Los Angeles

Unless it's very important for you to be in Santa Monica and/or on the beach, I would not recommend this hotel. It's certainly fine, but you can do a lot better for the price point. Our room was very large and did have some nice qualities - very nice bed/bedding, lovely if smallish bathroom, nice TVs. But the place is a little tired - not hugely but a little (chipping paint, threadbare carpets, furniture etc - this is in the rooms and in the common areas). And it is is NOISY. Our room was next to the elevator on the street side (not the ocean - ergh) and I was awoken countless times by the rumbling elevator and by cars and motorcycles on the street. They said they didnt have any other suites available when we asked to switch. I don't know why they would lie, but I am a little dubious in this economy. So be it - we left. To their credit, they were very gracious about our early departure. Oh, one other thing to note, the breakfast was delicious - service was painfully slow but the food was memorably good.