Santemar has a good location, just a 4 minute walk from El Sardinero. Breakfast is not included and if you decide to have breakfast at the hotel there is not even a menu. Just juice, coffee and a couple of pastries. So I strongly recommend you have breakfast somewhere else. Rooms are not as impressive as the lobby area, but they are ok.
Internet is not included, you must pay for it for a daily charge of 7 Euros, I find this unbelievable these days. Parking is available and roomy.
I would recommend this hotel for the closeness to all the pedestrian areas, the rest is not so hot!!!

The hotel Santemar is a quite big hotel very close to the Sardinero beach (one of the best city beaches in Spain). Santander is not that big, so you can easily get to the main touristic attractions from there. It is quite pricy for Spain, however in Santander the hotel offer is limited.
Rooms and bathrooms are big and clean as you could expect from a Spanish four stars. Very few rooms have sea views, most of them face the opposite side.
However there are two main problems: first is noise. This is one remarkable problem in this hotel, due to poor construction you can hear everything from the room next to you. Moreover, cleaning staff is noisy in the mornings and wont let you sleep till late (they knocked our door at 9 in the morning of...sunday!!!). The buffet is extremely expensive for the quality. Much better having breakfast in some of the cafes in the near Plaza de Italia (right in the Casino).

The hotel is in a great location, about 100 metres from the beach with plenty of buzz (if that's what your're looking for). It's a bit distant from city centre so that, while there are possibilities, the choice for restaurants / bars is quite limited. Decor in public areas is a bit dated but rooms are extremely comfortable and are clean. Car parking charge at €19 is a bit steep and if you arrive by car effectively there is no other option.

Local bus is in Santander City Centre in about 10-15 minutes from the airport. Good Value at 1.60euro each. From the centre you need to take a number 1 bus which drop you off at a big casino which is just round the corner from hotel santemar. You will be there in about 10 minutes or so. Dont think you can walk from the bus station where you get off the airport bus you wont. The hotel itself has a fairly attractive reception area with a couple of tv lounges just off the reception - these are pretty comfy. Be prepared for the terrible BLUE and RED stripy wallpaper when the lift doors open into the hallway on the way to your room. This looks dated and dull. The room itself was basic and fairly clean. The tv sits on top of the minibar cabinet (which was locked) and the top of the cabinet was dusty as was some of the panneling on the walls. Other than that the room was clean and tidy.

We had dinner that night in the restaurant - there is a set menu which costs approximately 20 euro each and includes wine, water etc. Good value but to be honest the food wasnt that great. It was ok but nothing special. There is an ordinary menu but this looks expensive for the quality of food you are getting. The bar is very formal and not very comfortable - we had one drink there.

The area around the hotel was fairly quiet. The hotel is close to the beach which is very nice and the promenade is nice. Not that many shops, bars and restaurants around it has to be said which is why we ended up eating at the hotel.

We only stayed here for one night so it is difficult to really get a feel for the place but I did not find the staff (or indeed the locals) particularly friendly but then with me not speaking Spanish and hardly any of them speaking English it was difficult to communicate.

In summary I dont think I will be rushing back to Santander but even if I was I would probably be checking out other hotels. This one was ok but nothing special.