Viceroy Santa Monica

So much to like about this hotel. Great location, close to the beach and to the centre of Santa Monica, stylish and elegant rooms, the place feels a bit like an oasis. Still, a few things that feel a little petty or stand in the way of being great. Despite a hefty resort fee, the hotel has no coffee machines in rooms and no water provided. No ice machine either though you can ask for some at the restaurant. Inclusive breakfast works as a credit but there are some exclusions and you are not told about them. Everything is also an occasion to charge - charge for early check in or late check out, charge full price rather than happy hour price if you want to take what you buy for happy hour to your room rather than having it in the restaurant itself. If this hotel remembers to treat customers as guests rather than as potential lines on the bill, it has the potential of being absolutely excellent.

The staff at the Viceroy accommodated our last minute booking, doggie stay and late night delivery of a coffee machine for the morning. The common area looked delightful and will definitely spend more time there during our next visit. The room was superb and very quiet.

Horrible experience!!!!!!!!! Terrible customer service. Do not stay here. Beware. Stay somewhere else. The rooms are nice but management is terrible. Our neighbors were fighting for two nights in a row, and they did nothing about it. We asked for a room change and denied it.

Overall average. Some rooms up high have ocean views over the buildings. The pools are mostly under-sized, and in the shade on ground level. The breakfast service was good. Seemed mostly dingy. One of the 2 elevators was broken, and the other one was very slow. nothing very commendable.

Overall the hotel, facilities and the staff were excellent. Our only niggles were no bath/shower mat making it dangerous and very slippery, an accident waiting to happen and the lack of coffee/tea making facilities in the room. This forces you to buy from the lobby, which is only open a few hours in the morning so if you miss it, you have to source outside just to get a hot drink. It is also not cheap in the lobby and as you are paying the room supplement every day, I feel this should be included in your room.