We had booked to stay at this hotel after reading other reviews. We were looking for a reasonably priced room that would accomodate 5 of us (parents and three children) for three nights while holidaying in LA. When we arrived at the hotel we were rather surprised at how far from the beach it was (about 14 blocks at least) and were very disappointed that it didn't have a pool. We asked at check in if they could check whether the other T/lodge that was closer to the beach had vacancies but as were most of the other hotels in the area it was full.

The room that we were allocated was excellent - undoubtedly the best Travel Lodge room we have ever stayed in. We had a king sized bed with a separate sitting room that had a double sofa bed and rollaway. The room was immaculately clean. The inclusive continental breakfast was very good and the staff were professional. I commented at check out that it was undoubtedly a step up from the usual Travel Lodges and was told that they regularly received similar comments. Anyone staying here as their first experience of a Travel Lodge could be very disappointed when visiting others.

The lack of a pool wasn't as much of a problem as we thought. We used the hotel as a base to visit the sights of LA and Universal Studios and were out and about all day.

We left after two nights however as we thought that Santa Monica itself was rather seedy, deciding instead to move south to Newport Beach.

Stayed her for one night. I was over from England to attend a gig , so was a bit jet lagged. Good location, nice breakfast- theres a samll famers market/supermarket next door. Big room with kitchen- no cpmplaints

Tip- ride the bus- cheap as chips

My daughter and I took a trip to Santa Monica as a little vacation to the beaches. I found the hotel on the web and after much searching decided to book it as it was fairly close to the beach without the beach pricing. Check In was smooth and our room was decent, although it had a little musty smell to it. We stayed for 5 nights and it was very comfortable. The traffic on Pico Blvd was a bit noisy on Saturday night, but was fairly quiet on the other nights. The beds were decent and our room had a small sitting area with a kitchen sink and small refridgerator. The continental breakfast each morning was great, except for the area it is served in is very small and hard to manuver in. It would also be nice if they added things such as bananas and bagels with cream cheese, although there is not alot of space for many more items. There was plenty of parking even when we got back to the hotel after 10pm. We could always find a space. The front desk staff was professional but not overly friendly. The only problem we had was our tv remote did not work and it never got fixed even after I reported it to the front desk. Not a big deal since we did not spend very much time in our room watching tv. Overall, I would stay here again. It was a clean and comfortable room fairly close to the beach and downtown Santa Monica and it did not break the bank.

Beware of late bookings!

I'm so angry at this hotel. I called up tonight (Saturday) to make a last-minute reservation for 4 of us. Since we were going to be arriving pretty late (11pm) and driving 2 hours to actually get there, I thought it best to confirm room availability beforehand.

I shouldn't have bothered.

After being told that they DID have a room available, and reserving it in my name, you can imagine the pleasure I felt when I arrived at the check-in desk to be told by the ignorant gentleman behind it that no such reservation existed.

And of course, they were full.

I was also called a liar, and told that "if I had made the reservation, I would have received a confirmation number".

I informed him that I had told the receptionist that I would be arriving at 11pm, and that I had made the reservation from a restaurant. He then had the cheek to tell me that I should have booked the room and checked in before I ate, with it being a Saturday.

WTF?!

A booking is a booking. They blatently gave my room away because someone offered cash for it before the time I was scheduled to get there.

No sympathy was given, just a constant reiteration that "they were booked, and there is nothing that could be done about it".

Luckily, at about 1am this morning, I finally found a nice little motel open just outside of Santa Monica that was half the price, and twice as friendly.

I won't be staying at this place in the future, and would certainly recommend anyone book well in advance and call up to confirm that they haven't forgotten about you, or sold the room you reserved!