Painted Gorge Tours

I liked the size of the rooms and the comfortable beds. What I didn't like was you had to check in on a computer kiosk. Very strange, In all my traveling I never experience something like that. I always enjoy speaking to a human being. It makes it more welcoming and personable. They should post that on their website. I saw people freaking out that they could not find a person to talk to.

This was a good place for a quick trip to Santa Cruz. We stayed with our family of 5 for one night. There was plenty of space for all of us. They only have stairs so if you need an elevator you would need to request the first floor. The place is a bit run down however, if the only thing you need is a clean place with a bed to sleep in then this will work for you. The walking distance to the boardwalk was great. It made it easy for us to come and go as needed. Our room was right by the patio on the second floor where people would hang out and smoke. I wasn’t a fan of that because we could smell it in the room. The beds were not super comfortable but you get what you get for the price.

We originally booked one of the cheap rooms. But I couldn’t get over the style discrepancy. So I decided to upgrade to a red premium rooms as a surprise for my partner. Unfortunately, when I arrived, they didn’t have any knowledge of my room upgrade. We walked into the original room instead of the surprise. When we went back down to alert them to the error, I found out they’d given my room to someone else!! And after blaming Expedia for the error, they weren’t terribly apologetic or helpful. My surprise was ruined…. Which really bummed me out. But they gave us a comprable room and we made the best of it. The blue room was beautiful—we loved it. And the vibe of the hotel grew on me throughout our stay. It’s kinda dated and shabby. A lot of the art isn’t good. But it’s got CHARACTER! Being there feels like a fever dream-from the crowd to the improv jazz upstairs, it’s a vibe. A totally unique experience. So in the end I was happy. But they DO need to work on a few things—the bathroom near the pool had no toilet paper or seat covers. When I’m paying over $1K per night, I expect more. The service wasn’t particularly friendly or helpful. We never knew what the WiFi was, nor did anyone tell us how to find the pool and the jazz. The place smells like an eccentric old man, and kinda feels like that too. It’s not for everyone. But if you’re looking for a romantic hidden gem and like an out-of-the-box experience, this might be it!