Best Western Plus Gateway Hotel Santa Monica

DO NOT STAY HERE IF YOU VALUE YOUR MONEY! I wish I could award negative stars. This is by far the worst hotel experience I’ve had. We got in late, probably around 10:30. Check in was fine, front desk attendant was helpful. I asked if we needed a parking pass for our motorcycle, he stated «um no. you should be fine» makes me wonder if a parking ticket will be on the bike when we leave. Upon coming to our room there were already teenage kids running through out the halls being loud, so I could tell this was a lovely night ahead of us. I absolutely did not sleep a wink. Between people yelling and slamming doors and the sirens from the hospital across the street, I was lucky enough to maybe get an hour of sleep. And for spending $ 236 I should have gotten a full nights rest. At about 4am whoever was upstairs started being extremely loud, almost sounded like they were doing a dance routine or crossfit above us. I allowed this to go on until I had enough and called the front desk at 630am. A lady answered the phone and said she would take care of it. Moments later the sounds got worse, almost if the people upstairs didn’t care that they were told to keep it down. I would have had a better experience sleeping at a motel 6. I will be contacting corporate and whoever I need in order to get my money returned because this was completely unacceptable and I will make sure my money does not get spent on some frat house that wants to call themselves a best western. They have lost my business and I will spread the word to stay clear. Also there were bugs in the bathroom, talk about ew. I bet they don’t pay $ 236 a night to stay, so why should I.

I stayed here for business recently and I was surprised at how comfortable it was. I have stayed in many Best Westerns and this is far superior to most. First, the room was very clean. Second, the floors were hardwood! This probably contributed to point number 1. The bed was cosy and the sheets were soft but still new. Finally, I loved that the lights were on when I walked into the room… I felt safe and instantly at ease. (Minus 1 star because the refrigerator was noisy — not more than most but still noisy.) Thank you to the pleasant staff for a lovely stay.

This is an OK place to stay if your intentions are not to spend much time in the hotel other than sleeping. On the plus side it’s very close to the Santa Monica pier, with good weather it’s an easy walk and if weathers poor there’s a parking garage on 1444 4^th St. that offers the first 90 minutes of free parking.
Just an added note, the hotel is a bit pricey, considering the amenities are nothing to brag about, the rooms could use some upgraded furniture, and the walls are very thin so expect to hear whatever it might be that your neighbors are doing. However, parking is free, which is a big plus in my opinion. Hope this review helps.
One last thing, there are not many restaurants within walking distance around the hotel so it’s better to drive to Santa Monica and eat or get takeout or delivery.

The room was clean, comfortable, and reasonable pricing for location. Only complaint, bathroom toilet seat was a $ 4 Wal-​Mart seat installed poorly. Tip: ask to be in the lower number. We stayed in 201, back part of the hotel. The higher room numbers go toward Santa Monica Blvd and more street noise.

The Gateway Best Western is trying to bill me for an additional nights stay that never happened. I checked my credit card bill and there was an additional charge of $ 252.00. I contacted them and they said it was taxes. That was a lie. I completed an on line registration and paid by credit card. They are trying to charge me for an extra nights stay. Last year a Fire alarm went off at 3:30am and no explanation or apology was issued to the guests who had their night of sleep disrupted. I believe this Best Western has some issues with honesty, hospitality and consideration for its guests. I will never stay here again.

Pros: Staff is very helpful, rooms are clean, available/​affordable parking
Cons: Just not much to recommend — no value-​added for the high cost
This was an expensive hotel for the experience — over two hundred dollars a night for a very small room that’s in a convenient location but has very few amenities. It’s not quite close enough to walk anywhere from the hotel but you don’t end up wanting to hang out at the hotel because the rooms are small and somewhat cramped. Everything looks really nice, the bathrooms and wood floors and bedding are all clean and sleek (though my room did smell slightly of tobacco smoke once we turned the AC on). The subterranean parking garage is very convenient but TINY — there wasn’t a single open spot in the garage so the gentleman at the front desk very kindly told us we could park in the loading area until something opened up. We ordered a PPV movie in the room and you’ll usually get to watch it as many times as you want for 24 hours but it was a one-​view-​only purchase, as it turns out, which means that not all of us got to watch the movie we paid $ 17.99 for.
Everything was just really «meh,» I guess. There’s no pool, no breakfast, limited room service, PPV sucks, it’s far from all the fun stuff in town. If you need to be near the hospital it’s a GREAT location, but if you’re in town for the beach or the promenade it’s kind of out of the way. You could use your money much better and get a better value and a better experience somewhere else, but there was nothing overtly bad about the hotel and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again if I had a reason to.
That being said every single staff member we met was incredibly helpful and very kind. If I was giving stars just for service it would be five stars for sure.

Just had a very poor experience at this hotel. I had an early check-​in and ended up not being able to check-​in until AFTER the normal check-​in time. The wifi which I needed for work did not work. On my second night stay there were bugs crawling on the floor by the door to my room. Upon booking the hotel I was told there would be a shuttle service for me to take to the airport provided by the hotel. In addition I was told there were free shuttle services to and from the beach which was not the case either. There was lack of communication when I tried to resolve these issues and each person I spoke with gave me a different answer. I would not recommend staying here unless it is as a last resort.

I will never stay here again. I stayed here for a one night stay a few months back as a pit stop from my Disneyland trip.
The hotel is not «walking distance» especially not of you plan on visiting the beach and bringing those necessities with you. Their online picture showin a sunset of the beach made me think that it was much closer than it was. It’s also on a big business street as well, so constant traffic passing by. Parking underground was great and ihop downstairswas definitely convenient.
My father brother and 7 year old niece all walked in from a day at the beach and the front desk appeared to be star shocked that someone came in not in a two piece business attire.
The rooms were great, clean and definitely up to par and standards but the customer service turned me away. I specifically asked the front desk to not charge my card as I would pay cash, and the gentlemen STILL did it anyway. Maybe I checked in the wrong day because the check out lady was great and they cleaning staff was very nice when I ran into them.
All in all the room was great, clean and quiet rooms, but I would never stay here again due to my experience overall with the check in employee. I think this place is geared more towards business travelers.

Good location. Walking distance to the beach and many restaurants. Clean room with comfy bed. My daughter and I stayed here three nights to attend my niece’s wedding in June. Our room was facing the street side so when the window was open it was very noisy but it was nice to get some fresh air. Wi-​fi worked just fine. There were plenty of parking available. The only complaint I had was not having enough lights in the bathroom to put the make up on.

This is a value priced hotel in Santa Monica, a short drive from the beach. No fancy amenities like breakfast or a pool, but free parking. The rooms are nice and clean. The front desk man was very kind and paid for our cab down to the Promenade when his courtesy shuttle driver was sick. That was a nice touch of good customer service.
…
Update from last night… DO NOT stay here. While room is clean and bed is comfortable, you will not sleep at all if someone is staying in the room above you. The floors are not carpeted, and every time someone in the room above you so much as breathes, it sounds like loud thumps above you. We were kept up last night until about 11pm, and awakened at 6:30 am by the constant footsteps. I even called the front desk to see if we were below the housekeeping suite, but was told it was just another guest room. Must be a circus of elephants up there.

This hotel looks much better than other 3 or 4 star hotels, I was thinking today morning why I didn’t try this hotel before with such a good quality and service!
And John, is the best host I’ve ever meet at reception of all hotels so far, his is gentleman, caring and a real typical host! I highly recommend to promote him to higher position in his career asap
Thanks

A great place to stay as it is close to the SM pier, shopping and dinning. Rooms have been updated but very small. Good for families traveling with Children. Secure parking in the basement, but very tight. Fitness center located at this hotel This hotel fits the 3 star rating based on price, cleanliness and accessibility.

This was a last minute stay as our daughter went into labor early and was at the hospital across the street. Fortunately I called from the airport (because the website stated no vacancy) they actually had a cancellation for just the one night.
Great we are exhausted and we’ll take it.
Plus because we told them we were visiting a family member across the street, they gave us a bit of a discount on the room. Score!
Now the room was fairly clean with two Queen beds (though the beds were like sleeping on bricks). I did go to take a bath and there was hair in the tub (and it wasn’t mine… eh) But the rest of the room was decent. This room was a room set up for handicap with a wide bathroom door and a fairly spacious bathroom, my only problem was I bonked my head a few times on the towel rack as I went to stand up from the toilet. But this may be a short person problem not a towel rack placement problem? We were on the 2^nd floor, maybe all the floors in the rooms are wood and don’t have carpet, which isn’t bad. But whoever was in the room above us walked like a Gorilla, maybe carpet would help this problem?
All the staff was friendly and helpful, and check out was 12 which is nicer than 11. They had covered free parking another plus. And like I said if you are from out of town and to visit a family or friend in St. John’s across the street, it makes it very easy.

I am giving this place 5 stars and I am picky about hotels. We ended up at the Best Western because of a great rate. It’s 2 miles from the beach and you can’t beat $ 189 a night in Santa Monica for a CLEAN place. I was initially skeptical about staying at a best western unsure of what it would be like. It was so clean! The staff was kind and helpful. There is FREE PARKING in a clean, small, well-​lit parking garage. You won’t want to walk to the beach from here, but taking the car in and out was a nonissue because of the garage. There is also a garage right across from the pier and beach that is free for 90 minutes and very reasonable after if that’s what you’re here for.
The shutters in the rooms are great as they allow you to keep out a lot of light and also let light in if you wish. There was a refrigerator in our room tucked away in a cabinet beneath the television. The bathroom and floors were clean and the linens fresh and spotless. I always check fitted sheet corners for any signs of re-​use (you would be shocked!) at hotels, and they were freshly laundered. Everything was clean, clean, clean, and for a hotel, that’s the most important thing for me. Updated décor and great service.

There is an underground parking garage that has 2 levels — complimentary parking for 1 car per room. The parking garage is not secured, but the elevator does require a room key to get to room levels. The high tech key scanning is cool and makes me feel safer. Scan the key, then press the floor level. After midnight, there is no elevator access from the parking garage for guests’ safety, so you have to walk up the stairs to the lobby and use the lobby elevator. The lobby is spacious and has plenty of seating.
The room was very modern and comfortable. There is a fridge, but make sure you adjust it so it’s cold. The window shutters are nice and give the option of bringing in sunlight or shutting it out completely. You can also open the window for fresh air. The air conditioning worked fine and you can adjust the temperature to your liking. There are many outlets — 2 on each side of the bedstand, so occupants of each bed can use the plugs. There are also outlets on the wall by each bed. In this day and age, everyone needs to constantly charge their phones and other electronics and use it at the same time while in bed, right? Haha. The only problem was that the lock on the bathroom door was broken.
The hallways were warm, but the rooms were cool. There is also a pretty decent detached fitness center outside across from the lobby, but I’m not sure how to access it because it was locked when I walked by. Overall, this is a decent place to stay. It’s pricey for this type of hotel, but only about 2 miles from the pier. It’s close walking distance to good eateries, so that’s a plus.

I think that this hotel is too expensive for what it offers. To begin with, it is very noisy. First, you can hear the street noise so opening windows is not quite an option. Second, the acoustics of the hotel are bad and you can hear other guests in the hallways and in their rooms. My biggest problem with Best Western is their Internet connection. It is not reliable. In my first room there was just no Internet. The technical support tried to blame it on my computer by saying that the Internet does not work well on Mac computers. Well, even if that is a problem, I think that this issue should not exist in 2015 in Los Angeles where Mac computers are really common. The issue should certainly not exists in a hotel that cost over $ 200 per night. The front desk people were very accommodating and they moved me to a different room that was supposed to have a better Internet connection. The new room had a better connection, but I still needed to frequently call the technical support because the Internet often failed to work.
I was also not satisfied with the condition of the bathrooms. In the first room, the bathroom floor was dirty. I found hair and old soap on the floor. In my second room, water drained really slowly in the shower so I always ended up standing in a bathtub full of water while taking a shower.
To be fair to this hotel and mention some positive facts, the front desk is great. People working there are really helpful and accommodating. The parking in free which is great since a lot of hotels charge quite a lot for parking.

Had a great Saturday night stay here. We paid $ 189.99, which after taxes and everything came out to around $ 215. A little expensive, but we thought the room was nicely updated and very clean.
The location was great. Easy to access from the 10 freeway and a short drive to most places. The 1.3-mile walk down to 3^rd Street Promenade and the rest of Downtown was fine, but we’d probably take Über next time. We’re normally okay with long walks, but after a busy day in LA, it was a bit much for us. However, it wasn’t a terrible walk and it felt very safe.
It’s also very close to Montana Avenue, which has a bunch of cute shops and restaurants. We were playing tourists on this trip and wanted to go to the usual pier and beach area, but a highlight of our trip was walking down Montana Avenue the next morning and seeing all the beautiful homes nearby.
IHOP was a convenient breakfast — located on the ground floor of the hotel. They give you a 20% off coupon when you check in, but it’s only good after 12PM, which makes that pretty useless.
The staff was very pleasant and welcoming. I think the only hiccup was that we only received one bath towel, but they delivered more within a few minutes of us calling down.
We only used the WiFi for a few minutes, but it seemed to work well. The next morning, I didn’t have to connect again, which bothers me at other places when you have to enter your info after being away from your device for a while. So that wasn’t an issue here.
You can tell the hotel is old, but they’ve done a nice job of renovating. Overall, a solid option. We’d stay here again for sure.

The good:
Free garage parking.
Free Wifi (that didn’t work on my phone but worked on my friends iPad)
The front desk was very nice and accommodating and let us check in an hour early.
Rooms were clean and bathroom was well stocked with toiletries.
The bad:
Very noisy. We could hear everything going on in the hallway. The guests upstairs were stomping (maybe it was loud bc the rooms have hardwood floors). Constant street noise (which I’m ok with because I’m from SF).
The shower kept dripping unless you really pushed the faucet knob.
Probably would stay here again but I’d rather stay somewhere quieter for $ 200 a night.

Hotelzimmer sind neu renoviert und sauber. Endlich ein Zimmer ohne Spannteppich. :-) Personal sehr freundlich. Tiefgarage gratis, leider etwas enge Parkplätze vor allem mit einem fullsize SUV. Kühlschrank und Tresor vorhanden WiFi läuft gut. Keine Unterbrechungen.

5 stars for free parking
5 stars for cleanliness
5 stars for quiet within the room (they blare 80s lite rock in the hallway, but you can’t hear it within the room. It is kinda laughable on the way to the elevator. I almost forgot these songs existed.)
2 stars for mushy bed
2 stars for hard-​to-​shut-​off-​shower that drips drips drips unless you invite Mr T over to save the day
2 stars for the toilet that doesn’t really flush
1 star for the 1 bar of WiFi that flickered on and off the entire length of my stay, annoying, especially if you need to conduct business. I called tech support (as directed by the front desk) just about every single time I needed to get online (several times a day) and they said that there are 10 servers and 5 of them are down at this location. LOVELY. Fix your Wifi folks.
Seems this hotel attracts a primarily international set. We met folks from Denmark, Asia, Belgium, etc while on the elevator.

Quiet, clean and free parking. What more do I need?
The shower was hot, the little coffee pot was perfect and I really liked the refrigerator neatly tucked away. Just what we needed to get some rest for the night.