This Hotel has a nice view on the ocean side rooms. However, two things troubled me about this hotel.

#1) We were promised a rate for a ocean facing room by a woman named Joy that would be the same rate as our original online reservation we had made several weeks prior. We thought this was really nice. We even wrote it down on our reservation printout. Upon our arrival however a Mr. Torres informed us that we could not have possibly had that conversation. This was despite both me and my wife recalling the conversation about getting the upgraded room for the same rate with the woman at the desk named Joy several days earlier. We were together at the time of this call, I remember quite clearly. He was very dismissive of us, in effect calling us liars. That he would continue to do this here on Trip Advisor is further disturbing.

#2) The amount of disruptive partying in the hallway just outside our room was very frightening. Sounded like a lot of rowdy young people partying and fighting. This took place on both nights we were there. Also with the very thin walls the room above us had a lot doors opening and closing and coming and going with what sounded like more 'intimate' activity than I have ever heard in a hotel in one night.

One staff member at the front desk named Rashad was indeed very nice, and really tried to be helpful. The room did have a very nice view of the ocean. Also the restaurant at the hotel next door to the north was very nice.

We stayed 6 nights at the Ocean View Hotel last week (mid January 2012). If you're looking for a "A" location in Santa Monica at a reasonable price, I recommend the Ocean View. It's across the street from the pacific ocean, two blocks away from world class shopping and walking distance to all things cool in Santa Monica - especially the pier with all its attractions.

The rooms were clean and the staff bent over backwards with any request. We had our 2 kids with us and this placed worked just fine. The front desk staff was especially kind, ask for Rashab, Joy & Jose and they'll be helpful.

Brad B. Vermont

I made a reservation for January 12, 2012, on December 5, 2011. I wanted an ocean view room, and a woman named 'Joy' gave me a decent rate, which I wrote on the printout of the reservation. When my husband and I got there, Michael Torres essentially told me I was a liar, that Joy "could not have given me that rate". I asked him how I knew her name, showed him my printout with her name (and a handwritten note saying what a 'joy' she was to deal with), and then Joy herself came out and also said I wasn't telling the truth. This made me angry, but we checked in anyway. I had no reason to lie. We'd flown from NYC, and were not unaccustomed to paying a lot of money for relatively little.
The walls were paper thin. There was a party of college aged kids, on our floor near our room, which included a fight and screaming; and a very busy (and loud) prostitute was apparently in the room above us. I can't guarantee she was a working girl, but she did have several different partners. Security is apparently not covered by their high rates.
Rashad, a man at the front desk when we checked out, was very nice, and very professional. They took $40 off our rate, but it was vile, and we left 4 days early, and relocated to a quaint landmarked motel, further inland. The view of the ocean from the Ocean View was lovely, but it is not beachfront. The veranda off the room was also nice.
But I would recommend this hotel to no one-- unless you're hard of hearing, or enjoy being called a liar when you check in. I can't blame them for the jack-hammering that went on at night (?!?) but it fit in well with my experience. What a terribly run, cheaply built hotel!!!

The hotel itself is just a place to crash. The room was reasonably clean, but not sparkling. The staff was reasonably helpful, but not super friendly. But with the location and the view (for the ocean-facing rooms), if you can get a deal it's not a bad pick.

Hotwire had our ocean view room for $175/night or so. When I checked in the front desk person told me they normally go for $275/night or more.