My wife booked this as part of our USA road trip t...

My wife booked this as part of our USA road trip through California. We have stayed at all sorts of places along the way, this was the beginning of our luxury part to relax.

We were looking forward to Santa Monica and the Shore hotel. We left feeling OK, but not WOW given the price and how they position the hotel. A quick summary below.

Pros:
- a really great location, super convenient for the pier, beach and ocean runs etc
- TC was a great help in reception with our Luggage, super friendly remembered kids names etc
- Great size TV in the room, not that we were in there much
- Clean and modern, room cleaning was good and efficient every day
- Valet parking worked well with lots of space downstairs.
- The jacuzzi is really good and very warm indeed!
- Free Coffee in the AM (see below though)
- Free bikes are available, although I never got around to using them

But that s pretty much where it stopped...

Cons
- Its expensive - so you have expectations for this - that the hotel don t really live up to in my personal view.
- I m not a fan of the resort fee. This is not a resort. I find it a total con and simply another tax. See the pic for what you get, but half of this is either a one off, or what you get as standard in every Mariott or Hilton etc.
- Other than TC most of the staff I didn t find that friendly
- Valet parking seems pricey - $39 per night plus tax. It s no cheaper down the road,
- I was charged $3 to receive a package. I left my glasses at the previous hotel and they posted them to me. I have never had a receiving charge before in any hotel ever
- The worst WiFi Ive ever experienced. When I asked about it, I was offered to speak to support. I don t - I m on holiday - just provide a premium service in a premium hotel. You get better WiFi in Starbucks which I went to do some work quickly. Others on here have complained too. Don t expect any level of service here on this and as a foreign tourist I don t want huge data fees. This is table stakes for any location. Even the more basic places we stayed in had super fast WiFi. This is 2018 and the west coast...
- if you cant eat outside for whatever reason the breakfast room is basically a bare meeting room
- Free coffee in the AM (almost every hotel does this now), but don t wait too late - its removed at or just after 9 and was often empty - so I had to ask for it to be refreshed.
- Their 3pm Cookie is pretty much 3pm. If you are out all day exploring as a family etc, then expect them to be gone when you get back. So its basically not a perk.
- The pool area is small, and can be busy. As well as usually being a good wind trap given the shape of the hotel around it.
- We bought drinks from the pool bar, nice chap - but he forgot to add on our Resort fee discount, it was only $2 saving on this occasion but hammers home the above as a total con. I don t usually check the bill, but my wife pointed it out.

So an OK hotel which is overpriced in a great location. Sadly when certain things don t meet expectations you start to notice every niggle and issue.

We liked Santa Monica and would go back, but more than likely save some $$$ and find a place a few blocks from the Ocean drive.