I stayed on the American Express Platinum Fine Hotels and Resorts Program. The staff was great, but the suite they gave me was decorated about 40 years ago and never updated! The carpet was old and stained. I had to call housekeeping because the bathroom floor had sticky stains right around the toilet, which unfortunately I discovered with my bare feet. It was sickening. There are MUCH BETTER fine hotels and resorts properties in the LA area. I would not stay there again. The spa is terrible as well. There was NOTHING five star about my experience other than the staff I had the pleasure of interacting with. The suites they show on the website looked nothing like the one I had.

If you are a beach lover, be careful where you walk near the hotel. There are numerous homeless people all along the urban beach and the park across from the hotel. The stairs/ foot paths over the PCH to the beach smell of urine. Our assumption was the homeless people sleeping all along the way are using them as urinals!

After having a perfect experience at The London West Hollywood, these two nights were a disappointing end to the trip. We should have stayed at The London. When I return in December I will stay at The London again, but not The Fairmont.

We often travel to LA to see our son who lives there. We stayed at the Fairmont because we won a charity auction which included this property for a 3 night stay. We upgraded to a suite and added a 4th night. Our initial room overlooked the parking lot. The windows had poor glazing so the room was quite noisy. The next morning the hotel manager, who was very friendly, apologized and moved us to a suite on the other side of the hall. The room was much quieter (except for a noisy minibar frig in the living room) and as it faced the ocean- much prettier. All the staff were quite friendly. The hotel has a great location in Santa Monica- across from Palisades Park which has a great walking/jogging trail overlooking the ocean from a bluff, and one block from the 3d street promenade. Santa Monica is very nice but impractical if you are going anywhere else as you are stuck taking the highway called the "10" which took us over one hour to traverse 3 miles on a Friday afternoon. Our suite was competent. It had a good sized living room with a couch, easy chair, writing desk and large television. The carpeting was fine. The decoration was pleasant. The room had a digital thermostat. The bed was comfortable and the pillows were okay (not great but not bad). On the downside, there is only a tub/shower with a shower curtain (okay if you have little kids taking a bath but otherwise annoying). Also, the bathroom only has one sink. If you stay in a bungalow the tub/shower has a glass enclosure. Also, if you stay in the tower, there are nice balconies overlooking the ocean but the rooms are small. The grounds are pretty and there is a pool and jacuzzi. We have also stayed at the Loews in Santa Monica but liked the Fairmont better (as the rooms are nicer), although the Loews pool area has a separate seating area with fire pits which are quite nice on a cool evening. The price for the suite was $429 plus tax which I thought to be quite reasonable for LA.

I came here for work and only work in the Hollywood area, so let me start with this, only stay here if you are going to be in and around Santa Monica. If you are going to be in downtown LA or Hollywood this hotel is WAY out of the way. However, if you do stay here, while the rooms are a little older and not as modern, the service is OUTSTANDING. From the friendly valets who learn your name to the room service people who brought me cough medicine because I said I wasn't feeling well when I ordered my food, I could not have asked for better service. The beds are very comfortable as well. Rooms are also very spacious which is nice and they have espresso machines in the room! My only issue outside of location which will not be an issue for everyone is just that it's not as modern as other hotels. Other than that, it's perfect

My wife and I stayed at the hotel for four nights in late October. We were travelling with our two young kids (aged 6 and 4) and were on a two week holiday where we also stayed at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas, Loews Coronado Bay in San Diego and The Grand Californian Hotel in Disneyland. This was our second visit to Santa Monica.

Of all the hotels we stayed at during our trip, the Fairmont Miramar was easily our favorite.

The hotel is friendly, stylish and close to all the action in Downtown SM, along with being a mere five minutes from the beach. Front of house; the lobby, bar, restaurant (Fig) and pool area were all welcoming and spotlessly clean. Service was discreet and professional, with a special mention to the various staff on concierge, who were so helpful in advising us on where and when to visit each day. The hotel had on the day of our arrival, taken delivery of a new fleet of white BMW mountain bikes, which were free for use by all guests. We used these to cycle down to the madness in Venice Beach (then quickly cycled back again!).

The room was clean and well appointed, the bath was a wee bit small but perfectly usable (you get what you pay for…) and the beds were very comfortable. Our balcony overlooked the pool, the beach and the ocean – all of which were an amazing sight to wake up to each morning.

Away from the hotel, I can highly recommend Boa steakhouse, which is a five minute walk along Ocean Drive and served quite simply the best steak I have ever tasted. We visited twice in three days and would have gone again if we had discovered it earlier.

(I also wish I could give you the name of the brunette lady who worked behind the main bar, as she was fantastic. Her memory retention for what her customers had been previously drinking, even two days prior, was worthy of a stage act. She juggled drinks, was quick and friendly with the banter and at no stage kept anyone in a very busy bar waiting to be served – a consummate professional and one of the few people we met who nailed me as a Londoner when almost everyone else we met asked us which part of Australia we came from! Jeez!)