Go somewhere else. The Bay Front Inn has proved to be a hellscape of modern lodging. On a trip with my partner and her father we arrived, having booked on Expedia, to a receptionist that was unaware of our stay. It was two king bed rooms - no big deal, he punches in our info and gets us our rooms. While at first glance our room seemed perfectly livable for our one night stay, the longer I looked around the more the facade began to unwind. Broken glass in the picture frame. Frayed wires sticking out of what would be the bottom prong of the fridge's plug. Towel racks were not adhered to the sink counter and slid off at the slightest pull. Lamps near the bed do not work. The WiFi password posted on the inside of the door is incorrect. Stains and scuffs, everywhere. However, this initial experience of destitution was only setting the stage for the real problem, which began at 4am. The neighboring room was making far too much noise on the shared balcony of the hotel, and would not listen to any requests to quiet down. Upon one of the many times coming out to ask for the conversation to move, my partner's father was locked out of the room. He had the key, mind you, but the door lock simply stopped accepting any cards, with a periodic red blinking light the only indication that something was wrong. Going down to the main office/lobby, we find that there is no receptionist, the door is left completely unlocked, and every number posted we called went straight to voicemail, including the emergency lockout number (which we could HEAR ringing in the unattended office). By the time we had been locked out for 2 hours, I had to use the bathroom, and so I went into the empty lobby to use the staff bathroom as it was the only one available for me on the property. I am absolutely appalled to find that not only is this bathroom filthy, but there is NO soap whatsoever, which comes as a complete and utter betrayal towards the supposed "care" that this inn has claimed to take during COVID-19 procedures. The legality, or lack thereof, of such practice was enough to make me disgusted and irate. Beyond my own trepidations, this unattended lobby was a glaring target for crime, with a plethora of electronics left behind an unlocked door. By the time it was 9am, still no one had showed up, answered any calls, or given any indication that we were going to be helped soon. This prompted a call to the police, born both out of frustration for our situation as well as genuine worry that this hotel attendant left the lobby in some sort of crisis, hence the open door with no security. After some back and forth with the authorities, we are informed that the owner of the hotel is on the way. When he arrives, he claims to only be the fixer-upper, here to let us into the room. After he used a master key, we finally had access to our room, five and a half hours from the start of this endeavor. He takes our info down, leaves it at the front desk, and tells us that someone will be in contact to handle compensation for our troubles. Only once he leaves do we discover, from a regular resident of the hotel, that he was indeed the owner of the establishment, and had outright lied to us. We learn that his son manages the place, and there is no apparent or consistent work schedule, nor reliable communication at any given time. There are not even any cleaners present in the building and it is 10:05am at the time of writing this review. Our car keys were stuck inside the locked out room, along with a wallet and any means to go enjoy a normal day with friends. It is, at best, an embarrassment to consider this sinkhole of human decency a legitimate hotel business. We came to Santa Cruz, a familiar former home town full of good company, to get away from pre-existing stress. The Bay Front Inn has instead catapulted us into a brick wall of inconsideration, deceit, dereliction, and immobility. I would sooner attempt to sleep on the side of the highway. I would sooner prod a hibernating bear awake to try and sleep in their cave. I would sooner pull a tooth out than to ever have to expend my energy waiting for the most basic of accommodation that this rancid shack failed to provide. To any employees outside of the owning family, you deserve a better job. To the owner who decided that a beach-side hotel should instead be run like a frontier town dying of Cholera, you deserve no success. Do not give this business your money. Go anywhere else.…