Review of Hotel Oceana, Santa Monica, L.A., USA

Good (relatively quiet) location, large rooms, fine staff:

If you want to be in a hotel at the beaches of Los Angeles, they don’t make it easy for you. The place to be in Santa Monica is supposed to be either The Shutter’s or the Casa del Mar, but my husband, my teenage son and I preferred the Oceana to these two hotels because the location is nicer (a bit away from the bustle around the pier) and you get large, well-appointed rooms there which offer in addition value for money.

We had booked an Ocean View Suite with the possibility of an upgrade to a Signature Ocean View Suite which we finally had. There is a large living room and a smaller bedroom. The bathroom is adequately sized and in addition there is a small balcony with a marvelous view on the Pacific Ocean. The hotel has a tastefully equipped courtyard with a pool which actually is the heart of the place. The atmosphere there was very pleasant, relaxed yet cool.



As far as food is concerned, there is a small, nicely furnished restaurant where we didn’t dine but only went for breakfast. As to this, I have to say that I wasn’t especially fond of having breakfast there. Although the buffet is well assembled and delicious warm dishes can be ordered, I didn’t feel very comfortable there. Maybe this was due to the great number of small children or due to the fact that you had to help yourself to hot drinks at the buffet or because sometimes tables and the floor beneath were not immaculately clean (after some untidy children had been there), I can’t say for sure. But this is the only negative point I can think of. Besides the young female employees who were in charge of the breakfast service were very friendly and helpful. That can be said of all the staff we met. Extraordinarily cordial were also the people at the valet parking. 

A plus is the fact that there are bicycles at your disposal (complimentary up to a certain period of time). Worth mentioning is also that you get a welcome drink (a glass of Prosecco), a nice touch which we only had in this hotel during our whole trip through the Southwest of the USA.

Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Oceana for a few unwinding days at the beaches of Los Angeles.

Date of stay: July 2011