Cal Mar Hotel Suites

this is an apartment hotel with a full kitchen. The apartments are very nice, bed is nice and TV is good, not too small. The area in the hotel is nice with a pool and nice chairs, greenery. About 3 blocks from the ocean in a nice area. Santa Monica is expensive so I assume this is a good deal although it is expensive. Parking is available for a fee. There is a very nice Italian delicatessen in the area not too far from the hotel.

Hidden gem! Some might call the rooms dated, but I'd say "vintage." It's was really cool to see a classic building that hadnt been completely updated, or torn down. I stayed here for 3 nights with my family of 4 and it was perfect! Parents got their own room and kids slept on the fold put couch. The kitchen allowed us to make breakfast in and save money. The staff were helpful and everything was clean and tidy. Highly recommend as an alternative to an AirBnB or corporate hotel.

We really enjoyed staying here. The hotel has a relaxed vibe with nice pool and garden courtyard with all the rooms around it. |Staff were friendly and helpful and the rooms were clean and spacious. Sure little outdated but all working well and who wants modern impersonal rooms anyway. It was a bit retro and had character and felt like you are actually staying in Santa Monica rather than anywhere in a chain motel/hotel. |Travelled with my family and had a living room, full kitchen and bedroom with two queens beds. |The location was just perfect too, a bit away from the hustle of Santa Monica but close enough and only a block away from the beach. All in all a gem.

Great Base in the Heart of Santa Monica Cal Mar Suites was exactly what we needed. A simple, no-fuss place in a fantastic location. The hotel itself is basic but had everything required for a comfortable stay. Being right in the heart of Santa Monica meant we could walk to the beach, shops and restaurants with ease. It’s not the Hamptons, but for the price and the unbeatable location, we really couldn’t fault it. Julian Bradford, UK

My wife and I love the Cal Mar Hotel. It has a great, retro vibe, and is well-kept and clean. We especially enjoy having a full suite, and a view of the pool and courtyard. It is less than a 5-minute walk to the palisades overlooking Santa Monica Beach.

Everything was good until 2am at night. It was getting warm and the power went out. The power was out for a few hours. I woke up because my kids were tossing and turning. It definitely felt like a horror movie. Overall it’s not bad

The property was so close to the beach, Santa Monica Pier, Third St Promenade and other shops and restaurants. It was so safe to walk around. My room was enormous, bed so comfortable, and very clean. The pool was nice too. Staff were so helpful and friendly.

We stayed in this hotel when we moved to USA. For one night. It was clean bed, but all hotel needs repair. It’s near by the beach. Hotel has pool but I didn’t try it. Also has parking lots. Near by Promenade.

Place was really great for what I paid, It's a nice area with tons of things to do nearby, they do have onsite parking, which is on camera 24/7, the clerks at the front desk are very kind and caring, would definitely recommend to any family or couple seeking a great stay with tons to do!

Really cute small hotel that's located near the beach and shopping. Easy parking in the carport and cute pool. The rooms are really comfy like a one bedroom studio or apartment

This place is like Al Capones hide out- it has the vibe of old Hollywood.. the tile is really groovy. The kitchen is perfect for someone who does like their own cooking more than restaurants .. I know that is a rare thing.. however- if you have food allergies this is the ticket! Maid service: clean sheets and towels- a kidney shaped swimming pool.. and kid friendly! It seems to me that this is a family operation and it just feels so good here! They are very kind- and take turns doing different jobs! All n all it is quite 420 friendly- and privacy and respect are paramount! The inner sanctuary of amazing plants and some frisky squirrel.. enjoy

Pretty nice place! Just near by Santa Monica beach, big suites with kitchen (including fridge, dishes and etc), room and bedroom. Includes 2 wardrobes (one is walk-in). Has 2 TVs - one in living room and one in bedroom and they are also pretty new and has big size. Just one thing - bad sound isolation. If someone has a party over your room - it feels like it is happened just at the same room :( but if you tired - it doesn't matter We've been there just 3 nights, but got service every day. Would stay there again

Anybody reading these reviews will see that people have strong opinions about this place. And whether they love it or hate it, they all seem to be describing the same features. So really, before you come here, be clear with yourself about what you want. I've been coming here with my family for about 15 years and stayed maybe 10 times. So you see what side I land on. The Cal Mar is not a hotel, it's a collection of suites around a courtyard with a small pool. It was once a small two story apartment complex, probably built sometime in the Fifties. And the kitchens and bathrooms are pretty much original. In spite of what some people have written, I have always found it quite clean, and the staff is very professional. If you want a hotel with a restaurant and bar, room service, fancy shower hardware, and minibar, this is not your place. And good for you. But you won't like the Cal Mar. If you want a roomy suite where you can prepare your own meals, and hate walking through lobbies and endless halls, waiting for elevators, and small spaces, you may like it here. A lot of families stay here. The pool is not for doing laps, but it is cool, and kids love it. And the courtyard is nice for lounging and it's nicely landscaped. Noise from the pool does come into the rooms. But people I've met have been nice. Once I asked folks to quiet down (it was after 10) and they were great. You will get street noise -- all the bedrooms overlook a street or an alley. That's my biggest complaint.

You get what you pay for in West LA. Cal Mar definitely a "budget" spot, but if you're not traveling for business (or you're a heavy sleeper) it might be a decent option for you. Pros: Proximity to the beach, pier, palisades park, etc, while also on "sleepy"/cozy block just steps from a more lively part of town. Heated pool Laundry on site Friendly staff Cons: Feels like an old apartment complex. To say the amenities are "outdated" would be putting it nicely. Incredibly noisy. Aside from the street noise, every step in the room above you is squeaky and loud. When I'm traveling for work, sleep is my #1 priority. I'm not sure how I would have slept here without earbuds and melatonin, which I always travel with because I've been in this situation before. If I didn't have these with me I would have had to change rooms, as sleep would have been impossible. This is certainly not ideal. If you get an upstairs room this is probably not an issue. Aside from the noise, the wifi is too slow to use for work purposes.

Great hotel for a family!!! Excellent location, customer service and very large apartment/room!! Walking distance 2 blocks from the beach!! Yes Santa Monica beach!! Just a few blocks further the pier yes beautiful walk to the pier. Also walking distance from the infamous Santa Monica promenade. We are a family of 6 which includes one teenager and 3 kids and the rooms comfortably accommodates our large family. Is it dated? Yes, the building and decor takes you back a few decades to the threes company era!! I love it!!! Vintage lover ova here!! Nice clean pool, spacious rooms, parking is limited and there are no elevators. Is this place expensive? not for the location. You could pay the same for a nice hotel the size of the bedroom here. Now if you are traveling alone or plus one you may want to stay at the hotels down the street. For a family like us this is perfect, and it comfortably accolades our family. It has a small kitchen, dining area, living area, 1 bath, sofa bed and sofas, and 2 tv's. Rooms come with 1 or 2 beds whatever you request. Free WiFi. We have stayed here a few times and I will continue to stay here. Highly recommend it.

The hotel is in a great location near the beach. The rooms are spacious and gives an apartment feel rather than a hotel feel which is good. The front desk lady was nice and helpful as well.

2 stars for the front desk staff since they refunded our stay with no issue. We checked in and then checked right back out within the hour. This was due to serious sanitary concerns. We did not feel comfortable staying here especially during covid. On top of the room smelling like some weird must upon walking in, read below for a few top highlights: - couch had mysterious milky white stains all over it - hair dryer hanging in bathroom had a splattering of some mysterious brown/red color - carpet had weird beige-like blotchy stains everywhere - blankets had what appeared to be dried blood spots on them - the bedroom door had a nice indent from when someone punched it - best of all: there was a stack of several crumpled napkins on the bedside table...upon looking closely, we saw that these napkins were from an international airline (see attached photos). It's like housekeeping either didn't even try to clean at all and left them there from the previous guest, OR decided (and this is something my Jewish Romanian dad would do) "these are perfectly good napkins - maybe they'll use them." Either way, equally concerning. -

I really like this place. SURE, you can get yourself a FANCY place like the Wyndham down the street and Shores... but this place is not only in a perfect spot for a beach run (.1 miles from the beach!) and shopping (.1 miles from shopping), but it's super spacious. These are apartments turned hotel suites in a pretty 60s-70s dated style, but if you look past the fact that it looks like you're visiting grandma, the place is clean, has loads of space and is in a PERFECT location. You honestly feel like you are entering the set of Three's Company and might start singing the little jingle. Like, seriously, I half expected the cast to come out wearing bellbottoms. It's the closest I've come to feeling the 70's life. Because they are former apartments, the bathroom is outside of the bedroom, allowing for guests to stay on the sofa bed and still have bathroom access without walking in the bedroom. The bedroom has either one king or two doubles. That means you can literally fit 4 people comfortably for a cheaper rate than any other hotel around. And if you're really creative and get an air mattress, you could fit 6 people if you really needed. And, the beds are legit comfy! Two televisions! There is a small kitchen with all amenities you need (fridge, coffee maker with coffee, microwave and even dishes!). It saves you cash if you're staying for awhile. I love this place. No, it's not a 5-star resort, but it's cheaper, more spacious than the shoe box you'd get at big hotels and it's in a perfect location in a residential neighborhood, a block off tourist mayhem. Parking is $38 for overnight, also cheaper than those other guys. They're really chill about the parking though as long as you pay for the day/night and can leave it there for awhile after checkout without any complaints. I'd just make sure to keep that rear-view mirror placard on there. My one and only gripe about this place is the $10 cost for internet. Panera is .2 miles down the road-- just hop on over there instead. Okay, two gripes. The hotel behind has trash pickup EVERY morning (it seemed anyway?!) which was not as fun since the windows are single pane. We'll be back!

We just needed a quick place to crash for the night. I found the evening host to be very accommodating. I was surprised that this was clearly once apartment rentals, and not just the usual hotel rooms. Living room and dining room were roomy and clean. Kitchen was adequately stocked. Bedroom had 2 large twin beds. Bathroom was a bit cramped. No AC available, and no ceiling fan in the living room; although there was one in the dining room and one in the bedroom. The attendant happily provided 3 oscillating floor fans... with the windows open and an evening dip in the pool, this was sufficient in the recent heat wave. The pool closes at 9pm even on a hot Saturday night. Parking was $22 overnight. Checkout was labored. Also, I was double charged for parking, so I received a cash refund.

Rude and not interested in the customer Check In was not pleasant and I do not have time to share the story NEVER staying here again Wish I hadn't paid in advance - I would stay anywhere else if I wasn't in a time crunch

Priceline stuck me, a business traveler seeking a 3star, in this dump probably bc nobody is foolish enough to stay here unless they get tricked on an Express deal. How is a hotel without warm water consistently, a constantly running toilet, glitchy non-HD cable with no premium channels, no continental breakfast, no lobby, no hottub, no gym, no parking, no internet, outdated features and appliances, hell even actual room keys that could easily be copied by thieves, considered 3 stars? I mean it was obviously a 1950s apartment complex. Management was equally as bad. GM Larry Link never contacted me back as requested. An assistant GM verbally harassed me and forced me to remove my work equipment from the premises. Walls were thin and you can hear everything. I am never using Priceline again because of this. For foreign travelers, I'm sorry that these cheap and greedy owners are taking advantage of you charging an extra $50+ on top per day for parking a car and using the internet. They don't represent good Californians, Americans, and definitely don't deserve to own land in Santa Monica. If you read this, do us all a favor and remove yourself from Priceline Express consideration.

I stayed at this hotel for four nights and was so pleased I made the right choice! The rooms are suites, so they have a full kitchen, bathroom, living room and dining area - plenty of space to stretch out and room for your things. Everything was clean and comfortable, and the staff are very friendly. It's also in the IDEAL location - you turn right on 2nd and walk a block and the promenade with shopping and restaurants is right there. You turn left and you hit the ocean, Ocean Drive and the Santa Monica Pier. It's also got a heated pool (I didn't use it in February) but saw people swimming. For the price point, you get a lot for your money. It's great for singles, couples or families.

Awesome experience here! All the staff are friendly and helpful. Shout out to Sam for helping us with the door lock lol (it's a old school key door that requires a magic trick to close haha). The rooms are just like apartment homes. They are clean and retro. It has a little kitchen, a spacious living room , a cute little restroom and the bedroom. The beds are narrow, I was afraid I was going to roll over and fall out or push my husband off of it. But it turned out okay, we survived and got decent sleep. We got this hotel because it is walking distance to Third Street Promenade and we hung out there the whole day. Walked to our hotel and neighborhood was not bad at 10ish in the p.m, it was not a bad walk at all. Parking Situation: The hotel has individual parking spots around the hotel. It's $35 to use one of their parking spots if not you can find parking on the street if you have that kind of patience. We paid the fee since everything is so close and we just walked the whole day. Super convenient and hassle free. Definitely recommend, a little pricy but worth the convenience, specially for L.A.

Friendly staff, nice pool area, very large rooms. Our room had a large sitting area, separate dining and kitchen area, and double beds in a bedroom. Everything is dated. We had unclean glasses in the kitchen, and the floor had grit on it (I know, it's Santa Monica...). The walls are thin, and the windows don't stop much sound from penetrating. With bedroom windows facing Third Street, even when closed we could hear the conversations of people walking on the sidewalk below. The edges of the coffee table were damaged and rough and poked you if you weren't careful. It's an "OK"' place to stay, and definitely less expensive than almost anyplace else nearby.

We booked for two week but checked out after 3 night! It was dingy and very old/outdated. We were excited that it had a kitchen and we could cook but the dryer rack has mold on it so we didn't feel comfortable using that after washing dishes. The shelves in the kitchen had paper towels down on them which was weird. We would've stuck it out but the reason we checked out is because we saw a roach in the kitchen! When I went to the front desk to ask to check out, the receptionist wasn't surprised and said very calmly "I'll send someone over to spray once you leave"...as if this has happened many times. The staff was very kind and it's proximity to the beach/promenade is wonderful...but not at the expense of sanitary conditions.

There is a desk, spacious living room, separate dining room, kitchen and separate bedroom. Love that the have 2 tvs. One in the living room and one in the bedroom. There is also a delivery system so you can order room service from nearby restaurants. 3rd street promenade is two blocks away with tons of shopping and dining options available too. The SM pier is about a 20 minute walk away. The suite is very clean and quite comfortable. I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. They provide everything from a toaster to a microwave, large stove, refrigerator and a coffee pot with ample amounts of coffee, which many hotels no longer provide. This is an older, but super clean and well maintained hotel. We were quite comfortable staying here. Very reasonable prices for SM too.

Do not patronize these people... The room itself was dated, but not bad, and suited my need for a place to sleep while in town for a few nights. The overnight parking was not included and was $22 a night but fortunately I had a friend that was able to give me a temporary parking pass so I could skip the fee. However, I was overcharged by almost $100 on my room and ended up with it costing $430 for two nights! I repeatedly called and emailed them for weeks asking for a refund or at least a receipt and justification for the overcharge, but they continued to lie to me, telling me they were working on it and eventually just blowing me off. Months later I still have not received a refund and will definitely not be coming back..

I love this hotel! It's one of the little known secrets in Santa Monica. The rooms are huge. It's like having your own apartment on vacation. The staff are really nice and accommodating. Jorge at the front desk was very helpful. The housekeepers keep the rooms really clean as well. The best part is the heated pool. Can't wait to come back!!

The location is spot on but the rooms are outdated. Fans were filthy in 207- gross!!!! Floors creaked and made a lot of noise. Water got cold by the third person trying to shower. Beds were so small that my fiancé and I slept on sofa bed and have our kids the room with two small beds. No AC... plug fans and dirty ceiling fans. doors didn't shut properly either and floors slanted. Location was good but over priced for it all ... hotel closer to pier were cleaner and had better amenities.

Here's my letter to the business: I have some feedback about our recent stay in room 317. 1. The bedroom wall gets a TON of noise whenever people come in and out of the side door. Please put up a sign letting patrons know to be quiet in that stairwell in the evenings. It is very echoy and at one point it sounded like drunk people were hanging out in there. 2. Do you recycle or compost? Please provide a separate bin (at least in the kitchen) to help the environment and do your part in recycling. 3. The tub didn't drain. It isn't a fun feeling to stand in 3-4 inches of water when you are showering. 4. The heater stopped working the last night we were there... before that there was a live flame visible at the bottom of the heater across from the bathroom... I don't have kids but would be VERY worried about having kids around that open flame. 5. The alarm clock in the bedroom would best be situated by one side of the bed.... install some extension cords that reach around to the side of the bed so that someone could plug in their cellphones next to their bed while they sleep 6. The TV in the living room made a TON of noise once it had been on for 10-15 minutes. It sounded like a fridge motor but it was the TV. That made it distracting to watch TV. Overall your hotel is a great value and has a great location. Please consider making some changes to make it even more amazing!

I'm giving this place a 4 overall based on our experience, but you should know what you're getting into because there are some variables. My wife and I, along with our 17yr old son rented a 2 bed (2 full beds) balcony suite for 2 nights during COVID. We were on the 3rd floor overlooking the corner of California and 3rd right above the lobby entrance. We had a bedroom with 2 beds, a living room area w/ a pull out couch (we didn't use it), dining room table, a kitchen (basic, but the bases are covered), and a BALCONY. They do provide parking but it's an additional $20 per night to park right there. If parking in Santa Monica is new to you, it's a deal and hassle free!!! Wifi was free and my son could stream Cobra Kai on his iPad without issue. So let's get to the inside... the decor is something out of a Quintin Tarantino movie as the place is dated as hell. I heard echos of, "Say what again. I dare you. Say WHAT again." :) This added to the 'charm' of the place. Somehow we could overlook just how dated the interior was by sitting on the balcony watching peeps make their way up and down California to the ramp that brings you down to the beach. We ate our breakfast out there, enjoyed our cocktails out there... essentially, if we were there, we were on the balcony unless we were going to bed. The beds are comfy enough. A large stand up fan in the room provided enough white noise to drown out the people in the pool area (ceiling high window from our suite faced the pool area). Note, we went to bed about 10:30 each night. It's super convenient to all of the attractions in the Santa Monica Beach area, an easy walk to the pier, to the beach, and all. You will have to go down the ramp at California to get to the beach, or use the other access points to the north and south. California is NOT beach level. Bottom Line: If you're going to Santa Monica and you want to do it on the cheap-ish with a kitchen, balcony and access to the shizz, this is your spot. If you're looking for the Waldorf, you're about 200 nautical miles off course.

My favorite place to stay in Santa Monica by far! Great location, tons of character and charm. Not cheap though. Considering the rooms probably haven't been updated since the early 70's the price is steep. But I guess the location is pretty unbeatable. Right by the Promenade. Biggest complaint though is $35 PER NIGHT to park your car???? C'mon, that's just plain robbery.

I thought it was expensive uut at the saMe time it was cheaper than all the other hotel. Staff was nice. Room was clean. Yes a little dated but still nice. No complaints at all.

Usually a guest or a customer would say "stay away from this place" when writing reviews due to bad experience or bad service received. Well in all fairness with this hotel, those words doesn't even apply for this place. Why? Because if you see Cal Mar Hotel Suites, you better "RUN AWAY as Far as you can." This hotel must be the worst Hotel my family and I ever stayed at. They should not even allowed to call this a Hotel because it's not. That is very misleading! This should be called a "Motel." It doesn't have the ambiance, the feel or the amenities of a Hotel. My wife and I love to travel and there are 3 main things that people look for when they go to a Hotel and those are (1) Tranquility (2) Hygienic (3) No hidden charges (4) good service Those 3 main things are non-existent in this place. Why? Because (1) The walls have no sound proof, you can hear other guests clamoring with one another either from other room or outside the pool, walking (you can hear their footsteps), and watching TV. The floor shakes each time kids run outside our door. (2) it's absolutely filthy. They have this pool that they brag about. Well the water that got spilled outside the pool attracts mosquitoes and there's a lot of flies flying around since my dad and I have to kill 2 that flew in to our room. (3) this is not entirely their fault, Expedia did not even told us that they charge a parking fee on top of your stay. (4) Front desk is not available, and even told me he's on break when I'm only asking on why is there no hot water. He could have just answered me right away. The next morning when I'm trying to ask for an extra towel, theres not even an answer. The only suggestion that I can make for Cal Mar Hotel is please don't mislead the customer by saying it's a "Hotel" if this was a Motel and we decided to go and we experienced what we experienced well I would not even say a word since we will not going to expect a lot. But if you are going to claim that you are a "Hotel" and going to charge us a Hotel price well as a customer or a valued guests we better expect a Hotel Type of experience. This business use the city of Santa Monica to charge a lot and mislead people by saying that it's a Hotel. If I can only back in time, I will run away from this place

THIS HOTEL WAS AWESOME. Saw a lot of mixed reviews and was nervous about seeing what it was like in real life, but it could not have been better. The staff were super friendly and accommodating to all/any of our requests. Both the bed and pullout mattresses were comfortable. Even though the decor may have been a little "dated" it was all suitable. I've stayed at a couple different hotels in the area and this one has by far been my favorite. The hotel may have been updated recently judging from the lower reviews, my friends and I did not have anything negative to say whatsoever. Loved it!

We had a family reunion of sorts in SM and I stayed five days at this awesome hotel this past week. We have come back to CalMar many times over the years. We love the retro feel and the staff is top notch...professional, friendly, eager to make your stay terrific. The location to the Promenade, Pier, shopping, eating/drinking is convenient. Our family highly recommends the CalMar!

Nice beach hotel. Simple but clean and friendly staff. Easy access to the beaches and downtown!!

This hotel is in great walking distance from a lot of shopping, dining and bars and the pier is close by also. The room is a small apartment so it was roomy, had a full kitchen, cute furniture. Two tv's. The whole place is well cleaned. It's a little out dated but nothing really to complain about. Would like to see heavy drapes for the bedroom, bright light shines through the window. A lot of unexplained noises throughout the night. Walls are paper thin. Could hear the guest next to us and the guest walking around above us. They charge $34 for parking and to use the WiFi. But the staff are friendly and knowledgeable about the area

I am writing this review to balance out the inflated scores here. All the five star reviewers with no prior Yelp history are fake - or at least they don't tell the whole story. The location IS awesome, no denying that. You're two steps away from the beach and 3rd St Promenade and a host of great restaurants and shops. Easy to walk to everything or hail an Uber. Outdoor covered parking is $27 - don't know how that compares to the area but it seems a little ridiculous to me (and I live in New York)! The rooms leave much to be desired. Agree with the previous reviewer who said it felt like nothing had been updated since the 70s. Really thin walls, squeaky floors, single pane windows, all adding up to lots of noise from neighbors and the street, and if you're there in the winter like I was, the rooms get pretty darn chilly. Didn't enjoy the springy mattress - if there were two people you'd definitely roll into the middle - woke up shivering under the thin bed covers. The $10 wifi kept dropping off so it was not even serviceable. At least the tiny bathroom was clean. There was only soap and a dispenser with "hair and body wash" so bring your own shampoo. Or skip washing your hair because the water pressure sucks. Did not go in the pool or use the kitchen. I was slightly relieved that when I checked out, they didn't ask me how my stay was. At least they had the good sense to save the embarrassment for both parties.

We stay here every time we go to the LA area. The staff is AMAZING!!!! The location is ideal. Close shopping, restaurants, etc. The hotel has a Florida feel to it. We absolutely love it. The cleanliness of the rooms is outstanding. We will definitely stay here every visit.

Great location, large rooms with full kitchen a plus. Close to 3rd street promenade and steps from the beach and pier. Home from home, a little dated, however everything was spotlessly clean. The staff are great, 6 stars to Douglas the GM he is amazing. Thank you I will defiantly be back!

Imagine a 1950's motel with rooms on 3 sides overlooking a pool. That's what came to mind as we made our way to our room after checking in. Pros: Location is good. Not just a room, it's an apartment (kitchen, dining area, living room with pull out sofa, bedroom, and bathroom). Cons: Very outdated. Lack of counter/cabinet space in bathroom, no A/C. Parking is very expensive. It's a unique option for travelers who want to stay in Santa Monica.

Great location but dirty and very noisy. Come with extremely low expectations, and you should be fine.

I think this place is quite a find. First off, the location: California and 2nd, two blocks away from Palisades Park, and just a few blocks away from the Promenade. Nice. From the outside, it's got some of the funky patina of a formerly nice Santa Monica apartment building gone to seed since the 1960s, but in actuality, inside, the hotel "rooms" are quite nice: Very clean, very spacious, most of them get good light. The rooms are like full apartments, with a full kitchen, full bath, and most of them sleep three or more, with queen-sized pull-out couches in the living rooms. Free wireless Internet access, and mostly new TVs and stereo systems make this the kind of place you can stay for a while. Some of the rooms have hard wood floors, some of the rooms have the original tile and fixtures in the kitchens and bathrooms - which can be quaint or not, depending on how you look at it. My sister stayed there this weekend, and I have more family coming in next week. It's not cheap, but very reasonable for the neighborhood, and I think the full kitchen is a nice touch - you can cook your own food and save on eating out all the time. That's got to be worth something, huh? Anyway, for those of you who get disoriented by staying in lookalike hotels/motels, this place might actually feel like home...maybe not as nice as YOUR home, but then again, it's a lot nicer than MANY places I've lived over the years...

I always assumed motels were cheap versions of hotels. They're the places Richard Kern rents a room for a few hours and shot that Suicide Girls' spot you pretend you've never seen. Or maybe they're the place you'd go to set up that hand off that's a bit too sketchy to do at your own place, because you're pretty sure you're being watched. Or kill a hooker. I guess a better place to roll a hooker up in a carpet is a fancy hotel, really. I mean, a classy one, that is. The Cal Mar isn't really the place to do any of that stuff. It's more like renting a cheap apartment than a motel. The rooms are big, with a full kitchen, and all of the rooms look out on the pool I never saw anyone use. The walls are paper thin, so your neighbors will definitely hear a hooker's body hitting the floor like a sack of potatoes. I know I sure heard everything going on in our neighbor's room at 3 in the morning. And it didn't sound fun. Despite being a little unhappy with the rates of this motel, it was actually nicer than I expected it to be. Non-free Internet is really lame and $12 per parking spot they give you (even though we took up one spot with a car and motorcycle, they charged us $24 per night for parking). Motels are part of a disappearing part of Americana, especially the Southern California ones, so I was glad we stayed here. And I take that earlier comment back, you can totally throw down a sketchy drug deal here.

My wife and I loved this hotel. Is in the middle of all the action in Santa Monica. The hotel was clean and the staff were extremely friendly.

A excellent place to stay in San monica Ca. Walk to everything. Very clean and friendly. Our refrigerator didn't work and they replaced in 15 mins.

Convenient location. Walking distance to the boardwalk and the promenade. The hotel is dated and was expensive for the quality offered. Parking was an additional $35 and they do not have free WiFi. The living room tv didn't work and it sounded like it had been an on going issue yet they continue to book this room. The bedding was kind of gross, white but discolored. The walls are paper thin and our neighbors were very loud. I would not stay here again.

Don't stay here, overpriced, horrible shape inside rooms. Pretty garden but that's it. Rude staff, and greedy property managers.

there is no air conditioning. thermostat reads almost 90 degrees. wifi costs $10-15 per night depending on package. parking is $34/night. in my particular room not all blinds close, exposing me to any of guests at the pool when coming out of the bathroom. the pool looks beautiful. and it's a great location to the beach. kitchen on suite is a plus if you have an extended stay. the suites are spacious for a family to have more room than typical hotel, but you don't be fooled into it.

EXTREMELY dingy and dated. Smells like they unleased a febreeze bottle to get rid of the smell. The furniture is filthy, the towels and bedsheets still had hair on them. Wow, never again!!! Dont stay here if you can help it!!! #thumbsdown

Well, the rooms are spacious, but honestly the walls are paper thin. Maybe good if you're having a party but not a great fit if you intend on sleeping... at all.! Pretty expensive for the overall lack of quality.

This a very cool retro hotel. Circa 1950's coirt yard hotel. Tbe pool is in the central courtyard with all the rooks looking down on the pool, palm trees, birds of paradise, and varous succulent plants. Rooms are large in that they are all appartments. Meaning they have a kitchen, dining area, living room and bedroom. Bathrooms are tiny with no counter space. A bit dated, but really, really clean. Great location close to third sreet promenade and tons of restuarants, shops and theatres. Parking is really exoensive at $34 per nigbt and wifi is extra too. They should include that info on their website so you can know that in advance.

The rooms are okay, but could use some SERIOUS sprucing up... it felt like I was in the 70's. The beds were not comfortable and were really squeaky which was annoying. The corner rooms don't have access to the free wifi..... not cool!!! Pluses: convenient location and the staff was friendly. Not the worst place you could stay in Santa Monica (I guess?), but also not the best.

Nice location and nice amount of space inside. People fairly nice but over charge on price then nickel and dimed us for parking and a rollaway bed and WiFi which was not advertised on Hotels.com. When I question the rollaway fee, woman told me must have been a "misunderstanding" but still did not remove the fee. Crazy! Won't stay there or recommend again.

Nice location. Plenty of space although rooms are quite out dated and carpet in need of replacing. Walls were quite thin so could hear guy next door snoring. Reception was helpful & friendly. Bed was comfy & clean. Bit pricey for what it is but guess price is more so for where it is.

I have been staying at the Cal Mar for over 15 years. I stay for a few nights usually once a quarter. It is the perfect place. Nice aNd quiet, close to shops aNd restaurants. The staf f has always been friendly . I recommend staYing here. The rooms are basically aN apartment. Living room, dining area full kitchen and separate bedroom. A pool and within a 15 minute walk to the beach and the Santa Monica pier.