ohmark

With most full service Marriotts and Rens having photo arrays of the property on the Marriott website, it's sort of surprising that the category 7, "Le Merigot, A JW Marriott Beach Hotel and Spa, Santa Monica" has zero photos and zero virtual tours. Wonder why?

schriste

http://www.lemerigothotel.com/

ohmark

Even more curious that a few photos are on the property's own website, but its Marriott webpage is one of the few (only?) JW's, Marriotts, or Rens without a photo array.

SanDiego1K

I just searched this forum, and couldn't find any reports on this hotel. Has anyone stayed here? What did you think? Did your room have an ocean view? What was within walking distance of the hotel? How well did the hotel take care of you if you have status?

schriste

I stayed there back in June 2006. The hotel is rather expensive ($300ish per night), but then so are the other nice hotels in Santa Monica. I was fortunate to be able to use both my EEO certificates at the property (B1G1F weekend night and B1G1F room service entrée), so it was a very good value for me.

The hotel is just a few blocks south of the Santa Monica pier. Unfortunately there is a new apartment building that was build right in front of the hotel’s beach view, so now the hotel is effectively one block from the beach. The hotel is roughly shaped like a square bottomed “U” with the open end of the “U: facing the ocean. The rooms on the interior south facing side of the “U” have an angled view of the ocean, but don’t think beach front. As MR Gold I was upgraded to one of these limited ocean view rooms. It came with a large patio, spacious basic marble bathroom (floor and bath), comfortable furnishing (nicer than a regular Marriott), great bed with Italian sheets, and best of all a rubber fishy. The room also had good quiet air conditioning with good soundproofing between rooms (or I had quiet neighbors). Be warned that some of the rooms face a busy road (base of the “U”) … these would be very disappointing.

As MR Gold I was given two $15 credits for breakfast for each night because there is no lounge at the property. They were even good for room service, which was a nice surprise. We ate breakfast on the patio each day which was very enjoyable with good food and nice presentation.

The plot of land the hotel sits on is not very big, so there is not much space for resort facilities. The pool is very small as is the courtyard inside the “U”. But it is nicely done with some nice fountain features and comfortable outside furniture and bar service.

We did not have a car (we took the Big Blue bus from LAX) and were able to walk to all of the Santa Monica beach area sights. We also walked down to Venice Beach. We had lunch at Lula Cocina Mexicana on Main Street. I absolutely loved the food there.

All in all I enjoyed my stay at the Le Merigot. If I could use EEO certs I would return, but I would not pay $300 a night to stay there.

SanDiego1K

schriste, that is a great summary of the hotel. I now have a sense of what is good and what is not. And what a great tip to use B1G1 free certs there.

SkiAdcock

Well if I had $300 I'd stay at a lot of the upscale hotels, including this one .

I stayed at the hotel a couple of years ago on a free-night cert (from an event I attended). At that time the apt building in front (which rents for a fortune being right on the beach) wasn't built, so the views were better.

I also got a massage at the spa, which was quite nice. IIRC the bar is a bit small, but still enjoyable. I ordered room service. Actually, btwn massage, bar & RS, my 'free night' cost me quite a bit Think parking is a bit pricey, but can't remember.

LeMerigot is in 'upscale hotel row' in Santa Monica on Ocean Ave. Across the street is the Vicerory, next to LeM is Loews, Shutters, Casa del Mar.

About a 3-4 minute walk north of LeM is The Lobster restaurant (upscale seafood place at the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier w/ great views). A few feet farther on the other side of the street is I Cugini restaurant, which I quite like. Around the corner from I Cugini & up a block is the 3rd Street Promenade, which has shops, restaurants, bars, movie theatres.

If you walk or drive south on Ocean (that's what LeM is located on) or flip over to Main, there are a # of restaurants just a few minutes away that are quite good in Santa Monica/Venice.

Cheers.

Tiojelly

I live less than a mile from the hotel and have drinks there -- not alot of outdoor lounge type space, but the hotel is in a great location.

When the hotel originally opened it was not intended to be under Marriott mgmt (from what we heard in the hood) -- but they were having trouble getting occupancy and interest. I think the fact that JW is managing it, but the owners originally were skeptical may speak to why the Marriott website does not have as much info including photos???

Florida Flyer

Schristie's post was right-on. I loved the hotel and I think we even had the same room described in that post. The patio was HUGE. Too bad it didn't have much of an ocean view though. This was probably one of the more disappointing aspects of the hotel, the lack of a view. But overall, I would stay there again. I felt they acknowledged my status (Platinum) fairly well and the service was outstanding. Good concierge and front desk staff. And Santa Monica is a GREAT location with great food. One tip: if you stay here, ask about the crepe restaurant (i forget the name), particularly for breakfast. It's nearby and I wanted to eat there like every day!

ohmark

Was this during the week, the weekend, or both? (Amazing that the property neglected to include "resort" in its title.)

schriste

It was during the weekend. I think resort was left off the name on purpose. It is a beachside hotel. If your amazement about this has to do with EEO certificates not being good at resorts... be cautioned that I did have a problem using them. The Marriott website does not specifically exclude this property (as it does the other true JW resorts) from the current EEO offer, but the hotel thought it had excluded itself. Marriott customer service resolved the issue in my favor.

ohmark

My amazement had to do with whether they comp breakfast for plats and golds in the absence of a c-lounge. Glad to here of your experience with breakfast. If they comp the weekends (which they don't have to) then I would guess they would comp during the week, which they are supposed to do.

uftc

Has anyone stayed here? What did you think?

After staying a few times over the past year or two, this place rocks!

Close to everything in Santa Monica, great for obligatory 'star sightings,' great service and classy accomodations (a co-worker raves about the thread-count of the sheets and claims she will stay @ LM even when she has to commute to the OC).

Possible potential negative - although it's within walking distance for most of the shopping and dining you might desire in Santa Monica, there is enough of a transient contingent that may make it less desirable if you go for leisure travel w/ family (but, then again, probably challenging to completely avoid in LA county...)

LPCJr

After hearing many great things about this property from co-workers, I'm looking forward to a 3-night stay next month on business. I'll be sure to report back.

LPCJr

As promised, I am reporting back after a three-night stay last week.

Overall, this is one of the best Marriott properties I've stayed at.

Some highlights:

-- Given large room with a spacious patio with table/chairs/umbrella and decent view of the ocean. ^
-- Even though it's a resort, I received a $15 credit for breakfast each day, without asking.
-- Staff was attentive and pleasant.
-- Delightful public spaces - the outdoor lounge, lobby area, and lobby bar were all very nice
-- Outdoor seating at Cezanne was great for enjoying breakfast near the ocean.
-- Bed was extremely comfortable, and the bath towels were the biggest and thickest I've ever seen.
-- Asked for toothpaste and shaving cream due to the carry-on ban - provided at no charge with no hassle.
-- Larger array of newspapers than usual (WSJ, USA Today, LA Times, NYT).

Minor negatives:
-- Though service was always very prompt, $30 for valet parking (without the option to self-park) seems excessive given that Santa Monica is not exactly midtown Manhattan.
-- While I was very appreciative of the breakfast credit, I was somewhat disappointed that there was no buffet (I don't think I've ever stayed at a Marriott that didn't offer a buffet option). When pressed for time in the morning, not having to wait to be served would be a plus.
-- For a "Resort", the pool was kind of pitiful. I had visions of the Renaissance Esmeralda when I envisioned what the pool might be like here. Very very small.
-- No ice machines. I was really puzzled about this. They are supposed to bring you ice at turn down service. One night, they missed my turndown. They also say they will bring you ice upon request. Just seems like a hassle. Put in an ice machine and I'll get it myself.
-- I had several FedEx packages waiting for me at arrival. It took 3 requests to get them to deliver them to my room. Normally, I'd be really annoyed, but service overall was so good that I didn't complain about this one minor issue.
-- Charge for 800 calls exceeding 20 minutes. This didn't affect me, and as a Plat, I'm sure I wouldn't have paid, but what gives? The call doesn't cost the hotel anything, and free 800 calls seems to be standard Marriott policy at every other property.

Not exactly a criticism of the hotel, but I was amazed by the sheer number of vagrants in the area, especially on the beach. For not being a major city, I was really surprised by the number of homeless in Santa Monica. It seems highly disproportionate to the size of the city.

I would definitely stay here again. Having also stayed at the Marina del Rey Marriott (about 3 miles away), I'd consider Le Merigot a superior alternative (albeit somewhat pricier).