Sanja Cota Motor Lodge

People please — it’s not that creepy. It’s a little creepy — the furniture, including air conditioners, doesn’t seem to have been updated since the 60’s (not 1900, wierdo) and I can certainly describe the quality of the shower: painful, since the «massage» shower head was stuck on the «pulverize» setting — but the rug seemed new and everything was clean.
At $ 120 it’s crazy expensive for what you get, but my fiancé and I rolled in at 9:30 on a Saturday night after scouring every campground and hotel/​motel in a 50 mile radius and coming up with nothing — so it was the cheapest around. (I know, we are dumb for thinking we’d go to one of the nation’s premier tourist regions on a whim on a sat. and not getting reservations anywhere. Lesson learned.)
Honestly though the best part about this motel was the wacky, sweet little older lady running the place. She was so cute my fiancé asked if we could take her home. Her presence made the place less scary and even homey. So give her a break. It’s wine country.

I don’t recommend you this place because they don’t change the bed they don’t clean the room or the restroom is a real mess you can see the dirt on pictures like on real that was pretty bad

REDRUM!!! I’m happy I made it out alive because this place had the snuff film ambience of the movie «Vacancy». My girlfriend and I decided to be spontaneous and go to Chumash Casino on MLK weekend and it got too late to drive back to LA. There were no rooms in Solvang (I know, I know — no reservations on a holiday weekend) so we kept driving till we happened upon this nightmare. Paid $ 100 cash, took one look at the Petri dish of a room and politely asked for our money back.
Yadda yadda yadda… the police were able to get a refund from the psycho night manager and were sweet enough to recommend some reputable places several miles away. When I looked in the rearview mirror as we were driving off, the manager was standing behind the car in the glare of the red tail lights staring at us with her head lowered. I thought she was going to burst through the car window screaming «heeeeeere’s Johnny!» I wish I was joking. Spooky!
Don’t stay here without hobo stab insurance.

We should have walked away as soon as we saw the exterior of this place: down-​trodden and unkempt; however, we needed a place to crash after a long day. After checking in, we got to our assigned room. I was not impressed. The carpet was extremely dirty and had random dark stains. There were parts of the ceiling with the paint peeling off. The lamps were outdated and cracked. The chairs were dingy. The beds seemed clean but who knows. After being there for less than an hour we couldn’t fathom spending the night there, so we left. The lady at the info desk didn’t seem to be surprised we were leaving so soon. After returning the key she immediately said «No Refunds!» We were bummed to lose the money we paid but we were more than happy to get the heck out of there!

Don’t believe the poor reviews, it’s not nearly that bad. First thing I noticed upon entering our room (aside from the retro 70’s dècor) was how clean everything was. Not a spot of dust on anything, and I ran my finger across things to prove it. I’m not normally that Monk-​ish, but I just couldn’t believe it. Even the back of the TV was dust free. Who knows why.
My wife says she found a dead spider in the bathroom, but who cares. The shower was amazing. No, really. If for no other reason alone, the showers were worth the stay. The nozzle has this super-​fine mist quality which I can’t quite describe, but it was really great.
Negatives: The alarm clock is exactly 30 minutes slow. Not by chance, I suspect. Sneaky sneaky! So use your own clock, phone, tablet or whatever, unless you plan to be charged another night.

Reet reet reet– If you can’t tell those are the Psycho Violins from the shower scene. So yeah, the place is creepy for sure and unintentionally kitchsy. The maintainance man actually had to go have a key made for us to get in our room. We had a phantom tv that turned off and on and changed channels without warning. The room had a lingering odor of mold, but nothing an air freshner tree stuck in the vent couldn’t take care of. I mean hell, it was only 80 bucks for the night in Santa Ynez. The door had a double lock, safe enough. We did however use our own pillows & blankets, which is probably a good thing since on further inspection the next morning we found some stray porno mags under the bed. If you’re the kind of person whose bothered by these minor details then this probably isn’t the place for you, but if you’re the type to go have a few drinks before hitting the hay and not overthink things too much– well then it’s a good deal. Killers, Schmillers, Geez, Don’t be so stuck up

If you have Halloween fantasies of staying at the Bates Motel this is your dream destination! You must see to believe. It was most likely built in the early 1900’s and has not been touched since. Not a single coat of paint … nothing! I’m told the people that run the place are terribly rude. The only people I could ever imagine checking this place out would be location scouts for Rob Zombie, Criminal Minds, Dexter or a horror movie. This place is so horrifying to just see it is a surreal experience. Your brain has difficulty believing you aren’t on a movie set. I will try to upload pix but if they don’t load check Trip Advisor. Then picture a black night, in the middle of nowhere, a heavy blanket of fog over this Santa Ynez Valley and the humming noise from the errie neon spade-​shaped lights above the 70+ yr old «Motor Lodge» sign … que the music!!!