We stayed here the last night of a 3 week trip -wanted something special so requested a sea view room. Was given the sea view on the 2nd floor and yes the views are great, but the room was TINY - once our 2 suitcases were in the room there was absolutely no floor space. The decor in the rooms in quite nice but the hall ways and lobby area are closer to a 2 star standard - they call it "historic" - that’s hotel speak for icky and shabby.
Everything was going fine however until we tried to go asleep - the noise from the street was UNBELIEVABLE.
-Buses that sound like they are powered by Jet engines thunder up to the stop right outside the hotel every 30 seconds throughout the entire night. Then there’s the homeless people fighting and drunks singing pretty much the entire night right outside your window.
At 4am I considered getting dressed and changing room - but with less than four hours til I checked out to catch my flight I didn’t really see the point. I stuffed cotton wool in my ears and put TWO pillows over the side of my head but STILL I could hear the noise from the street. At about 5am, knowing I had to get up in three hours, out of sheer desperation I tried to sleep on the floor in the bathroom (with cotton wool in my ears and a pillow over my head - still it was too noisy to sleep!!!!) (I know how crazy that last part sounds but I was deliriously tired!)
At this point (5.30 am) I just gave up trying to sleep and put on the TV!
The real killer is they charge MORE for the ocean view - When I complained about the noise the next day the (pretty indifferent) receptionist told me they were aware of the problem but that most of their guests were "business people who stayed regularly and therefore knew not to take the ocean front rooms"!!!!
So they charge EXTRA (which implies the rooms are better) for tiny rooms where they and their 'regular' guests know there is no chance of you being able to get any sleep, and knowing its the unaware tourists who will continue to book them!!!!! - Then they admit this to guests! What a joke!
As I had pre-paid with hotels.com she refused to give me a refund. And the parking is the biggest rip off - by the time they include tax it’s around $26 per day, the most expensive I’ve ever come across!
Forget about this place - there are plenty of other places to stay in Santa Monica
