Manhattan Beach Marriott, A Hotel Review
There aren’t a lot of hotel options in Manhattan Beach, so when we had to head down for an early morning meeting, the Marriott seemed like the logical choice.
Welcome to 1987!
The Golden Girls would be proud!
Lobby picture, from marriott.com
The Manhattan Beach Marriott has been around for a while, and its years are showing. The management and staff has done a good job of making sure that the public areas are quasi-renovated and cleaned, but there’s no mistaking the eighties.
We arrived extremely late, around 12:30 in the morning, and wanted to go straight to bed. Check-in was swift, and the night manager thanked us for our platinum status and informed us that we were upgraded to a room on the concierge level. We could enjoy breakfast in the lounge, so he would make sure that the extra points as a platinum arrival gift were added to our account.
Once we got upstairs, I managed to convince Ben to let me take a few pictures of the room. Brace yourself.
There’s the standard 80’s desk and chair.
Desk and Chair
Can someone please tell me what the hell the second desk is there for? It won’t slide under the first one past where you see it, and if I extend it all the way out, I can’t use the first desk!
The standard 80’s table, chair, ottoman, and lamp.
Chair
The standard dresser (thank goodness it was a flat-screen (not a TV from the 80’s)
Marriott Manhattan Beach TV
And then standard Marriott bed with headboard. The mattress wasn’t from the 80’s at least! This was the saving grace. We got a great night’s sleep as the mattress was firm and comfy.
Marriott Bed
The bathroom looked updated, as the shower was a nice stand-alone unit. I’m not a fan, however of the showers where you can’t get at the faucet without soaking yourself in cold water.
Manhattan Beach Shower
Once morning came, we headed to grab a quick bite to eat in the lounge. In all honestly, I was so hungry and tired that I left the phone charging in the bedroom. It was a standard offering with cut and whole fruit, cereal, yogurt, pastries, and scrambled eggs.
The Manhattan Beach Marriott category is WAY overpriced at a Category 7 hotel. I can’t see any reason why this would command such a high price, other than it’s location, but even that is just OK. It’s not near downtown, or Hollywood, and I think that perhaps a category 5 would be a better fit for this hotel.
By all means, stay here if you’re in the area, but don’t go out of your way to make it happen!
November 30, 2016
I’m new to Marriotts myself (due to recent SPG Plat match). I’ve been super disappointed with about half the hotels I’ve stayed in. Like you point out hotels are dated, poorly cleaned (pubic hairs in bathrooms), lack of operators to direct calls, etc. As a brand of hotels they are so inferior to Hyatt n Starwood.