Gross motel squats on grade-A location across from the Santa Monica Pier
Sometimes I'm in too much of a hurry for my own good -- like last week, when I needed a last-minute, one-night reservation in Santa Monica. I went online and booked a room for $89 (normally $149, according to the website) at the Pacific Sands Motel. In the online pictures, the place looked simple but OK. I wish that I'd read through previous visitors' reviews on various travel sites before booking there. It is without question the worst dump I've ever stayed in, in the United States -- bar none. I considered taking pictures, but at the time, I didn't think I wanted to document how bad it was. But since I'm still sufficiently irritated to write a post four days after checking out, I wish I had.
If I hadn't arrived in the early evening with just a bit over an hour before a working dinner about a mile away, I wouldn't have stayed. If it hadn't been a Saturday evening, I wouldn't have stayed. If I had a car (I took a shuttle from the airport), I wouldn't have stayed. But I had no time, no car and had seen "No Vacanacy" signs elsewhere nearby, so I was stuck in Room 49 of the Pacific Sands Motel in otherwise-fancy, otherwise-upscale Santa Monica.
My reservation was for a non-smoking room (and the website claims that the place is a 100% non-smoking facility), but I was given smoke-stinky room in the "annex" across the alley from main motel. Not only did it reek of smoke, but the ashtray had not even been cleaned! Neither had much else. The mirrors were streaked. A dirty rug had been laid on top of peeling linoleum that was dirty around the edges. The bathroom was so questionable that I didn't even step into the shower. Crumbling, poorly patched walls added to the seediness. It was just as well that the lighting was dim, because everything would have looked even worse in bright light.
The louvred windows had no solid glass, letting in every street sound, which was considerable. The room was terribly noisy, because the annex backs against busy street with a lot of foot traffic and a bus stop right outside. I think the owners might have picked the desk and chair out of a dumpster. The sink faucet didn't work properly, and the bathroom window was broken. The TV got a handful of channels, and the remote worked only marginally. Even the soap was so cheesy that it didn't foam. The bottom sheet (flat, not fitted) was put directly on top of a stained mattress with no mattress cover, but I suppose that doesn't matter, because if there had been a mattress cover, it would have been stained too.
If I had been traveling in a developing country on a bouncing bus, I'd find this luxurious. Cheap, simple and clean works for me. Cheap, broken and dirty doesn't. Only plusses were the location and free WiFi. They in no way compensated for everything else. I'm giving you the Pacific Sands Motel's address and phone number so that you can avoid this dump: 1515 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, California 90401; 310-395-6133.
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While my travel company is still under web development I am surely glad to know of tips like this. If a motel/hotel is that substandard I would just rather pull it from our inventory as one bad review can make a huge difference, just as a good review does. As you already figured out Claire, user generated reviews are really a huge help in getting the true picture of any hotel. I have stayed in many 5 star hotels that I wondered how could have ever made it to 2 stars. Thanks for your info, at least I now know of one hotel I will never stay in in Santa Monica. I live an hour away and could have made the same mistake.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds horrible! And your a travel writer who is probably use to the best.
ReplyDeleteI also am a travel writer and made a site visit to this hotel a while back for a book I was working on. My notes indicate I was "not impressed" and didn't include it, but of course. I've added your comments to my notes, Claire, and will in future avoid it at all costs. So sorry you had to endure such an unpleasant experience, but looking at their website only and being in your circumstances, I might have made the same decision.
ReplyDeleteNice travel blog. I has high quality content. That is very happy If I can share with you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding us to check reviews and not just look at pretty pictures on Web sites. We could of fallen into that trap too. Better you then us.. :-)
ReplyDeleteOne of the interesting side stories to this is that, after my miserable experience at this miserable motel, I sent an E-mail to the public relations/communications people at the Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Calif Hotel & Lodging Assn., as well as to a PR agency acct exectuive for the CHLA with a link to this post. Only the PR agency person bothered to reply -- and she wrote that she was no longer working on the account. If I were in their shoes, I would be appreciative of the heads-up -- or at least I would have acknowledged my message and pretended to be appreciative. But some PR people stick their heads in the Santa Monica sand if the coverage isn't positive.
ReplyDeleteGet A Trip and Anonymous II, you're welcome. Carole, instead of "not impressed," I might have noted, "depressed." It was only one night of my life. I didn't get any terrible disease or weird skin condition (tho' I might have if I had stepped into that shower), and it IS a good reminder of the situations travelers can find themselves in.
You know, I live in the beach areas of LA (San Pedro) and I am seriously going to check this place out; and, if you still have had no response from the people who should know better, maybe I can get one of the local papers or the LA Times interested. Love your blog....
ReplyDeleteTerry