Coastal Hideaways

We rented three separate properties from Melissa at Coastal Hideaways this past summer as temp housing while we moved to SB and found something more permanent. Based on our experience I would recommend you not use this business for your vacation rental. We had issues with each stay and are currently trying to work through a significant overcharge by Coastal Hideaways through both the Better Business Bureau and American Express. Without going into all the detail, we ended up renting properties that were not yet listed on Melissa’s website bc they were new rentals. We agreed to the rentals based on her verbal communication to us about the rental fees. She never sent through contracts for these rentals despite our requesting them six times over the course of our seven week stay. After we checked out, without contracts in place or any communication whatsoever to us about the final bill, she charged our credit card an amount that is more than $ 1,300 over what we were quoted. I don’t know how legally a business can charge you without having a contract in place, but we are taking that up with American Express directly. It has now taken us many hours of capturing and providing documentation to dispute the overcharge. Every step of the way Melissa continues to show that she should not be running a business. I suggest you take your business elsewhere as there are numerous vacation rental agencies in Santa Barbara. 10÷4÷2015. I want to add that we are still going through the dispute resolution process and we just received copies of the documents submitted by Coastal Hideaways to Am Ex. The documents have been falsified so Melissa or a representative from her company have now broken the law. They have submitted first pages of contracts for two properties that we never signed with the second page of our original contract. The dates don’t match and our email documentation proves we did not sign these documents so I have no doubt our case will be strongly made but I’m shocked that the business actually falsified docs and submitted them. I want to repeat my prior advice which is DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY.

Be Forewarned about this company, and Owner. We write this review in our own opinion, and according to court records, all public record.
We returned to our home being rented by this company, and we were told it was ready and cleaned, only to find used condoms in the spa, extensive property and smoke damage.
We hired a lawyer to clean up this mess, and Coastal Hideaways, Melissa Pierson, was found guilty by default by the Superior Court of California for Fraud, Breach of contract, Nearly $ 4000 in damages, and questionable bookkeeping. She was ordered by the courts to pay Thousands of dollars in Legal fees as well.
After doing some research, all facts, we found out we were just another in a long line of unhappy owners and guests, not receiving their deposits back as agreed, or in court with this woman. Her legal record is shocking with 12 or more lawsuits, and an endless list of legal issues, all public record. She seems to say one thing, and do another…
In our opinion, this was really the saddest excuse for management we had ever seen. It took a month to repair the damage this company did to our home. I have never dealt with a more uncaring, unprofessional, and thoughtless person in my life.
Be forewarned. There are many other good companies in Santa Barbara to work with. This is not one of them !!!

We stayed at the property called «Downtown Treasure» in Santa Barbara — 3 bedroom/​3 bathroom Craftsman for a week in March.
The house is lovely — just as elegant and charming as pictured. Every bedroom has a gorgeous bathroom of its own. It is one block from shopping and 3 blocks from a great grocery store and 10 blocks or so from the beach. (Easy, flat bike ride to everything) We rented bicycles from SB Bikes to go (they deliver same day!) and biked everywhere with our kids.
The house was impeccably clean when we arrived and very well stocked with towels, sheets, beach towels, hangers, blankets, dishes, silverware, glasses, Tupperware, pots and pans.
Coastal hideaways has been a pleasure to work with. Very responsive. (My husband sat on the toilet seat and it broke and within 24 hours, coastal Hideaways had it fixed). When we called with inquiries — they immediately responded.
We will definitely be renting this property again soon. It really could not have been more perfect.

My husband and me have been travelling from Scotland for the last eight years to Santa Barbara and have used Costal Hideaways six times using five different rental homes from Melisa. The service we have recived on these visits has been first class. No problems with money. All house well equipped and if I required something with in 24 hours I receved what ever I might need. We have stayed sometimes 10 weeks and up to six months. Reading some of the reviews below… maybe some one has it in for this company? Simply the best for us.

I have rented three homes from Coastal Hideaways in the last two years. My experiences with Melissa and her team have been fantastic. The service is personalized and the selection of homes is great. We will continue to use this company in the future and would recommend it to friends and family.
Colan

Heaven! We booked a stay at «Simply Paradise» though Coastal Hideaways for Christmas 2013 and from start to finish the experience was exceptional. The staff at the Coastal Hideaways office were pleasant and helpful and the house… oh the house! it really was paradise — perched high in the hills, near the botanic gardens, it had breathtaking vistas of the coast line and twinkling city below. Two master suites, with balconies, two lovely bedrooms with shared bath, open kitchen, living room, dining room, den — all surrounded by outdoor decks, patios with grilling station and hot tub (so great after a long hike in the hills!). When we returned home, I phoned to ask how long it would be for the return of our deposit– it was mailed promptly in full and included a reduction in vacation rental tax amount that we had not expected. Fair, honest friendly. We will revisit with Coastal Hideaways often.

Very unprofessional! Their customer service was as bad as it gets. Rude, wouldn’t return our calls, totally messed up our billing. Nice home but spending $ 3,000 and being treated like a second class citizen. Stay away!!!

I have mixed feelings about this company. On one hand, I loved the downtown treasure location in Santa Barbara. The house was well stocked and beautiful and the location was great. However, I was very frustrated with the company after we left. When we arrived at the house both the garbage and recycling were ¾ full. So we just put out our trash in tied up bags and placed it next to the cans. We still get charged from our security deposit for extra trash removal. I’ve called the company 4 times (twice with no answer at all & left two voicemails) and still haven’t spoken to anyone. I guess they feel like since I’ve already paid, providing me with good customer service isn’t important. Would hesitate to use them again which is sad because I loved the property!

My husband and I have used Coastal Hideaways on several occasions and each time the properties & experiences have been wonderful. The homes are ideally located, tastefully decorated, clean and comfortable with all the amenities you could ever think of needing. All questions and concerns are answered promptly with Tracy, a lovely, detailed professional that helped us with all the arrangements, even making suggestions where to go and what to see while staying in Santa Barbara. The cleaning staff were efficient and thorough, even putting a note under each bed stating «they thought you would check under the bed»! (Yes, that’s right, I checked under the bed!)
The owner, Melissa Pierson, prides her self on exceeding the expectations of her clients with a professional team that is dedicated to ensuring memorable stays.
It’s like a good friend has made all the arrangements for you so there is no need to worry about anything. My husband and I strongly recommend Coastal Hideaways and know that Melissa and her team will do everything to ensure that you become a repeat client like myself!

We stayed all summer at two Coastal Hideaways properties and were completely satisfied with the excellent service by their management and staff. All questions were answered promptly and the units were clean and efficient. Melissa and Tracy took care of every need in a very professional manner. This is our second year working with them and we intend to use their services again in the future.

we rented the fairway villa for a week in november and first off i’d like to say that the villa itself was nice enough, however i can not say the same for the management. i can honestly say that i’ve never dealt with such inconsiderate people. this may be a bit long and detailed, but i think people should have the specific details. to begin with when i sent in my reservation form i was charged ½ the balance for the rental but never received any sort of confirmation or receipt from them until i called a month later. i then noticed that check in time is 4:30 pm. this was significantly later than our planned arrival time, so a few weeks prior to the trip i had called to request an earlier check in time if possible. i had explained that we we’re going to be driving 6hrs with 2 small kids — 3year old and 11 month infant and it would be nice to get into the place a bit earlier. the woman i spoke to (can’t remember who) said we could check into the home at 4pm. so as we were driving down i called to confirm this and Tracy very matter of factly stated that this was not ok and that check in time was 4:30. I explained that I had called and made this arrangement several weeks ago, but she repeatedly said no. after much heated discussion she finally agreed to allow us to come to the office which is an additional 20 minutes of driving time out of our way to «check in» — basically resign all documents and give you directions. There is a lockbox for the key at the home. who makes you do all this extra stuff while you are on vacation? i’ve rented dozens of homes via vrbo, and never had to do this. needless to say we didnt’ get to the unit till after 4:30 and she made our journey much more difficult. as we were getting settled i notice there was no garbage can in the kitchen. this is a vacation home, i believe that the purpose of vacation homes is to be able to have a home like situation. that being said we cook a lot, especially with the small kids. I called about this and was told that the garbage can is in a closet across the hall. So basically while you are working and cooking in the kitchen you have to walk over to a closet every time you need to drop something in the trash. I couldn’t just pull it out because of the little kids and it wouldn’t fit under the sink. I asked if they could get a smaller one to put under the sink and Tracy said «no, that’s just the way this unit is!» That night we discovered that the bathroom shower wasn’t draining. I called the next day and she did send someone out to fix it (the only positive that i can say about them). In addition I asked about the path to the beach. The property is advertised as being a «7 minute walk through a nature preserve to the lovely beaches of Goleta» I had actually called to inquire about this detail prior to making the reservation as i specifically wanted to be able to walk with the kids to the beach. I was told that it was definitely 7 minutes or less to «walk.» There are paths, however it takes at least 20 minutes to run to the beach, via any and all routes that i was able to find, and i’m a runner. when i called to ask about the details of the path through the nature preserve, Tracy’s answer was you just have to go look around. I did look around, and asked several other residents of the condominium — there is no way to walk to the beaches in 7 minutes — it was a minimum of 30. So basically it was falsely advertised, then i was lied to about it, and after arriving there they play dumb. Finally TV reception was spotty — just lost the signal intermittently. Called about that, they sent a handyman out, he said it was a cable issue, and then it was never addressed. Overall we had a nice enough time, but that had nothing to do with the management. I would never rent from them again, and recommend that you do not either. Their job is to make your vacation as nice as possible, — bottom line — i don’t think they give a damn.