The Oceanfront Beach Villa — Hotel in Half Moon Bay

This was such a bad experience I just felt obligated to write something. I had last-minute-free-weekend, so I decided to spend a nice, relaxing weekend on the beach. Most hotels were already fully booked, but the Oceanfront seemed to be just what I was looking for. The owners didn’t changed the sign (it still reads Landis), so I missed the hotel. They seem to be doing some kind of renovating, the ground floor is a mess. I took the elevator to the lobby. There was no one there, I had to wait for the innkeeper to show up. She seemed really nice and friendly, welcomed me and showed me to my room. Didn’t give me any information about hotel whatsoever (breakfast, wifi, etc). My room was on the second floor, the hallway was also a HUGE mess. The room had the most amazing oceanview and a lovely balcony. She showed me around and told me that it was a conjoined room, connected through the bathroom - the innkeeper said she would make sure that the door was properly locked. The view was so beautiful that it took a few minutes for me to realize that there were absolutely NO curtains. I went to the bathroom and realized that the door to the conjoined room was unlocked. Not that it really matters, because it would be easily unlocked by the other room anyways. I looked around, it was vacant, so it didn’t really bothered me. However, the idea of being awakened by the sunrise at 5AM was disturbing. I went downstairs and asked the innkeeper if I could change rooms, due to the lack of curtains. In a mockery way, she told me that not having curtains was the whole point of the room, to enjoy the view (?). She offered to put up “something” on the windows, but I figured it wouldn’t help anyways. I enjoyed a lovely walk on the beach and watched the sunset on my balcony. The balcony was shared with yet another room, that was empty as well. The balcony door wouldn't lock. I was determined to have a good, relaxing weekend, so I gave it no mind. As predicted, the sun woke me up at 5am, but after covering my face with a tshirt I fell asleep. I ended up missing breakfast, so I drove to a nearby place to get some food, went to the pier, etc. I took a shower - water not warming up at all, but I decided to bath anyway. I had to look for the towels, they were in a drawer. Pretty old towels. No bathrobes at all. Thankfully, I was already fully clothed when a man suddenly appeared at my balcony door, scaring the s*t out of me. I figured that he was the guest from the other room, checking out the balcony and ended up unwillingly peeking into my room. He quickly went away. A female, traveling alone, with a balcony door that wouldn’t lock and a bathroom door that could easily be open from another room. What would happen next? A man would enter my bathroom? So, after all that, I FINALLY came to my senses and decided that it was enough. I paid for a luxury hotel room and got the worst, weirdest hostel experience. Maybe if it was cheap I wouldn’t be so upset, but it was NOT. I went to the lobby and told the innkeeper that I was leaving and wanted a refund. She didn’t ask me why and I really didn’t want to argue. I just wanted to get the f out of there as soon as possible. She gave me a partial refund, regarding the next night, and I went back home. I believe all these good reviews are regarding the previous owners and/or people who got a room with curtains. I felt I was trapped in an episode of “Hotel Hell”. Definitely not EVER coming...

This review is for the Miramar Suite, I believe the standard rooms are lovely from what I saw.

I booked the Miramar Suite for a family vacation with my wife and two kids. When I arrived the manager/owner wanted to show me the room to make sure that I would be OK with it before checking in and offered to see if there were any other accommodations at other locations if I didn't like it. This suite was odd in its configuration as a previous reviewer stated. I believe the manager stated it was a converted penthouse suite which explains a lot. Two rooms (with their own entry door) are connected by a jack-and-jill bathroom with pocket doors separating the two rooms. One of the rooms (Room 1) has access to a shared balcony. The other (Room 2) only has a set of windows.

The balcony in Room 1 is shared with the large suite you see in the photos with a kitchen. This is a little strange for a "Hotel" but in itself not a deal breaker. I do think that window coverings at least on the large balcony door (which does lock but is not easy to do so) window would solve a lot of the privacy concerns most people would have with the setup.

IMO the Miramar Suite should only be rented as a two room rental and the door for Room 2 should be removed. Its too strange and insecure for different parties to share a Jack-and Jill bathroom.

Pros: Location is right next to the beach and is the closest you can get to beach access.

The View. Its a great view, although some powerlines do frame the view a little from the Miramar Suite but its still spectacular. The manager did show us a regular room and it didn't have the powerline issue mainly because it wasn't as high.

Free continental Breakfast and nice common room with plenty of snack options (even ice cream) available for purchase

Pleasant Staff

Cons: Odd configuration of the Miramar Suite

Need window covering options. I get that the view is great but there are times when you want the windows covered. Give the guests that option. Especially on the balcony door!

When night falls you can't see the view and the TV shortcomings become apparent. The Room 1 TV is a really cheap unit with horrible picture. 480p washed out and blurry. Room 2 TV is really just a monitor. No cable connection at all but at least its newer than the one in Room 1 and has connections to plug your own content into it.

Door locks. The access to the rooms are done thru residential grade combination door handle locks. 4-digit code and you're in. There is no privacy lock, chain, door stopper or anything else that would prevent the staff from coming in if you were in the shower and didn't hear a knock for example. Does the code get changed every time the guest changes? I doubt it. Simple fix, give us a chain at the very least.

No website, no explanation of the quirks of the Miramar Suite BEFORE we arrived. Only after we arrived and were commited to the area.

You might think this review is overly negative, however we would stay at this property again, just not in the Miramar Suite as currently configured. With some investment the suite could be a really nice addition to...

Amazing view of the ocean -- the only way you could get any closer is if you camped on the beach. We didn't have a balcony, but we threw the windows open wide and strategically placed the lounge chairs and it was the next best thing. We loved watching the waves and the surfers and the walkers and the dogs and the sunset and the sound of the ocean at night.||||BUT:||- no one was at the front desk at 2 pm (the check-in time); we called the cell phone # on the sign at the desk and no one answered and the voicemail was full. We wandered the halls to find the manager||- the manager doesn't wear a mask and guests aren't required to wear masks in common areas||- the free breakfast has unwrapped breads, cheeses, prosciutto - straight-up not safe||- security is lax - the top floor rooms aren’t key carded, you enter a 4-digit code, and they don’t seem to reset the code between guests (there was a post-it on the back of our room door with the code, in case you forgot it I guess)||||Specific to our room, the Pillar Point Suite:||- no drapes on the windows - normally not a problem, but we arrived in the middle of a heatwave and drapes would have helped the room stay cooler||- the window in the shower and the window above the toilet are stuck open and don’t close - not a problem during a heatwave, but I could see that being annoying on cooler days||- the desk has a large ship model on it and no desk chair (I know, you don't come to a hotel like this to work, but I do)||- it’s called a “suite” but it’s just a large room with useless space – a walk-in closet that runs the length of the room, a short hallway between the sleeping area and the bathroom with a totally empty wooden wardrobe (no rod for hangers, no hooks, etc.), a lounge chair and footstool positioned awkwardly near the door, and the tiniest toilet area ever.||||You absolutely can't beat the view. But I really didn't feel safe here, either in terms of room security...