We just returned from a first time 4 day stay at the Ambrose Hotel which was recommended by a friend. This was a family business meeting and we had 6 rooms and 9 people coming from various parts of the country. I made special room requests in advance with Jeff, the guest services mgr., which was handy. All 9 of us were very pleased with the Ambrose.
Our group has generally stayed at the Georgian Hotel for about 15 years which has a great location but the room quality, attitude and service have become very inconsistent while the rates have risen. Their parking is expensive and inconvenient. Not much of a bargain anymore...We have tried various other Ocean Ave. beach front hotels too.
While not "on the beach" we found the Ambrose to be an outstanding value with the charm and attention to detail of a B&B. Rates were reasonable and parking free. The Frank Lloyd Wright-Asian flavor was very nice, bathrooms spacious and the front desk staff always made an extra effort. They seemed to take great pride in getting it just right. We enjoyed the free London cab service all around Santa Monica and the excellent complimentary breakfast,available at 5:30 a.m., was great for the East Coast travelers among us. I would go down to the lobby at 5:30 to spend some time on the in-house computer with a cup of coffee and get the day started right. I read some complaints about the breakfast area being crowded but we found it ideal. I would recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Santa Monica for business or pleasure.

The Ambrose is a beautifully designed and appointed small hotel well situated about midway between the beach and Westwood. The romms are very comfortable and the staff was friendly and extremely responsive. THey serve a pleasant breakfast. A luxorious place to stay with very reasonable rates.

We travelled from the uk and chose this hotel from the tripadvisor site as parking was free and it had excellent scores from previous visitors. Absolutely loved it. It was a little far from the beach and 3rd street promenade but the courtesy london taxi cab was a great help (although it took us 3 days to realise it was available!).Staff were really helpful, breakfast was one of the highlights of the day, especially when eaten al fresco within the relaxing garden and we loved the decor of our room. We didn't have any problem with noise and felt really refreshed after our stay and sad to leave. Definately would recommend to anyone travelling to Santa Monica and would definately stay there again.

This hotel has a lot going for it. It's in a fairly good/safe location, the beach is twenty blocks away which is fine if you have a car or don't mind walking. The two floors of free parking are great. The breakfast is nice and the staff are all very friendly and helpful. The major downside of this hotel is the soundproofing (or lack of it!). We had a premier room on floor 1 (ground floor) and at night you could hear virtually everything, somebody in the next room snoring all night, toilets being flushed, doors slamming and cars going past. Maybe we were just unlucky with the room we got but if you want peace & quiet I would stay elsewhere. Apart from that the rooms were clean & comfortable and I'd probably stay here again but request a higher floor. I would probably also just have a standard room rather than paying extra for the premier.