Bayside Hotel — Attraction in Santa Monica

STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOTEL -- Potential hotel staff involvement in robbery -- don't take a chance

My girlfriend and I stayed at this hotel in late June of this year. Upon returning to the Bayside Hotel after dinner, we walk up to our room and find nothing out of the ordinary - door completely shut. We open our door and see every single drawer in the room open, our clothes everywhere, and the room completely ransacked.

My backpack -- filled with thousands of dollars worth of electronics in it was gone along with all of my girlfriend's jewelry. We went and reported it to the front desk only for the security guard to come and immediately insinuate that we had left the door open and it was our fault that we had been robbed. This was later proven to be false from an interrogation of the lock which I will get to momentarily.

After this we went to the front desk to wait for the GM, Robert, to come and pull up the security footage. As we were waiting, another employee told us how the night before he received a call around midnight from a guest who heard a knock on his door. He wasn't expecting anyone and asked who was there. The person at the door replied he was dropping off food. The guest hadn't ordered any food and the employee came to his room only to find that whoever it was had left.

Robert arrives and pulls up the footage and we see a man walk directly to our room -- he was not looking around randomly looking for a room, he knew where he was going -- pull something out of his pocket (a key) and enter the room. About 5 minutes later he walks out with my backpack and a beach bag, presumably filled with my girlfriend's jewelry. The employees insure us that the police are on the way and will be there shortly, but they never show (not the hotel's fault). Robert then says that he will do an interrogation into the lock ASAP to see how the intruder entered the room. After 15 minutes of him reading the manual and trying to figure out how to actually do this, he realizes he has no idea and gives up.

We are then told to go get some rest and they will wake us up when the police arrive. This never happens and my girlfriend and I walk to the precinct at 5am the next morning. After a couple weeks and unanswered texts from Robert, he finally answers and tells us that it was our key that was used to open the door to our room. But wait -- OUR key? How is that possible? We clearly weren't there as the video supports. This is what we asked. Instead of looking at the list of who had been in our room the days leading up to the incident, the security team said that we must have dropped our key and someone picked it up. The key, however, does not give any indication to what hotel it worked at, much less the room number. To this, they said we must have had the slip with it they give you at check in that tells you which room we are staying in. We know for a FACT this is not true. My girlfriend and I took those off prior to leaving the room for the first time and never brought them out with us. It is clear what happened is someone who had access to our room (maybe someone who was cleaning it) saw that we had expensive electronics and jewelry out, and saw one of our keys sitting on the counter. Since my girlfriend and I were together the whole trip, we really only needed one key. They then took the key and gave it to someone they knew or sold it to someone to come back later and steal all of our belongings.

Robert was very cavalier about the whole thing and after a month still has not done the right thing. We weren't compensated in any way whatsoever, we actually still paid full price for our stay at the hotel. This was right before a big move for me and was absolutely devastating financially. Losing $5,000 worth in belongings is not something one can bounce back from quickly.

To anyone thinking of staying here, please, stay away. I do not want anyone to go through what we went through trying to deal with this management. The place is not safe and the staff have no regard for your safety...

WE WERE ROBBED OF THOUSANDS FROM OUR HOTEL ROOM!!!!!!

My boyfriend and I stayed here for 3 nights last month after driving down the coast from San Francisco. On the last night (Friday, 6/28) after packing up all of our luggage for an early flight the next day, we returned from dinner to a hotel room that had been completely ransacked. Our bags were emptied out, toiletries spilled all over the floor, drawers and cabinets opened, and nearly $5k worth of items (MacBook, AirPods, beats headphones, A LOT of jewelry, expensive cologne, cash, purse, wallet, etc. -- you get the point) STOLEN. We immediately went over to the office to report the incident and to see if anyone was aware of what happened, which they were not, called the police and the general manager. The GM arrived within 30 minutes and played back the video of our hotel room while we were gone which shows an unidentified man walking right through the side of the hotel, up to only our room, entering easily with a key, and leaving 8 minutes later with my boyfriends backpack (filled with the valuables) on his back and a travel pillow on his neck. Given the complete LACK of security from public, the man was able to walk right in through the back parking lot and right out through the front entrance next to the office and onto the beach with zero problem or suspicion.

It turns out that their security system showed one of OUR keys was used to open the hotel room, to which the management claimed we must have lost and someone followed us in or found a slip or envelope that identified which room we were. To this I respond: the key does NOT have the hotel name or room on it and we are absolutely positive we left one key in the room on the bedside table for exactly this reason. When we returned the key was gone, so the only resolution is that someone from the hotel staff saw the valuables during their cleaning rounds over the previous few days, took the key while we were out, gave it to an accomplice, and had everything stolen .

This was a CLEAR break-in by someone who knew exactly where they were going (he didn't look at any other room besides ours), and what they were looking for. How did they know it was our last night there? How did they know we would be gone during that time? How did they know what valuables we had in the room and how easy the backpack grab would be?

Over a month later and we still have yet to be compensated. At the very least, we didn't even get refunded the charge of the room even though we had to stay up the entire Friday night dealing with this incident and waiting for the police. Because of the management and security's complete negligence, we did not get to enjoy our stay.

To any potential guests: PLEASE consider this before booking with the bayside hotel. What felt like a good deal for a beachfront hotel turned into a VERY expensive trip after having to pay for all three nights on top of replacing the ~$5k worth of stolen items. While the room was clean and online pictures indicative, the alleyway open layout of this hotel makes it completely unsafe and subject to any beach loiterers or potential thieves that see a good opportunity. You will not feel safe staying here.

Also side note: the holding company that owns this hotel also owns Shutters on the Beach and Casa Del Mar, so if you decide to pay for one of those rooms, you will be dealing with the exact same security team (or lack thereof).

We really wish we could have written a better review, but after giving the hotel and Company over a month to do the right thing and take care of the incident, it is clear they are negligent and could not care less about their...

I stayed in the Traditional Queen, which is ideal for 2 people only, as it is literally an average bedroom size which was fine with me. The overall cleanliness of the room was a “touch and go” type clean. There was gum stuck to the side of the desk chair which I cleaned off myself. I was greeted at the door by a huge gnat as soon as I entered. I killed two (gnats) during my stay. I had to keep the bathroom door closed because there was a continuous foul odor coming from the bathroom. There was an old urine stain on the side of the toilet which I also cleaned myself because I could not stand knowing it was there and it was pretty disgusting. The room itself had an old mildew type scent, as if it was cleaned with dirty mop water and zero disinfectant. I do not sleep on hotel blankets, I bring my own and just lay on top of the comforters. So I cannot give much information about the sheets or blankets but I would bet you the mattress itself may be the cause of the lingering odor throughout the room. The room is very stuffy and the AC barely works. Overall cute decor, laminate/hardwood flooring and location are the pros to this hotel room. The gentleman that checked me in was not very friendly, but I won’t hold it against him, maybe he had a long day. The hotel is a 5 min walk to the beach and about a 12 min walk to the Santa Monica Pier. The hotel is conveniently located to many shops and everything beach/vacation mode related. Beware, during the night it sounds like a drunken college campus party (I am speaking of weekdays, the weekends may be different.) You can hear loud mufflers from sports cars, the individuals in the apartments located right next to the hotel who are drinking and laughing and singing loudly and people stomping pass the hotel room door all night long. Cons: college campus atmosphere in the evenings, lack of other guests‘ comfort by not regulating some type of noise control and college campus type feel. No I would not...