I am not sure what I think of this place. It was expensive BUT it was a perfect location.
The room was tiny BUT we did have views of muscle beach. It wasnt spectacular though and I think that's what I was expecting.
After reading other reviews I would be more than happy to try out The Shore next time.
On the other hand I'm not completely unhappy with Loews. I guess it didn't really have that special quality I was expecting. It was pretty good but not excellent if you know that I mean.

I just spent two nights at the Loews. In my opinion, the only good thing about this hotel is the location which is lovely, right on the beach, and walking distance to many places in Santa Monica. Other than that, the rooms are very average in appearance for the high price. We had colder than usual weather, and there was no functioning heat in the room. The keurig coffee maker was broken and there was no hot water in the shower. I complained to management who provided a $75 food credit to the room. However, the heat was never fixed.

In addition, I typically never take much notice of the housekeeping staff at a hotel, but you could hear them yelling and talking to each other loudly - this on more than one occasion. They also did not come to clean the room until after 4 pm, although we had been out all day. Then a separate person came again to refill the mini bar/coffee area who practically walked in without knocking. Too many issues for these prices!!

Gosh, it’s SO MUCH FUN to stay at a luxury hotel that’s in the process of removing all the furniture from 50% of its rooms, said NO ONE EVER.

Short version:

- Loews garage can’t accommodate a van so you have to drive yourself two blocks away to a competitor hotel to park yourself. Meanwhile, groups of 5 or more valets stand around doing nothing.

- Loews was in the middle of moving 50% of its furniture out of the hotel for a special event. The piles of furniture and other messes in the halls, frenetic activity, and roving gangs of workmen ruined my stay, which was supposed to be a serene, relaxing getaway. There's no excuse for not warning a customer: clearly, at Loews, hotel management greed overcame the importance of customer experience.

Long version:

I booked two night stay at Loews for a stress-relieving break. In the past, I’ve stayed at The Oceania, which is FABULOUS (see my review), but this time I was traveling with my dog and the Oceania doesn’t allow pets. Loews’ website says they welcome pets, so I booked there.

The first, smaller problem occurred immediately, when I drove up in my van. The parking garage at Loews can only accommodate cars less than 6.5 feet tall. The valet told me to go park at the Viceroy hotel, which was two blocks away, save the receipts, and they would reimburse me. This was annoying – every time I needed something from the car, I was galumphing back and forth along the boulevard to the competitor hotel, their valet had to fetch the car, I’d get what I needed, and then I’d galumph back to Loews. Dear Loews Valet Manager: every time I exited the hotel lobby there were five valets standing around talking to each other. Can’t you arrange to have ONE of THEM drive my car two blocks away for me, and retrieve it when I need it? And don’t cite insurance rules about driving off premises – plenty of other hotels do this for their guests, including The Oceania. Barring that, please break up the man-groups the valets are forming – it’s unprofessional and they make single women travelers uncomfortable.

But the major issue was that the management of Loews allowed customers to book stays while the hotel was in the middle of emptying furniture out of 50% of its rooms for a two week long special event. They didn’t even have the grace to warn me.

People don’t come to luxury hotels for beds – you can get a bed at a Motel 6. People come to luxury hotels for the serene, comforting atmosphere, great service, and food. Instead of serene, I got piles of mattresses in the halls, gangs of workmen grunting and moving massive TV credenzas, giant blue plastic rolly-bins piled with hundreds of in-room coffee makers; large cardboard moving boxes full of bedding, hallway carpets covered with massive swaths of saran wrap, foyers covered with cardboard and blue masking tape, housekeeping staff running wildly from one room to the next, and at night, dark, creepy, open doorways into the emptied rooms, which made me want to scream Redrum. Do I sound whiny? Ok, ok, maybe I am a bit whiny, but look at my photos, then tell me whether YOU’D want to pay $400 per night (after taxes and pet fees) for THAT.

To give credit where it’s due, I was not bothered while sleeping, and the room was spacious and perfectly nice if not special in any way. And when I complained to the manager he gave me $185 off one night’s stay. But my “relaxing” break from work was completely ruined.
After leaving Loews, I decided to stay one night at the Viceroy. I thought, what the hell, the valets at the Viceroy not only know my name, they know my dog’s name as well. Here’s how the two hotels compared overall:

Location: Although both hotels are on the same street, two blocks apart, Loews wins on location, as it’s on the beach side of the street. It’s possible that the uppermost floors at the Viceroy have ocean views, but Loews has more ocean view rooms and the view has to be better.

Exterior: Loews is prettier and more impressive from the outside, with a fountain and circular drive; Viceroy is a total sleeper behind a huge hedge - perhaps it was a Holiday Inn in a past life.

Check-in: way better at Viceroy, where it was done over a low desk with seating for the guests. The staff was warmer at Viceroy.

Lounge atmosphere: Much livelier at the Viceroy, and the ambience is pleasant. I’d come in just for a drink.

Rooms: Rooms are larger at Loews; interior design is newer and artier at Viceroy. Mabttresses and bedding were the same good quality at both. Loews had a balcony-ette and a view of the pier and sea north towards Malibu, which I had to pay extra for; my Viceroy room was hermetically sealed and had a view of the busy street front (but zero street noise in the room thanks to heavy duty windows). Bathroom was nicer at the Viceroy, as the tub wasn't partially tucked under the sink counter the way it was at Loews. Both rooms had good climate control.
Pet friendliness: Loews gives you a doggie package, including tiny bowl, placemat, poo bags, and a doggie cookie with a bow on it, and charges $25 extra for the dog. Viceroy doesn't give you anything for Fido and charges $100, but when I said $100 was exorbitant (especially since I’d brought sheeting to cover all their furniture and beds), they removed it from my bill – yay and thank you - and they made a note in my file that when I return, they will only charge $25! There’s really no place to take your dog for walkies at the Viceroy, whereas Loews has a beachside exit as well as grass and shrubs for your pet to use. You do know that dogs aren't allowed on any of the beaches in Santa Monica, don’t you?

Room service: For breakfast, Loews was a little faster and the food was a little warmer than the Viceroy.

Valet: Since I didn't actually get any valet service at Loews, I rate it a big fat zero, and give their valet manager seven big fat demerits. Conversely, at the Viceroy, they all knew my name and my dog’s name after day 1, and always offered me bottled water, EVEN THOUGH I WASN'T STAYING THERE. I’m no longer using plastic bottles, so I declined…. So the valet manager ran inside and brought me some mineral water in a glass bottle. Total rockstar experience. Thank you, thank you, Viceroy valet man.

When I go back, I’ll book at Viceroy.

Myself and 2 friends stayed at Loews Santa Monica Beach for 3 nights in September and what was supposed to be a highlight of our trip was quite a disappointment. After travelling for 18 hours we arrived at 11pm to find that although we had confirmed a room with 2 double beds with a rollaway, we had been allocated a king bed room. The checkin staff were very unapologetic and quite rude about it and said nothing could be done, blamed it on our travel agent (who was one of the travellers in our group) and that we could move rooms the following day - as we were going out for the day, he did offer to have our bags moved for us. This was not the best start to our vacation. The location of the hotel cannot be beat, right on the beach near the famous pier. The rooms are rather small and there was not much room to move around the beds, and the bathroom in both rooms had not been cleaned properly - we found hairs and purposely left the wrapping of the soap on the floor and it was still there when we returned after housekeeping had serviced the room. Whilst i realise tipping is the done thing in the USA, when the rollaway was finally brought to our room the staffmember just kept hanging around like he was waiting for a tip when this was no fault of ours and should have already been in our room. We ate breakfast twice in the hotel and it was great both mornings. We also hiref a car from Hertz and when it was brought up to us it hadnt been cleaned and had rubbish in the middle consoles.