AAE Santa Barbara Reviews

This hostel is located in the middle of nowhere. It is very far from downtown or the Amtrak station. It is liveable but pretty cramped. Breakfast comprises of just free pancakes. But the most amazing thing was that the front desk actually closes at certain hours, and even when it is open, the staff I've met knows nothing about Santa Barbara.

A bit far from the beach and the main street, but great atmosphere!

I really enjoyed my stay at this hostel. The only thing is: there are only two showers and no towels for the floor. So if everyone took a shower the floor was very wet. I didn't care, just wanted to mention it. It's nice, that the hostel is not that big so it was a familiar atmosphere. I really liked this. The location was not far away from the beach and the city centre (about 30 minutes walk). So all in all it's pretty nice and I would definitely recommend it!

Unless you're travelling by car, the location of this place is anything but convenient. Don't know how dorms are, but our private room turned out to be heavily overpriced, considering the amenities and service. The absolute worst thing was security: the door of our ground floor-room that led to a small patio had no real lock, so basically anybody that climbed the decrepit patio-fence would have been able to enter the room. Also, the glass in one of the windows was already broken. Avoid this one.

very nice!!!

This is a lovely hostel, it's a small place with lots of character. We met some great people here hanging out in the lounge where they have a tv, sofa, games room and lots of seating. The entire place is very clean and the dorms are pretty spacious. They have lockers and plenty of power sockets. Staff were nice and helpful and generally the hostel and Santa Barbara are a great place to relax. It's a 15 min walk to the main strip but everything you need is close.

the beds are so noisy that you can't sleep well, if you move you wake up the whole room, terrible night... tiny little bathrooms,

Enjoyed my stay here.

This hostel is very unclean and out-dated. It is in urgent need of rennovation- from the dirty carpets to the uncomfortable beds and to get rid of the general pong about the place.. I have stayed at many hostels and this was the worst value for money I have ever come across. 'Daylight robbery' springs to mind. We couldn't be more releived that we only booked one night instead of the original two... Needless to say we drove away from that place like a bat out of hell. .

The rooms were very nice and the beds were huge. The whole building was very very cute. Furthermore, we had a problem with our car and the owner of the hostel let us off the hook by repairing the car! They were very helpful, nice and courteous! Breakfast has been nice as well in case you like pancakes. Do not hesitate to spend some days here :)

This hostel was great! The receptionist Rachel was really helpful and fun to talk to. I would suggest providing blueberries for the pancakes . I already made a reservation for my return.

The bathtub would benefit from a little screen to filter out the hair - it was slow to drain and not pleasant to stand in water in the shower. Cameron and the other wonderful guy who was there, the guy with chocolate milk and Rolos, were very fun to connect with...very kind to me. They were all very kind to me, and I really appreciated being there. I checked 'Good' for atmosphere because at times the house was cold. And 'Facilities' received a 'Good' for the bathtub. Thank you!

Room wasn't very clean, it was small and did not match with the high price that was charged. The location was also terrible and wasn't close to anything we could walk to.

Thanks to helpful and friendly staff I as an older person (over 50) felt welcome. In my 20s traveling in Europe with my Eurail pass and my backpack, I stopped at various hostels, and my stay at this hostel reminded me of those times, in a pleasant way. I was in town to attend a professional conference and appreciated the attention and kindess of the staff.

Really nice staff and pancake breakfast awesome. Easy to meet people on outdoor terrace. One complaint is the mattresses - get new ones!!

Great collection of books and movies as well as netflix/hulu in the living room. Friendly staff. Annoyingly squeaky beds in the dorm room. Bathrooms could use some kind of bath mat as the floors were often wet in the bathrooms for most of the day. Good sized kitchen.

I satisfied with my staying in the hostel. Staff are great, everything else are ok too.

The staff was very helpful and friendly, one gets every information provided for discouvering Santa Barbara and its surrounding. The hostel itself is very clean, the breakfast is awesome, the movie collection is huge and the location well chosen. Yeeeehaaa!

As commented by previous visitors, the beds are the worst part.

2 thumbs UP. Awesome place, great staff, Cameron is fantastic. Highly recommend