More about Marina International Hotel
A Little Tired Looking......
by TripAdvisor Member lesleyjo
We stayed at the Marina International in May of 2006 and found the hotel to be okay, but a little worn out. From what I can remember, the staff was very friendly and helpful. Our youngest was just a baby, so we ask the front desk if there we could have a room with a small fridge to keep formula, and baby food in. Within minutes of us getting into our room, housekeeping was at the door with a little fridge for us to use in the room (I think there was a small charge though). Quite impressive! There were some downsides to our stay, though...... We booked the hotel for our older son who loves to swim (what kid doesn't), and were disappointed to see the pool area not very well kept, and the pool too cold for him to swim in. The room was kept tidy by housekeeping, but you could see stains on the carpets, and our socks got pretty grey from walking around on the carpet in the room..... yuk! Overall, the stay was OKAY, but I think the next time I will look for other options for accomodation.
Wouldn't stay again!
by TripAdvisor Member tchnteri
Tired old hotel is right. I arrived and my reseration was incorrect! Take your print out from the internet!!! They said I had one room I reserved two. Indifference at hotel desk was not appreciated when I arrived at 11:45 p.m.
Dingy outside and in (run down), mold in shower, shower door stuck.
Nice place
by TripAdvisor Member VMA79
I stayed in this hotel July 12-20. I had read some reviews from the internet and I didn't actually know what to expect.
When we arrived they had our room ready for us. The room was nice and clean though the bathroom would have needed some renovating. The walls are thin and you can hear the next door neighbors talk etc. through them. That didn't bother us too much. The view from our room was to a parking lot.
The personnel was friendly and they were always ready to help us. Front desk boys and girls deserve a big thank you. They helped us a lot.
The restaurant in the hotel was ok. We only ate breakfast there. The waiters were nice and friendly and worked as fast as they could. If we went there early enough they had the breakfast in front of us within a couple a minutes. Only once we had to wait more than 20 minutes and then they were busy with full breakfast room.
The location of the hotel is perfect. We didn't have a car so we walked and used the local busses and taxis to get around. That didn't cause too many problems. Venice is near and Santa Monica close enough. There is a nice shopping area quite near (20 min walk).
For our needs this hotel was perfect. We left in the morning and came back in the evening. Basicly we spent only the nights in there. I wouldn't have wanted to pay 500 euros more of a hotel where I don't spend more time in. The truth is that the hotel could need some renovating but we didn't ask for a 5 star hotel. If you want that then this hotel is not the right place for you. Oh, and we didn't use the pool area so I can't say anything about that.
Too noisy!
by TripAdvisor Member Blok
Hotel room was fine, renewed and clean, bathroom was darkbrown and needs an update. Read about the noise issues, but could not imagine how bad it really would be. You could almost have a conversation with your neighbour without raising your voice. As we had one who lived during the night and found it normal to call for over two hours with a friend while making irritating tapping noises on the wall we called the front desk. They could not be reached, but when we called by mobile to the hotel tel.no. they picked up, strange. However they let security take care of our complaint and it was solved in an instant. Location is good, however a lot of strays hanging around the parking lot nearby.
Great deal, nice staff, some problems
by TripAdvisor Member japfarm
The price was the best in the area (Venice/Marina Del Rey/Santa Monica). Rooms were very clean and bigger than I expected. The staff was wonderful and having the wireless internet was a plus! Bad things were the noise level and the heating. A big tip - just have them set it cold, then get a space heater from the front desk. Besides that, the stay was great!
Great Place
by TripAdvisor Member AlbertaErnie
Was hesitant about booking into this hotel after reading other reviews however was very pleased with hotel. We had two rooms, one with 2 queen beds for the boys, and our next door with a king. Rooms were large, bedding was nice crisp white sheets and bedspread. Nice white robes provided. King room had lots of room and very spacious. Queen room also had a decent amount of space. Very nice lobby with huge fireplace and open space, very classic looking. You can tell this is an older hotel and it probably was very chi-chi in its day, but it is still very nice, clean and secure. I would most definately stay here again and would recommend it to others. The hot tub outside is quite small, but it is California and i guess hot tubs aren't a big thing like they are here in Canada. Pool was clean and the boys loved it. The bathrooms do need to be upgraded as they look like they came from the 70's, but ours was always clean and very well stocked which is more important than pretty tile. The only reason that we didn't rate this hotel as excellent was that the boys had problems with their room being too warm, we asked a few times to have the hvac turned on, but there seemed to be a problem with it, so we just turned off the fan and opened the patio door. Great place for the money - much much better than other places we have stayed at in the same price range.
never again
by TripAdvisor Member travelin_cats
I should have paid attention to the problems other travelers had, but they didn't really sound so bad overall. Our first clue that this wasn't up to our usual standards was the stained rug. Not just one spot... several. When I walked on the rug in my socks they got so dirty I had to change them to go back out. I'm just glad I didn't go barefoot. The air conditioning/heat thermostat doesn't work so they have to go to your room's vent and MANUALLY adjust it to allow more/less heat/cool air. I've never heard of this before. We had to call the front desk to have them adjust it to down so we could sleep at night, then called to have it adjusted back up in the morning when we got up. No heat for a half hour until the maintenance guy came to work! Then there was the noise at night... We were by the pool (second floor) and the people hollered and screamed (playing) until around 10. Once they stopped, we noticed that the traffic noise was almost as bad. Sounded like we were sleeping right on the street corner. Since our room was on a corner we got traffic noise from 2 streets all night long. I kept thinking a Motel 6 would have been much better than this hotel. I won't even critique the bathroom... brown bathtub, cracked floor tile and more. A positive note (the only one I can think of)... the bedding appeared to be fairly new and looked upscale, and the pillows were more decent than some hotels. Don't know how clean they were, but they looked good. Oh yeah, the room was HUGE, which would have been very nice if the rest of it was acceptable. I booked this hotel because it was the least expensive one I could find in the area and I figured if it's in Marina del Rey it couldn't be too bad. I was wrong.
Double Beds
by TripAdvisor Member angelspeaks
Got a terrific price through priceline. Extended my stay and got the same $70 rate by using priceline on the computer right in the lobby (desk clerk would not honor price and wanted $119). The hotel was ok for the price but a big downfall for me was the double beds instead of queen. They were VERY uncomfortable and too small. The pool was also the DIRTIEST pool I have ever seen at a hotel of that price. It was off season which would probably be their excuse!
Won't stay here again unless it's refurbished
by TripAdvisor Member UT_Budget_Traveler
We booked through Priceline for $89/night and then checked TripAdvisor for reviews when we found out which hotel it was--won't do that again! Next time we'll read the reviews first and then book (not through Priceline so we can choose the hotel).
The good:
- The staff was wonderful, friendly and responsive,
- large room with a quiet patio (looked into the parking lot next door, but it was fine),
- we asked for the A/C to be turned on, and there was someone at our door within one minute, who fixed it immediately,
- it WAS a good price,
- Good location, close to Venice Beach, and Santa Monica,
- free covered parking with lots of room,
- free wi-fi; had trouble getting it connected at first, but the front desk staff called tech support, who got it up in no time, and we had no problems after that.
- fairly clean,
- coffee maker (even tea), hair dryer,
The bad:
- It's older and looks it, needs updating,
- The upholstered chair was stained, and carpets were stained and so dirty that our socks got soiled. There were also splatters of some kind on the drapes,
- Furniture is chipped, and had water marks on the bottom; it's hard to believe it's from carpet cleaning, as it didn't look as if it had been cleaned in years,
- The beds/pillows were not very comfortable, and there was what appeared to be a fresh stain on one of the sheets (on the bed we didn't sleep in, fortunately),
- noisy; we could hear everything (and I mean everything) that was going on in both rooms on either side of us as well as in the hall, even with a sound machine we had brought after reading the reviews; we are used to quiet, so we may be ultra-sensitive to this. I used earplugs so I was able to sleep, but my husband didn't use any and the noise kept him up at night,
- we TRIED to participate in the save water program by putting the placard on the bed and hanging up our towels, but we always got fresh towels (don't know if the sheets were changed each night),
- no fan in the bathroom; the moisture had ruined the mirror so it's almost useless,
- the first night the housekeeper remembered to replenish the coffee and sugar, but forgot after that, so we helped ourselves to the coffee packets on the housekeeping carts and sugar packets on the restaurant tables.
We didn't use the restaurant or pool, so can't remark on those.
We wouldn't stay here again unless it is completely refurbished (especially new beds and furniture) and noise-proofed.
