The Ambrose Hotel Santa Monica — Hotel in Santa Monica

THE HAPPY HOTEL ! We were off to Santa Monica again for a weekend getaway. My wife found this boutique style hotel online...it ticked the all the important boxes we wanted...close to restaurants we liked, Tesla Destination Charger ( 2 ) in secure underground carpark and super friendly staff. There was another unexpected bonus too...I phoned Leo at reception on Thursday and asked if they had a storage room for our expensive electric bikes. Yes indeed was his reply ! We hit the road about 11am on Friday for the 113 mile drive which could easily take over 2 hours. We did take a small detour to grab some lunch at a cafe on Rose Ave, Venice but couldn't find a street parking spot close enough to the cafe to watch our eBikes. So we decided to head to the hotel and drop off our eBikes so we didn't have to worry where we parked. My wife and I arrived at reception at 1pm. Alfred who is one the managers and his lovely co-worker Maryam looked after us in exceptional fashion. We truly had a wonderful welcome ! Yes they would put our bikes in a storage room near reception right away. Even though check-in was not til 3pm we could also check in straight away...our PREMIUM KING ROOM ( about $400 a night all up ) was ready. OKAY ! We decided to cut our losses and take our luggage up to our 4th floor room then walk across the street for a quick bite at Tartine. We walked across to Tartine about 1.40pm and there was a line out the door....counter service....very slow and over priced. After waiting a few minutes we decided to exit stage left and go grab our wheels. We drove 6 minutes to our fav brunch place BLUE DAISY on Broadway and enjoyed a beautiful lunch. Getting back to the hotel we plugged in my wife's Tesla Y at one of the 2 TESLA DESTINATION CHARGERS on the upper level of the 2 level underground carpark ( must have about a 50 car capacity ). After sorting out our luggage in our room we put on our biking gear and went for a bike ride to the Santa Monica Pier at about 4pm...only 2 miles away. Angelina and Maryam at reception were very helpful when we asked for dinner ( we wanted pizza ) suggestions for Friday evening but we followed our own hunch in the end. Later in the evening we drove to a fabulous pizza / wine bar called SOUTH END in Venice just 20 minutes away. Their delicious sourdough pizza, Italian pale ales and amazing hand made tiramisu were just what we wanted. Our room was very quiet with the huge flat screen TV running but when we decided to turn in for the night.....the pesty little built-in bar fridge had a rattle all of it's own. We unplugged it so we could sleep. Of course I turned it back on in the morning to keep my premium craft beers ice cold...and it did ! Other than both sets of our pillows being on the too high too firm side everything else was fine. Our bed was very comfortable, the shower worked well straight away...plenty of fresh new white towels. I requested softer feather down pillows at reception in the morning and they were in our room when we returned from a lovely breakfast at BLUE DAISY on Broadway...we rode our eBikes there in only 6 minutes. Oh and the new softer pillows were perfect for a great night's sleep on Saturday after a wonderful birthday celebration dinner at the upscale FIA RESTAURANT on Wilshire Blvd...just 1/2 a mile away. Of course we drove over to BLUE DAISY on Broadway for a sumptuous brekkie on Sunday morning. The hotel even lays on a HAPPY HOUR in the shut down breakfast dining room adjacent to reception every afternoon....you can get a cappuccino too. They even provide a small fleet of bicycles which guests are free to use. We totally enjoyed our time here. Every staff member we came into contact with during our weekend stay was very friendly and very helpful....

BEST HOTEL FOR MILES ! My wife found this boutique hotel online early this year when we had a weekend getaway in Santa Monica back in February. It was all pretty good really....charging bay for my wife's Tesla Y in a secure underground parking garage, a storage room near reception for our Trek electric bikes, close proximity to the Santa Monica Pier and our fav local restaurants, comfortable king size bed and very attentive polite staff. LET'S DO IT AGAIN FOR OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY IN JUNE ! My wife jumped online back in March to book us a room for June 17-18 and had some difficulty nabbing a real good deal on offer. In the end my wife phoned the hotel and Leo in reception took care of things....a STUDIO KING ON THE 4TH FLOOR ( top floor ). DONE DEAL ! Time travels fast....June 17 arrived and we were on the road to Santa Monica. After making better than expected time for the 148 mile trip including a lunch stop in Venice we arrived here around 1.30pm. We headed straight to hotel reception to check-in....Leo and Maryam at the desk greeted us warmly ( we met these 2 wonderful staff members back in February ). Yes we could check-in early ( usually it's 4pm ). WOW....Leo told us we had been upgraded to a LUXURY STUDIO KING ( bigger patio ) on the 3rd floor. COOL ! We drove down into the parking garage ( card access only ) and plugged my wife's Tesla Y into the Tesla destination charger. HOW CONVENIENT ! I went and grabbed a luggage cart to load up all our stuff. And then we hit the elevator for the 3rd floor. WHOO HOO...beautiful room with a good sized bathroom, a huge flat screen TV hanging on the wall and the BIGGEST HOTEL ROOM PATIO we've ever seen....with a fireplace, sofas, a dining table. LOVE IT ! And there on the table near our king size bed....a chilled magnum bottle of champagne in an ice bucket and a box of luxurious chocolates with a note from hotel management wishing us a HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. Needless to say we were very impressed ! The hotel even provided a courtesy car ( Tesla 3 ) with a suited driver to take us to our dinner destination a short distance away. After a huge night celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary at wonderful Dono ( HAPPY HOUR ) and then the incredible Fia Restaurant we came home to relax. The large flat screen TV on the wall was a little difficult to get channels on so a quick call to the desk at around 9pm sorted that out. The king size bed was very comfortable and the room was pretty quiet bar the occasional ambulance siren in the middle of the night. On Saturday morning we sat on the huge outdoor patio in the shade and relaxed before heading out for a delicious brekkie at Bluestone Lane in Santa Monica. After that we came back to the hotel to clean up and then it was off to THE GETTY CENTER for 3 hours. What a sensational place to hang out ! Later in the day ( before dinner at Dono ) I relaxed there with an ice cold beer. Our dinner at Dono was as good as it gets and then we hit the Backstage Bar & Grill in Culver City for some KARAOKE. On Sunday morning we headed out before 8am to Blue Daisy for the BEST BREAKFAST IN CALIFORNIA. We totally enjoyed our weekend getaway here....FABULOUS STAFF &...

I booked The Ambrose for both a work trip and recovery after a procedure. I needed to be near my clinic and because it was peak season, most hotels with long stay options were either fully booked or way too pricey. The Ambrose seemed like it made sense. But honestly, it turned out to be a bad choice. The price wasn’t far off from 5 star hotels, yet the experience was nowhere close.||Service was almost nonexistent. No one helped me with my bags at check in and eventually they will only help if I asked, which was tough since I wasn’t feeling well. My first room had a broken AC and safe, and while they were kind enough and moved me the new room’s AC was so loud I couldn’t rest properly. One night I even tried calling reception and no one answered. Pillows are so hard and uncomfortable. Staff were hit or miss some were really nice, others awkward and uninterested and even won’t greet you back hello. No matter what star the hotel is, staff shouldn’t give off awkward vibes it just puts you off. Things also aren’t explained properly at check in, which makes the whole stay more confusing than it should be.||Housekeeping is only once every three days unless you request it, and there’s no room service. I found this out on my very first morning when I woke up wanting to order a cappuccino turns out, you can’t. Simple things like a kettle aren’t in the room, you have to call for them. Even water isn’t straightforward. There are no bottles in the room, and you have to walk all the way near the elevators to fill it yourself, which nobody tells you at check in. I only found out after my procedure when I was trying to recover, so I ended up ordering water from the grocery store instead because it didn’t make sense for me to go and keep filling water. They also say they offer an in house driver, but he was barely available and only in a couple of times the whole week. For the price you pay, that’s just not acceptable. ||The only positives are the quiet location, the downstairs lounge if you need a place to work, their small happy hour, and a couple of kind staff. But those small things don’t come close to making up for the lack of comfort and service for the price you’re paying.||If you’re considering this hotel because other options are booked up, just know you’ll be paying near 5 star rates for a 2 to 3 star experience. Definitely...