From a partner site
8/10 Good
Charlie B.
12 Sept, 2026
Vista de la Playa stay
Overall, we had a wonderful stay at Vista de la Playa. The location was perfect and the house was equipped well enough for our needs annd comfortable. Everyone was happy there. The space was homey and nicely decorated and had everything we needed essentially. Being Santa Barbara, vacation rentals are not good value for money - it's generally expensive so expectations are somewhat higher. I think we were the first vacation renters in the property so it is worth highlighting some things that came to our attention - especially given we are landlords ourselves :-) The airconditioning definitely needs updating. The only room which benefitted was the primary whilst the vents in the other rooms were very old and no air was coming out or very minimally. Management were super responsive and brought stand alone fans for the other bedrooms so it was not the end of the world but some nights were hot. There was no grill /bbq at the property which is odd for a rental in the US, especially in CA. A bbq was delivered to the house but in week 5 of our 6 week stay. Not the end of the world and we rubbed along without one but it should have been there from the start. The house could do with putting some hooks on backs of doors etc and additional waste bins in bedrooms. The primary suite has blackout Roman blinds but when the wind gets up at night, they rattle noisily against the windows. One of the other bedrooms has cheap metal Venetian blind as does the guest bathroom - and these should be upgraded along with the living room blinds so they fit with the more elevated furnishings. I bought a clothes' airer which I left at the property as there wasn't one and the oven /stove only had one shelf in it and we had to wait a few weeks for a temporary addition to arrive. Again, not the end of the world but since we had to use the oven /stove more frequently in the absence of a bbq/grill, it was a little inconvenient. However - we loved our stay there and created many happy memories with the family there. We would definitely stay again (although we found the primary bed a little small for us as we are used to a King and the mattress a little soft but we adapted to it, no problem) as VROSB are excellent and the location on the Mesa was fantastic. Be mindful of beach tar! We had a tonne whilst we were there which is such a shame but you just need to know how to manage it and have spare slides and sneakers with you which you don't mind being trashed. Thank you so much! (Be mindful of the very particular neighbour next door who shares the driveway. Ironically we were so respectful to her whilst she had an abundance of reno works being carried out on her house during our stay! We didn't mind at all but it was amusing that we weee doing everything right to respect her wishes and not upset her!)