Find the Cheap Santa Cruz County Hotels

We lived in this area for 30 years, and after 15 years away, came back for a visit. In my search for a hotel, I found the Best Western was the most affordable. I was very familiar with the location, but had never stayed there. I was pleasantly surprised! The gal at the front desk was very friendly and accommodating. She put us in a room which was on an upper floor, towards the back but away from the pool and highway traffic noise. The room & bed were very comfortable and had a great A/C system with a continuous fan, which was appreciated!!. The grounds and hallways were kept very clean. The breakfast was good with lots of choices and great coffee!! Only complaints, the bathroom area needs a hook or towel bar by the sink to hang towels on and the bathtub should have a bath mat. I had to put down a hand towel on the floor of the tub to keep from slipping. Otherwise - a great stay in the old home town!

The staff turnaround is awful and they will not honor what the previous employee offered. We booked about 35 rooms for 2 nights and they they could said they could not comp the room for the Bride & Groom. They said we could extend the bar for 2 hours at $150 per hour but changed it to $200 and said well the rate just recently went up. They charged $500 additional for ”outside alcohol” brought in which was in the contract, I personally did not see any outside alcohol, they said they told ”someone” no outside alcohol was allowed but did not contact the person that signed the contract. This was not a private bar night so who knows who brought in alcohol? In addition they charged $243 service charge on the $500 stating this was standard at 27% plus $111 tax on service but said it was not for service? So $853 additional WTH we could have had an open bar with food for that amount. To get a bill for $1254.44 to keep the bar open for 2 hours after we paid for all of our drinks and rooms is outrageous! In addition, they said the bar would be open until 11pm Friday night and even though are guests were at the bar they closed at 9:30. Breakfast in the morning took about an hour as they had 1 cook and 1 waitress although they knew we had a wedding block. They basically said too bad so sad. So frustrated and disappointed!

This resort/conference grounds is in a great location, and has extensive walking paths through the woods (make sure you know what poison oak looks like!). My husband and I like our longs walks so that part was nice, although the trails are not well marked. However, the room was very small---no place to sit except the bed--and smelled like very old funky carpet. For the price we were very disappointed in the room. Mini fridge was provided, but no microwave--very inconvenient not to be able to even heat up a cup of coffee. They offered to rent me a microwave for $15/day!! Seems very unreasonable, especially because the restaurant on-site was only open for dinner. Luckily town was only a 10 minute drive away. We also had a terrible experience in their supposedly ”nice” restaurant. Terrible service, food was bland, and when they brought our bill she handed us TWO tickets--she had rung up someone else's dinners on my credit card in addition to ours! Wouldn't you notice when you handed someone two credit card bills at one table? The staff did not seem very concerned about this at all (maybe they make mistakes like that frequently??). Very shabby treatment. I lived in Santa Cruz for 10 years some time ago, and I know the property has been there a very long time---they think the have a reputation as 'top-shelf' resort in the area, but I would definitely disagree.

We like this location because we have family nearby. The hotel is clean and comfortable. And the in-house restaurant is excellent. However, this ”housekeeping on request” policy is extremely irritating. Completely uninformed, we returned to our room at the end of our first day and it hadn't been cleaned. Apparently they only clean the room every five days. My wife called for housekeeping service and was told, ”they would try to fit us in”. Which they did. Including, thankfully, replenishing the in-room coffee supplies. This “full service” hotel actually expects you to collect your own coffee supplies at the front desk every day. I have been travelling for business and pleasure for over 50 years and I have never encountered such lame service at a so-called “full-service” hotel. And to add insult to injury, they call this housekeeping service-on-demand “complimentary”, aka “free”. Funny, I thought I was paying for it. Yes, there are fine-print placards everywhere that explain the policy, but I just tune all that crap out. I especially don’t like being scolded to “conserver water” when the faucet provides almost no flow and it has to run for five minutes before you get any hot water. If they want us to conserve water, they should install a hot-water recirculation system, as many other “full-service” hotels have done. Yes, a hot-water recirculation system uses more energy in order to use less water. Pick your poison. There is no free lunch. Next irritant: Pool and spa hours. Inside the pool enclosure, there is a permanent professional metal sign that clearly says the pool hours are from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm. Very reasonable. However, on the locked gate, there is a hand-made paper sign that says 8:00 am to 10:00 pm. A pre-breakfast swim is thus not possible. Not reasonable. Again, this might be expected at a two-star hotel, but not here. Next irritant: Lousy maintenance. In the fifth-floor corridor, 50% of the overhead lights are either broken, missing their bulbs, or hanging down from their wires. Not very classy. Next (minor) irritant: No task lighting over the coffee prep area. As you prepare coffee, you are literally casting a shadow over the work area. And all the lights in the room are very dim. Finally, a note about security at the front desk. We did not initially go to the front desk to check in. We checked in online while enroute and used a “digital” key to go directly from the back parking lot to our room. Which is very convenient because it’s miles (and two elevator trips) from the fifth floor (back building) to the front desk. Later, when I waltzed up to the front desk and asked for my plastic keys, the nice lady handed them over, with a very nice smile. Without asking for ID. Not good; I could have been any random criminal. I certainly don’t blame the nice front desk lady for this obvious gap in management policy. In summary, I might stay here again in the future, but if I do, my expectations will be way lower next time.

Stayed 1 night during road trip. Rooms were comfy and clean. Was in room 104, ground floor close to the vending machines. No issues. Slept well. A/c worked great and staff was friendly. For the price and quality it was comfortable for what it was. Had a car and drove around rather than walked but everything was so closeby. The beach, Trader Joe’s and target were all 5 min. away and 20 min. from nearby redwood park. Would recommend. Breakfast was very bare but had the Activia yogurt and some packaged baked goods.

My family was doing vacation on a limited budget and the Hitching Post fit the bill. Sheri, the owner, was an excellent hostess. The room was one of the cleanest hotel rooms ever. My son struggles with contamination OCD and nothing freaked him out about this room. Yes, it is an older hotel but it is well maintained. Drawbacks for some travelers would be breakfast is not included and there are limited restaurant options. However, our double full-size room had a microwave and fridge. We always bring food with us so this was not a problem. It located about to miles from the turnoff for the north rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Since one has to drive a good distance between the north and south rims, this was an ideal place to spend one night.