Wyndham Santa Barbara

Having stayed here twice in 2009, I am very pleased to be an owner here. Very quiet with the new patio doors and windows, delightful kitchens & living rooms and beds so comfortable I wish I had them at home. Pool is warm and sunny with pool side bath with showers just steps away.

Limited activities here, so it is peaceful. Beach and full scale Tiki Bar is just across the street at Wyndham Royal Vista. Orientation meeting will introduce outside vendors for daytrips to Key West, Everglades, Miami city tour, scuba trips, and snoekeling trips. Front desk has menus for local food places with free delivery to resort (enjoying lunch/dinners with no cooking). Evening cruise to dinner at Joe's Riverside aboard boat docked here at resort for doing a timeshare tour (or just walk 4/10s of mile to Joe's and buy a real dinner from the full menu for the same costs).

Four stars -- five if on the beach. Big 1BR and 2BR units, don't know about the studios. The 1BR/2BA units are the biggest 1BR units anywhere. Decor is somewhat toned down from pre-hurricane days. You'll like it or not depending on your opinion of what it was like before -- either bright or gaudy. Great views of ocean and/or intracoastal waterway, depending on the unit.

Units are clean, well-maintained, and well-equipped (full kitchens, flat panel TVs in living/bedrooms. Alas, no in-unit washer/dryer; they are next to the elevators. Staff is exceptionally friendly and responsive. Big smiles and waves greet you every time you pass through the lobby. Maintenance calls are answered within minutes. (I agree with fairwynd. Santa Barbara staff is the standard that other Wyndham resorts should strive to meet. Hear that, Ocean Walk??) Covered parking adjacent to resort.

SB is not big on activities but the activities staff will make recommendations and arrange most anything you want. There is a LOT of stuff to do in the metro Fort Lauderdale area -- fishing, snorkeling, SCUBA diving, swamp tours, boat tours of mansions/yachts in the New River area, Florida Keys, casinos, jai alai, musuems, shopping. SB has a small pool and a hot tub but kids will probably find more to do at Royal Vista.

Recommended restaurants include Cap's Place (Hillsboro Inlet area), Malulo's (Peruvian -- great ceviche), Christina's (Greek), Peking Duck (Chinese), Joe's Riverside (seafood and other), Panorama (Brazilian) and of course Stinger's, a really good pizza and beer joint that has a lot more than pizza and beer and isn't really a joint (and you can walk home!).

We own Unit 803 (south facing, 2BR) for a fixed week in July and while it is hot, it is manageable. We had a great time and we'll be back, but maybe not in July!

Other Wyndham resorts need to emulate SB. Owners and guests are treated very well and the units are neat and clean.

I am a fixed week owner at Santa Barbara. After re opening, everything is brand new. Our one bedroom unit is huge. It must be at least 1100 sq feet. It has 2 bathrooms, which is nice, and everything you need. The best things about the resort are: The pool was heated to around 82 or 83 degrees. Also, our unit has 2 balconies, with 3 patio doors, with great views. Parking is right there and the staff were the most friendly. The only down side is there are not many activities, which we don't mind.

Santa Barbara is a gorgeous location, fully remodeled, and is operational as of January 28, 2008!

Renovations are done & the resort is up & running. This is a great location and a really nice place.

Great family vacation place. Great location near downtown Ft. Lauderdale, Las Olas Blvd, and the beautiful beach in Pompano.

The resort is getting a complete renovation and according to Wyndham (who acquired Fairfield Resorts), the resort will be open and fully functioning by the end of November 2007. I can't wait!

The resort is mismanaged, slow progress with the rebuilding, there needs to be a audit done of the financial affairs, the owners association officers just filed a reinstatement of the corporation docs in Feb of this year for the years 2005,2006 and 2007. The hurricaine hit in the fall of 2005 and the corp docs were not even filed with the state of Florida. The property was either uninsured or greatly underinsured. there are huge special assessments happening ECT. Hope it all gets taken care of. We were told we could use the property 30 days ago for our week of July 13th 2007 The developer told us this while they wanted to collect the first of two special assessments this year of 809.00 each PLUS our maintence fees . Now we are told we can't us the week. Resort personal are lieing. Possible fraud.

I don't know what planet the guy below me is on ,but the resort is NOT up and running as of feb 1 ,2007 it has been closed ,and will not reopen for some time,due to hurricane damage in 2005-some say this june -but its just starting to be worked on,it was a very nice resort-will update this posting the end of may 2007....march 22,2008 eveything better resort about 25% open-about time after over 1000.00 special assessment and maint fee increases

DUE to HUGE SURPLUSSES in the BUDGET from Hurricane repairs, It is now all up and running and have reduced annual fees to the following; Studio units $208.17 1 bedroom to $256.52 2 bedrooms to $274.78

ALL redone VERY NICE!!!!

Anyone know what is going on? I have heard rumors that they are going to tear it down!

(FAIRFIELD'S) SANTA BARBARA RESORT *****GOLDCROWN

FOR OCEAN & INTERCOASTAL WATER SPORTS, THERE IS NO BETTER RESORT TO BE A SEASIDE RESIDENCE AND BE ON THE INTERCOASTAL WATERWAY AS WELL.

WE USE AND OWN RESORT PROPERTES WORLDWIDE & SANTA BARBARA RESORT & YACHT CLUB IS LARGE ENOUGH TO MEET ALL YOUR VACATION DESIRES YET SMALL ENOUGH TO ALLOW FOR THE STAFF & MGT TO MAKE YOUR STAY VERY MEMORABLE. A TRUE "DIAMOND " ON THE "GOLD COAST. YACHTING IS GREAT TOO. "WE WILL BE BACK"!! VACATION HAPPINESS!!

5 of us spent a week at the end of April/04. This is a nice spot. We were up high (9th floor) in a corner suite with 1 bedroom. Nice views of the ocean and south towards Fort Lauderdale. This is an older resort but very well mainained.

The suite was spacious (although we definitely would prefer our usual 2 bedroom) with two full baths, two balconies and a very serviceable kitchen.

The resort has limited activities - you can take advantage of the Royal Vista across the street - the beach front bar was great for sipping afternoon margaritas.

The service was excellent and the location great (right on A1A - south of Atlantic Ave) for getting around.

All-in-all, not the nicest resort we've used, but we would go back...

We had a wonderful stay in our two bedroom unit. While we spent much of the time using the beach and pool at the Royal Vista, it was a very short walk and not an inconvenience. Our room was beautiful and spacious and the staff was very responsive. While our first choice would have been the Royal Vista, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would highly recommend the property.

This is resort is just fine not amazing. The nicest part are the rooms. The rest of the facilities are just ok. You have to go to the royal vista accross the street (150 yards) to have access to the nice pool and the beach.

Very nice resort with excellent staff. Beach access right across the street or at affiliated resort one short block away. Only drawback was no in room laundry facilities - coin operated machines on every other floor. I enjoyed my stay so much that I extended it an extra day.

This resort gets redoing every five years and is kept in beautiful and very clean condition. We own week (12). This is a perfect time to go to sunny Florida. The view from the rooms take in the intercoastal waterway on one side and the Atlantic on the other. I find that this Resort puts you in such a relaxing feeling you never want to go home.

Great resort. Very quiet area for the most part. If you want rest and relaxation, you can get it here. This resort has undergone a major facelift in the last year so all the units are shipshape.

Great resort, across the street from the beach, but you can use their sister resort Royal Vista, on the beach just across the street.

They have a yacht available for guest. The resort is located close to Ft. Lauderdale for all the night life. Each unit has a jacuzzi located in the bedroom.