Holiday Inn Santa Monica Beach At The Pier

Highly Recommended

by TripAdvisor Member JohnEverson

Absolutely perfect location for exploring all that Santa Monica has too offer - and quite reasonably priced. Breakfast buffet excellen, and staff very attentive.

Yes, there are a lot of homeless people in the area, but I didn't feel threatened at all, so please don't let that put you off.

We'd stay there again in a heart-beat!!

by TripAdvisor Member mrskenny

Everything we read here is true from the beautifully renovated rooms to the champagne upon arrival. One nit is that they should have done something to the bathroom floors - either acid wash to clean the grout or replace. Otherwise, an unbeatable location, very personable staff, good, reasonably priced, restaurant . And the bathroom towels were soft and fluffy.

Yes, there is noise from the highway. Our room was on the 6th floor, highway side, and we did hear the traffic. Solution is to just turn on the a/c fan.

The homeless folks gathered around the McDonald's were a bit off-putting at first, but no one bothered us. We also noticed the police making passes through the parking lot, so there didn't appear to be any trouble.

Great place to stay

by TripAdvisor Member Ah_IC

This is a great place to stay in Santa Monica. It's close to the pier, close to the promenade, etc, etc, etc. The staff is A+ and very helpful. I stayed on a business trip the week of 01/24/05 and in the late afternoons I was able to easily take a nice stroll on the pier or beach, and had a ton of various dining establishments to choose from. And, they've added wireless high speed internet, which is a plus.

*The homeless - No worries. They don't bother anyone, and if you want to avoid them while going to the promenade just take a right coming out of the hotel, cross the street at the mall and cut through it (it spills you right into the promenade area).

Not that impressive

by A TripAdvisor Member

Location is okay but the roar of traffic is terrible in the lower levels so don't count on sleeping. Rooms are not that impressive and clean and staff is rude. There are plenty of other same standard hotels and motels close by at a better rate

It'll do me!!!!

by TripAdvisor Member SE

We're from the UK,

We travelled here, as a family of 4, kids 19 & 17, after staying at Holiday Inn's in San Francisco and Visalia, as we travelled down California.
The hotel itself was great, rooms seemed art deco style!

The location is superb!
Pier about 300 yds away.

Venice Beach about a 20 min walk along the beach, left.

Excellent brand shopping on the doorstep (right, then left at first lights 30yds, then 300 yds ), about 100 shops. A pedestrianised street, open late, good food, good entertainment!

OH! To be there again...... :-)

Santa Monica Days...

by amandajayne81

"First stop on our USA trip"

After waiting for our luggage (actually just my luggage) for about 2 hours at LAX we boarded the Supershuttle for a ride to Santa Monica. We saw houses and neighbourhoods of all types on the way and were relieved to arrive at the Holiday Inn, Santa Monica.

We were expecting great shopping and a great beachside atmosphere. Unfortunately the 'helpfullness' of the people at our hotel and generally in the hospitality industry was disappointing. No coastal towns, big or small, in Australia would survive if they treated tourists like that.

That said the Pier is fabulous as is the walk to Venice Beach which was quite warm even in Winter. We encountered some awesome shop attendants (at Macys and Body Shop mainly) and were amazed at how these shop assistants could have lines going for miles but just keep serving away without getting flustered.