Great Hotel for Points spend

I got to the hotel early and happily my room was available. The staff were super friendly and I could not have had a warmer welcome to the hotel. The reception area is quite small and felt very boutique - there is a lovely fireplace in the centre and the lavender lemonade welcome was delicious! I used 90K Hilton points per night for a 2 night stay and think it was the best use I have had out of the points. Even a few months ago, the basic room was going for $1400 a night! 

I was teen to my room by one of the staff who explained the layout of the hotel nice and clearly.

The room was spectacular but there was a little too much style over practicality but it did not detract from a great stay overall. The lounge area had a lovely sofa and huge TV and a little balcony with a couple of chairs. As I was on the first floor, there was a road on each side of the suite so I am not sure whether it would be a private place to sit out as you are at eye level with everyone walking along the pavement. As it happens it was raining when I was there so I never wanted to sit out. 

The bedroom area is an odd shape - with a huge bed taking centre stage looking out the window, onto the road and then across to the sea. The thing that bugged me was not lights by the bed and the light switch for the room was on the wall so you had to go to bed in the dark once you had switched the lights off! There was some USBs by the bed to charge things. The other thing I found odd was the TV sort of got in the way of getting to the bed - you had to go round it and vcould only get to the bed on one side - the other side it was too close to the wall to get to it that way. Again looks beautiful but less useful when using it!

The bathroom was lovely and modern, with Bottega Veneta toiltries. They were lovely and got replenished on the second day (well apart from the conditioner weirdly!). The only thing was there was no room to put my own toiletries out - no space at all around the skink - including to rest the hairdryer!  Again style over practicality!

Service throughout was exemplary - always remembered my name and cheery when they said hello. There was coffee, lavender lemonade or hot chocolate out - part of the $45 resort fee..... all were good quality though.  I queried a charge on my bill and it was immediately sorted - it was a room charge, of something I had not had but no issues removing it.

I ate in the only restaurant to use my $100 credit up - this is where the Hilton credit works well - $25 per person per night gave us $100 to spend over the 2 days. I had dinner in the restaurant which was nice but quite expensive - especially the wine. The breakfast was good quality too. I am not sure why you would buy coffee from the breakfast restaurant when you can get free coffee in the foyer but maybe that is my Scottishness!

The hotel is a bit of a walk from the pier area in Santa Monica but that means it is quiet and has very few tourists walking past. There is a bit of a hike down to the beach as it is on the cliff - lots of stairs if you have mobility issues. You could walk up to Brentwood shops whcih had a Whole foods and many food/coffee shops if your budget does not stretch to eating in the hotel!

I have pointed out some issues with the room - mainly silly design but that should not stop you staying here. This is without doubt the best use of points I have ever made and I would be back in a heart beat! Unfortunately it rained while I was there so the outside pool area was closed and the upstairs bar with a view was also closed. However this is a hotel that people stay in their rooms for privacy - not sitting at a hotel bar!