The location is right across the street from the beach so you can't beat it. We reserved an ocean view for 3 nights, myself and my 8 year old daughter. The patios/balcony they advertise is not a balcony/patio. It is a window that opens which I believe you can't even step out on to.

My daughter started talking with the nice lady checking us in and she changed our room to a full patio with table and loungers. If I had received the balcony/patio that you couldn't have gone out on I would have checked out immediately. I really really tried to love this hotel.

Upon check-in because I had signed up as a member of their hotel when making my reservation online they offered my daughter her choice of cookies/milk or a beach bucket/shovel/juice. She choose the beach bucket. I was offered a variety of things and choose the fruit/water.

We sat on our patio which was really nice but right in front of a building being constructed which was hammering, pounding through out the day. The table outside was dirty. We were in a non-smoking room however there was even a cig butt burned in the chair of the loungers along with seagull poop which may just be life here...they obviously don't clean their patios.

The room was very good size as well as the bathroom. The beds were very comfy. The room does smell of mold or wet or something that hits you once you walk in. The carpet is disquisting but I always bring slip on for my daughter and I for hotel carpets.

Our beach bucket didn't come after waiting for 1 hour so I called..called again and waited another 1/2 hour and left without it. Again if it had not been for the upgraded room, I would have been gone. By the time we paid the hotel room 323.00 + 45 tax + 26 overnight parking I would have stayed at the Ritz in Pasadena or Shutters on the beach. The internet is also 9.95 per day.

Location, Location...we rode bikes on the beach..rental right out the door from the hotel...we walked to the pier to ride the rides...fyi that place is getting OLD and even thought we paid for a full day rides based on 2.25 per ride and most rides required two tickets...two of the rides were shut down so we missed out on the value of the all day wrist band but my daughter had fun so that's all that mattered.

By the time we got back the beach bucket, and my fruit was sitting in our room. I also requested a coffee pot the two times I called as there is not one in the room. After 3 calls I received it. Water in the room which just burns me and is such an insult to think that someone would actually pay such an outrageous amount for a bottle of water was the highest I've ever seen $7 for a bottle of water!

My daughter and I smelt smoke drafting in our room several times even though we were in a non-smoking room. This was with our patio door shut. Either we are next to a smoking room or the smoke comes in from other's on their patio.

Pool was HEAVEN!!! I would say about 90 degrees. We swam every night and were alone most of the time during the week. Thursday night we got smokers and drinkers from the bar out on the patio with such foul mouths I had to get my daughter out of there....

So with all the little things in mind it's up to your preference if you care about them or not. If location is what you are looking for this is it. 15 minutes to Universal Studios.

One more thing Room Service came fast..offered to set up breakfast on the patio but did tell us to call right when we are done because the seagulls will come eat our leftovers. It was OK...nothing to brag about and prevented me from ordering again. Hope this helps someone who is interested in staying here. Front desk and valet parking employees are SUPER and make your first impression of the hotel wonderful.....

We also had a knock on our door one morning at 9:00am...our last day and only morning to sleep in. I peeked through the keyhole and it was a man with a suitcase. I choose not to open the door and called security. I'm sure it was just someone looking for someone but it was kinda creepy and he woke me up :0)

I was not too happy with The Loews when we booked in after an 11 hr flight to find they did not have our room ready for our 7 night stay despite the fact we had booked and paid months in advance and had called them a few days before we arrived to check everything was OK (I had booked the holiday online and was a bit worried)
There were three other people being dealt with at the desk before us who obviously had some problems also - which did not bode well - and I had to smile when I heard one man being offered cookies and milk to be sent to his room - obviously their standard way of dealing with a problem!
Anyway - they booked us in to a smoking room that stank of smoke that had been covered up with a horrible air-freshener- we could not unpack and the next day could not go far afield because we did not know when they would want us to move. Even though we had not unpacked properly it seemed to be impossible for them to move our cases to our proper room without us being there !
The room did have a patio though - so I sunbathed there while my partner went roller blading - however - while I was asleep the maids locked me out on the patio with no phone, water,suncream - so I got burnt and dehydrated before luckily my partner returned to let me in.
BTW - the bottle of Fiji water in your room is NOT complementary as I presumed - it costs $7 !!! - but only $1.50 in the supermarket.
They refunded the charge when I told them about being locked on the patio however.
Despite having the first day of my holiday ruined - once we were moved to our proper ocean-view room I DID manage to enjoy my holiday.
The hotel was very nice - not as posh as Le Merigot or Shutters - but I liked it. The bed was VERY comfortable ( both of them ) - the lobby and little fireplace place area overlooking the beach was nice.The hotel is not ON the beach - but it is only separated from the beach by a quiet road that hardly anyone drives down - it's no biggy to cross it. It is very handy if you like rollerblading. The pool is not huge but big enough although shallow.
If you sunbathe around the pool - it is very windy and cold at the front - overlooking the beach - but this bit gets the sun all day - so pro's and cons.
I was disappointed there is no tea and coffee making facility in the room althoughg at least the post from someone else had alerted me to this. We bought coffees each morning from the lobby as I could not be bothered to pack a kettle ! The first room we had had a pitiful hairdryer that could not have dried anything - but the second room's hairdryer was very good.
Staff were all friendly and nice - overall if they could have sorted out their reservations system it would have been perfect.
BTW - some friends stayed at The Bayside Motel just down the road and although it had no air-conditioning (not essential in May) and was fairly basic - they were very happy with it. When they asked for a hairdryer and an iron it was brought to theur room and the guy refused to take a tip.
THey were also very helpful about parking which was free - unlike Loews.

My husband and I stayed at the Loews over Memorial Day weekend. I also joined the frequent guest program at the advice of a friend who said we'd get some extra perks and better service. Heh. I requested milk and warm cookies as our arrival gift, and a copy of USA Today the next morning. Our room rate was 'just' $210 because we were part of a block of rooms given at a group rate.

We stayed just one night as we were attending a wedding at another hotel down the street. I booked the room somewhat last minute....but it was still 3 days in advance. The morning of the wedding (the night we stayed) I called the hotel to confirm our reservation and was assured that our room would be ready by the 3pm check-in time. The wedding was at 6pm and we needed the time to get ready. I informed them we would arrive shortly after 3pm and were assured the room would be ready.

We arrived just before 3pm, a little ahead of schedule, and looked for some self-parking as I'd heard the valet parking was pricey. There was no self-parking available at the hotel. There were some meters on the street, and some public beach parking (daytime only) behind the hotel...but neither of those would have worked for us since we were going to be simply parking the car for a full 24 hours and walking everywhere. So we went ahead and went the hotel's valet parking, which is $26.00 per day for hotel guests (charged to your room). $26.00 a DAY to park a car...and this is a hotel (on their website) that claims to be unpretentious!

So, we get inside the lobby about 3:10pm and find a rather long line of people waiting to check-in. No huge problem, since it seemed to be moving...but it still took 20 minutes to get to the front desk. It gave us a chance to look around. The lobby seemed quite nice, rather upscale - which we expected considering that this a 'luxury' beach hotel. Once there we were told that our room was not ready. That didn't go over very well, especially since I had specifically called earlier in that day and was promised that our room would be ready. The young man checking us in said that they were at 100% capacity and didn't have any other rooms available for us...except for one, which was 2 doubles instead of a king. If we were going to be staying more than one night I would have considered it....but we were only there for one night and we wanted the king bed. Two doubles was simply unacceptable for various reasons. He tried to offer us a different room, so I give him credit for that, but it seemed like a half-hearted attempt to appease us. The desk staff seemed a bit too aloof to care about us.

They put some kind of rush on our room, but we still had to wait in the lobby over 30 minutes before we could get up to our room. Again, under normal circumstances this would not have been a major inconvenience, but here it was 4pm...we had to leave by 5:30pm to get to the other hotel for the wedding, which was at 6pm ...and we were still sitting in the lobby.

We got to the room, finally, and found it to be much smaller than expected. It was also quite warm. There was a thermostat in the room, but the air didn't circulate very well and it remained fairly warm the entire time. Our "city view from a balcony" was a view of the neighboring hotel and alley from a 'balcony' about 12 inches deep - hardly a balcony. All one could do was squeeze out there and stand.

Then.... the hair dryer was broken. There was actually a little bit of mold/mildew around the bottom of tub...a handprint on the bedroom wall...and a blob of something (I'm afraid to guess) on the headboard. Housekeeping did eventually deliver another hairdryer...but the gentleman who did barely spoke a word of English. My hair was still wet, though by the time we had to leave for the wedding...which was outdoors and freezing. I've spent the last several days in bed sick because of it, too.

The good? The shower was small, but lovely. The showerhead was a 'rain shower' type and had fantastic pressure. The bed was very comfy.

Too bad the room was unbearably warm. Our milk and warm cookies turned out to be cold cookies and warm carbonated fruit juice. A couple of the bath towels, though large...and supposedly clean had what I can only assume were pubic hairs stuck in them. The cookies were good, though. USA Today turned out to be the LA Times. And to top it all off, our guest folio was never slipped under our door or delivered to us. When we checked out, they acted as if it were some huge undertaking to print out a copy of it.

I know this is a beach resort and as such the prices will be higher. But c'mon…even though I had a discount, I still paid a small fortune for a small, lackluster room and pathetic service. I have stayed in rooms less than half the cost and received better service and had larger more comfortable rooms. Needless to say we didn't even want to touch the mini bar ($7.00 for a bottle of water!). We refused to spend any money there except for the room/taxes and parking. The valet service was good, though. Our car was waiting for us as promised. I'm not sure it was worth $26.00 (plus tip)...but it was good.

Me and my daughter arrived in Santa Monica on April the 21. For a month up to the day of arrival I had read and re-read the reviews on all the upper class hotels in Santa Monica and could never make a choice. After we arrived the choice was clear. The Loews Santa Monica was the closest to the pier, was the nicest looking and had the best prices. We were able to get an ocean view room for the price of standard rooms elsewhere.

Upon arrival everything was done for me. I never had to lift a finger. They were always there before I needed them, and extremely friendly. They even offered to put together a stroller I had bought at an outside store. After we arrived at our room they sent a complimentary bottle of wine and fresh cold milk on ice along with cookies for my daughter. It was then I decided I wanted to move in. My daughter went swimming at their heated pool and afterword I relaxed in their generous bathtub while watching the overhead tv and sipped on a glass of wine. The beds are so plush and comfortable. The sheets feel as if they are satin and everthing is topped with down pillows and a down comforter.
The next morning when I awoke to find my daughter had a fever. The concierge printed out detailed maps of the closest clinics and their phone numbers.
Evertime I called for sevice they answered usually on the first ring and I never had to wait for help.
Their moto is star treatment and this is definatley what I got.
I will definatly be back.