Before I start, I gave the hotel owner the option of coming back and doing a review when they have ironed out some of their kinks. I hope to go back and stay there again, so I am going to make this very short, but not so sweet.
When I saw Rio Vista Suites on the Internet, I was very excited for my stay. It is an old Victorian that has been renovated into a nice hotel. It is by far the best hotel in the neighborhood. This is where the Santa Cruz Boardwalk is, so some of this area can be a little seedy.
The hotel is beautiful on the inside and out; they did a nice job of transitioning the property from being a Historical Victorian to a modern hotel. They spent a lot of time and money trying to get it right. But lets face it, sometimes when there are so many complex details, the practicality of the hotel gets lost in translation.
My room was at the very top, with lots of eaves, and a weirdly constructed interior. If you’re tall like me, then this is not the room for you. You will hit your head getting out of the bed and on your way to the bathroom. They do have a construction sign on the wall telling you to watch your head, but to me, that was really tacky. Then, the 4-poster bed also could make you hit your head on the slanted eave wall. Plus the four-poster bed is in the way of seeing the flat screen TV while you’re in bed. The rooms are very noisy; you can hear the front door opening and any of the activity in the common areas, including the lobby. You also have to climb 3 flights of stairs to get up to this room. There are 2 things about this room that I liked: the shower head and the view out of one of the very small windows. I never got to see any of the other rooms to compare, but my room was very awkward. If all of this was not enough to say take a pass, at 2:00 am the very loud fire alarm came on and scared the crap out of me. When I asked the owner about that, he said: “Yes we have a problem with the alarm and we have to fix it.” My stay was very stressful and not relaxing.
They have a continental breakfast in the morning. There is also lemoned water and tea in the lobby all of the time with a cappuccino/espresso and juice center.
Don’t get me wrong, the Rio Vista Suite has lots of potential; they just really need to tweak some of the problems and they will be well on their way. From what I can see on the Internet, some of the rooms do look very well put together and not weird like mine was. I really want to come back for another stay when they are better equipped for me.
Rio Vista Luxury Suites
611 Third Street
Santa Cruz, California, 95060.
Phone: (831) 621-2929
http://www.riovistasuites.com/
