Santa Monica · Hotel shortlist
Santa Monica hotels with a pool
Gerald Whitfield The American northeast and Canada
These are my five favourites in Santa Monica, out of the 79 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.6 down to 4.5.
Hotel Casa del Mar is the one I would book myself.
Highest rated of the five
Hotel Casa del Mar
★★★★★4.6 from 1,710 reviews
Hotel Casa del Mar comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.6 from 1,710 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 5 star property, found under city centre and around $771 a night on the dates we checked.
79 hotels in Santa Monica qualified for this list and five made it. Shutters on the Beach is the one I would book if the first is full.
Why it works for this trip
- Poolsomewhere to cool off between walks
- Spatreatment rooms on site, no booking a taxi for it
- Air conditioningthe one that decides a summer trip
- Restaurantdinner downstairs on the night you land
- Bara drink without going back out
All five, ranked
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1
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2Shutters on the Beach
★★★★★4.5 from 2,527 reviews
- Pool
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
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3Regent Santa Monica Beach
★★★★★4.7 from 192 reviews
- Pool
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
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4Oceana Santa Monica, LXR Hotels & Resorts
★★★★★4.5 from 804 reviews
- Pool
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
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5UCLA Lake Arrowhead Lodge
★★★★★4.7 from 401 reviews
- Pool
- Spa
- Gym
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Parking
How this list was put together
79 Santa Monica hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating, then on class, and took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Gerald Whitfield The American northeast and Canada
Volunteers three days a week and travels the rest. Maritime museums and working boatyards in 19 countries, mostly by ferry and train, talking to the shipwrights in every one.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.