I have used both UKFT (about 3 years ago) and Rainbow(recently) for training.
UKFT was on the whole OK, they had their points which let them down but there again so does every school. In my group there were about 10 of us of which only 1 had a gripe with the school. he ended up leaving, later on we found he basically would not listen to his instructor so they ended up not getting on. I would say that one thing to check would be exactly what you paying for your course, get it agreed and in writing as a few people got caught out for extras they were not expecting.
Rainbow I have used for both training and hire. Aircraft are generally in good condition and not had any problems with them, prices are also pretty reasonable and they usually have a n 'offer of the week' on one aircraft so its a good idea to keep an eye on that one. Calibre of instructor I have found to be very high, I have used 4 of them during my visits and never had any problems at all. Dave Parson (joint owner) is a Brit and very approachable, he is quite willing to sit down and explain things to you or just have a chat in general.
On the accomodation side I have always used the 'Guest House HOtel' on East Pacific Coast Highway which has a room deal with both schools. I think it works out about $32/night+Tax and rooms are big and clean, two of you could quite happily stay in a room if you wanted to save money as there are generally two twin beds in each room. As for the $15/night accomdation I have heard it is VERY basic, i.e. to the point of a mattress on the floor! This may have changed since but would advise emailing them beforehand to find out exactly what you are getting and if its a shared room.