa ( http://www.yelp.com/bi... ). It is about .6 mile from downtown, a bit of a walk or a very short drive, but it really is a 5-star day spa with very reasonable prices and excellent spa services.
Avoid the Capitola Hotel (see above) and the Fog Bank Tavern as well as the Wharf House (see my reviews there, if you want more). Parking in and around Capitola totally sucks and your best time to visit is the off-peak season (September-May), particularly if you get a few days of clear weather. We went the last week of November (2008) and it was absolutely fantastic. Clear skies and balmy days, a bit chilly after dark, but no lines/waits and plenty to do and see around town.
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I've been meaning to yelp this one for the past month...Went there for my anniversary and had a pleasant, but not outstanding stay. The location is ideal, with walking distance to the beach, but the room we stayed in left much to be desired. We stayed in the Paradise Room. It was the lone room located on the lower level and was right by the front desk so you could hear everything that was going on in the lobby area. They supply you with earplugs, but who wants to actually wear earplugs to sleep? The shower had no tub and had this strange bench to sit on. The television was well equiped, however they provided no channel guide in the room so we had to keep guessing where we were. On the plus side, the staff is warm and accomadating (they should be as they weren't very busy) and they had a nice variety of teas, cocoa and coffee. We may go back, but would make sure we had a different room.
