Ocean View Hotel, Santa Monica

It is 5:16 in the morning and the goosestepping and furniture hurling contest is winding down. I have not slept one wink all night. My husband has his hearing aids out so he missed the fun. I suspect we are under the laundry. I made the reservation 2weeks ago and anticipated a better placement. I complained to the front desk which did not make a dent in the noise. I will investigate in the am to see what the oceanviews' response is to my dilemma; we have one more night here and I am dreading it if they do not offer a better room.

I booked a one night stay here for a 2 bed, private balcony with ocean view, which was supposed to be their best room. When we checked in and went to our room the hallway going to our room had food all over it and smelled like old garbage. The room itself wasn't much better, with stains on the carpet, rust spots in the bathroom, dents in the wall, a brownish-red oozing substance coming from the bathroom tile above the sink and to top it off my friend almost fell through the chair when she sat down and the seat fell off! I took pictures of everything and requested a new room...but they said they were all booked up. So I checked out and went next door to the Georgian Hotel--100 times better and for the same price! The worst part was there was no manger available ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! or for the rest of the weekend. And when I finally talked to a manager on Monday, I was refused a credit (since I prepaid) for the hotel because they have a "24-hour cancellation policy". Shady business!

Don't! This place is a sham! Dirty, dingy, smelly, and out-dated. The rooms have creaky doors, saggy beds, old TVs, stained carpets, window A/C, and are tiny. Don't forget they'll charge you a fee to park at $15 a day while the public can park for $12?! "free breakfast" would be better at a soup kitchen! Bread w/ packaged cheese and weak coffee only. It's close to everything, that's it! Go inland about a mile for deals and

This hotel is walking distance to the Beach, Santa Monica Pier, Third Street Promenade and Shopping Mall. The rooms are clean and comfortable. The staff is friendly and helpful. This hotel is no longer affiliated with Best Western, it is now independant and is undergoing improvements. We stay at this hotel every year and love it. We recommend this hotel to everyone because of its great location and value compared to other hotels by the beach.

I decided to ignore the other reviews about the bedbug problem. On the advice of a friend who stays there I gave it a shot because of the great location. My wife freaked out and made me promise to move the bed and look for evidence of bed bugs. I did this since I'm just that kind of great husband, and was horrified to find the creatures! I took photos of this and promptly switched hotels. My friend and I tried to check out, but the owner/manager of the hotel was refusing the release us from our reservations. He also lied about the problem but later admitted my room had been sprayed THAT VERY DAY by Terminix. I recommend the Holiday Inn up the street...You don't have a balcony but you also don't get your blood sucked in the middle of the night.

Pros The location is great. You can walk to the pier or 3rd street promanade. Cons Old rooms and thin walls. Way overpriced for the quality of hotel. You are really paying for location. Staff not really helpful. Rent a car and stay somewhere else cheaper.

We were quoted a rate, were charged way more and told that we were never offered that rate. We were told it was our problem, by very rude management. They were not even willing to talk about a resolution - too busy arguing about how we were wrong. We were told our credit card would not be charged until the complaint was handled. It was charged that very day. The guy at the desk refused to get a manager involved stating that he didn't want to wake him. The hotel is way substandard in quality for the price. The only good thing about it is the view. I hope I never have to stay at another hotel like this one.

Let's just start off by saying we had booked 4 nights about 3 months prior to our stay this last weekend at the Worst Western. Upon arrival, my boyfriend and I were given the "last room" in the hotel. Behind the front desk and located right on the main street with floor to ceiling windows, and blinds that didn't shut all the way, we found our luxury suite for the evening - an conference room/converted bedroom. Don't worry about romantic nights in this room - with terrible lighting and sleepless nights as you hear buses cruise by.... Next, they couldn't find us a room for the evening so we ended up sleeping in my parent's room for the evening. Well, we work up in the morning with sights of my step mother who was bitten by bed bugs and broke out in hives from head to toe. My brother's room was the "Executive Suite" located in the actual stairwell. A great location to put a family with a three year old daughter to try and sleep through the night. Not to mention there were actually fleas in this room. I guess they were lucky NOT to get the bed bugs... We are still fighting with the manager who had promised a great block of rooms over three months ago and now is even questioning our allegations. I guess we will send him the emergency room bills as my step mother spent about 10 hours with an IV drip because of her reaction. I would NEVER stay at this location again unless you like terrible service (androids working the front desk with personalities of a snail) and being accused of lying for their lack of cleanliness.

This hotel was very dirty, not kept up at all. The rooms smelled terrible and looked as if they haven't even been cleaned. We told the manager that we weren't going to stay there and he laughed in our face stating that we would still be charged because there was a 24 hour cancellation policy. We still left and they still insisted that we would be charged. The Hotel is disgusting and should be rated a one star. Also, the manager was extremely rude!

The location is fantastic, our room was comfortable and clean and we did have a balcony with a lovely ocean view. The service was poor, the one time they really seemed to want to help us (get a good value taxi to LAX) we wound up paying far more than we had on the way to the hotel. Sitting by the lifts in the morning drinking coffee in polystrene cups and nibbling on muffins or cornflakes was utterly depressing.