An excellent hotel but be aware that they cater in a big way for pets, particularly cats and dogs. They even offer Pet Menus and litter trays. One of their promotional photo shows someone asleep with their dog on the bed under the blanket !

We like animals but the thought of dogs and cats having slept and deficated in our room or our beds really put us off.

We had Ocean view rooms which were good but starting to be a bit faded...the carpet had many dark stains and the white woodwork was chipped and looking gray. Also our rooms were extremely noisy from 05:30am when load whirring noises start to happen.

Be aware they only have valet parking at $23 a day.

Also the weather on the beach is never very good.

Other than that its a pleasant albeit overpriced hotel and the staff are excellent

we were leary about staying here because we read a few negative reviews but loews gave us a perfect vacation. it is an excellent hotel and we were treated by everyone there as a name and not just a number. loews is the closest hotel to the santa monica pier. its only a couple hundred yards away. the pier, the beach, everything was perfect. i highly recommend renting bicycles and riding the trail along the beach down to venice. the bikes are cheap to rent and venice is a cool place. tons of shops and interesting people to look at. feel free to ask me any questions you may have. 1 thing, if you do choose to stay here, request a room above the 1st floor or your view will be nothing but shrubbery.

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.