Belmond El Encanto Reviews

The Belmond Hotel, which opened in 1918, has hosted the likes of Hollywood royalty like William Clark Gable. Decades later his only child and son John Clark Gable and Debra Hartsell Gable married on September 5, 2020, at the same location. We worked with Irene Robles, Event Planner for The Belmond Hotel. We thank the entire staff for making our wedding a "Dream Come True".

We originally had plans to have wedding in Hawaii however due Covid 19 the wedding had to be canceled. Thankfully we came upon Belmond El Encanto where we were able create a wedding beyond expectations thanks to the help of Irene Robles, the meeting and event coordinator. In three weeks we were able to re-plan and have our wedding on the original date. Irene was beyond accommodating and was very professional and responsive to all questions and needs. Any request was fulfilled and delivered with no hesitation. Food and service also was beyond expectations and left our guest feeling amazed with the wedding. Irene was able to overlook and organize our whole event from the beginning to end and managed all her staff to give us the best service during the event and our whole stay at Belmond. Highly recommend to work with the Belmond hotel!

Santa Barbara is our favorite city in California, so naturally that’s where we felt we should wed. We looked at dozens of places, but as soon as we drove up to the El Encanto, we knew it was right. The hotel grounds are beautiful and stunning, the employees are kind and there’s this quiet peacefulness in the air that is literally palpable. We had a small ceremony in the Oak Tree Suite and party in the Channel Islands room. We got a lot of compliments on the food and location. It was beyond anything I could ever dream of, I only wish I could do it again!

Belmond El Encanto is incredible in every way. It's a beautiful resort in beautiful Santa Barbara. We had originally booked a different venue that I wasn't happy with, but we couldn't find anything better after numerous tours. I found El Encanto online and figured I might as well email them as a last try. I emailed Devin on the Fourth of July and she responded almost immediately. As soon as we saw the venue we were blown away. It fit the elegant look I was going for with our wedding perfectly. Beyond the beauty of the venue, the staff is all incredibly friendly and accommodating, especially Devin. I could not say enough good things about her; she's so kind and helpful. Also, the appetizers, dinner, and drinks were all phenomenal. They even agreed to serve green beer for our St. Patrick's Day wedding. Finally, they didn't have any stupid rules and they were very clear and accommodating about payments. Belmond El Encanto made our wedding day absolutely perfect and I'm very grateful to them for it.

Devin was our wedding coordinator and she did an amazing job! She made all aspects of our wedding so relaxed so we could fully enjoy or wedding. I would highly recommend Belmond El Encanto and Devin!

Our wedding at the El Encanto was everything we could have ever imagined and more! The El Encanto is top notch, tip to toe, from the property, to the staff, and the service! For the wedding of your dreams in Santa Barbara, I highly encourage you to make El Encanto a part of your beautiful celebration!

El Encanto is one of the most beautiful venues in Santa Barbara, as well as one of the most expensive. Our experience getting married here was filled with highs AND lows, unfortunately.

Based on the actual day-of, we would rate this five stars--the event was gorgeous, things went smoothly, the staff onsite was friendly and helpful. However, based on our nearly 3 years planning the wedding, we would be obligated to rate this at only one or two stars. The turnover in staff at El Encanto was shocking--our original point of contact, who was quite knowledgeable and helpful, ended up leaving...along with her 2 replacements that followed! This was extremely frustrating for us as we planned our event; each time we had a new contact resulted in frustration because our records were not well-maintained/passed along between the new and old employees. This honestly made the planning process go from fun and exciting to exhausting and dreadful. Finally, thankfully, our FOURTH point of contact (Liza) was very helpful and understanding. She turned our experience around with her patience, sweetness, and excitement. I hope all future couples get to work with Liza!

If you choose this venue, please take my advice and get EVERYTHING in writing. I was very thankful to have several promises saved in writing via email trails, as I needed them later to get El Encanto to follow through on. Keep your notes handy in case of turnover or forgetfulness. Also note that they are not especially generous when it comes to treating the bride and groom to any extras or bonuses (hardly any discount offered at all on a room onsite, etc.).

Overall, the beauty of this venue and the friendliness of the staff (those who are still there!) make this a great venue.

There are many gorgeous venues in this town that I would suggest, but this is not one of them. Working with their team to plan a simple event (dinner on a reserved patio) was a nightmare. After signing our contract, they kept our signature page, but attached a different contract (with our names), doubled the quote and charged our credit card (double!) This is, of course, completely illegal. After that, every single interaction was a struggle. Things were constantly being miscommunicated between the team and we consistently received the wrong information or had to clarify between the different staff members. There were far too many infuriating exchanges to list here, but the struggles continued throughout and up until the very last minute of our event, when they insisted we hadn't paid so we had to get up from our table to show them receipts via email. This was very embarrassing as it looked to our guests that we couldn't pay for dinner. The general manager was apologetic and offered to have us back to provide us with a gift. We declined. Two weeks later I received an email that was about me, but meant for someone else. Not a good look in the hospitality world! The venue is gorgeous, but clients beware! I'd been warned by several people prior to signing and wish I'd booked elsewhere.