We stayed four nights at this hotel in October 2007

Neighborhood
Santa Monica is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, with many luxurious beach properties housing many expensive hotels. The Holiday Inn is one block from the Santa Monica Pier and only 100 yards away from walkway along the bluffs above the beach. The busy shopping pedestrian street "Third Street Promenade" is one block away. There are quite a few homeless that live near the beach, and they may ask for a handout, but we've never felt them threatening. All in all, Santa Monica is a very safe neighborhood, and the closer to the beach, the better.

Room
Santa Monica is probably the most expensive neighborhood for hotels in Los Angeles, so we didn't know what to expect for $ 175 per night. But the Tripadvisor reviews were fair, and we were not disappointed. The room had a nice, big bed, a sofa and a coffee table, a desk and an office chair. It was clean and quite nice, carpet floor with no visible stains.

Bathroom
The bathroom was clean and comfortable with a tub with shower. There were two bathrobes in the room, which was really nice for going to the hotel pool.

Service
The hotel did make an error when receiving our booking, but after a few emails back and forth, the reservation stuck. The pool was outdoors, but heated, so it was amply heated for a late night swim. Parking is in an indoor garage. There is a surcharge, which includes valet service for those who prefers this.

Summary
Santa Monica IS expensive, as it is probably the best place to stay in LA. There are few moderately priced hotel, and even the Holiday Inn is expensive when compared to hotels in other cities. However, you must take into account the beautiful scenery of the coast, the safety and comfort of an upscale place like this. For us, $190 a night seemed fair compared to the other hotels in the neighborhood. Not luxury in any way, the Holiday Inn offers a nice, clean room in very swank city. When in Santa Monica, we will definitely check out the Holiday Inn again.

After trawling throught numerous reviews of hotels in Santa Monica we felt that this hotel was our best bet and although we were a little disappointed with the room size the hotel staff were fantastic and we couldn't have chosen a better location.

We hired bikes from the hotel which were a little more expensive than those on the beach, but for the convenience of being able to leave them with the valet when we came back for a well earned rest before our evening ride it was well worth the extra. The rooms are clean and valet parking is a breeze. Parking is extra on top of the hotel stay but this seems standard in many major cities.

Try to ensure that you book a room on the Colorado Blvd side and the higher the floor the better. The other side of the hotel overlooks a freeway as does the pool so don’t expect a quiet relaxing swim. Even with this, as you are in a city you expect it to be less than quiet and for the amenities nearby, beach, pier, shops, bars and restaurants, this hotel certainly is the best for value around.

This hotel is located one block from the Santa Monica Pier, two blocks from 3rd street Promenade (excellent shopping, restaurants, etc.) This is a very safe, well patrolled area. I felt safe letting our 4 teens walk around outside. The hotel is outdated and the front desk staff were rather rude on a few occasions. The $20 breakfast vouchers were a plus, but the food staff was short-handed. The rest of the staff were quite pleasant. Parking is $23/Night. The room was $259/night plus $40/night occupancy tax???
Freeway noise was a nuisance.

Hotel is a stone throw away from the Santa Monica Pier and Third Street Promenade. We chose this hotel to unwind after our hectic NY, Disneyland trips. If you love the beach & ocean or just wanna chill out, this is the ideal place to be.
Lobby is quite small but there is a PC for free internet use. Room internet connection (which is free) was intermittent. Our room had a partial view of the Pacific Ocean (which we paid for) & was very clean & homey. Everything abt the room was perfect minus the missing microwave.