Exterior

Reviews of Sonder The Beacon

3.5 out of 5
Sonder The Beacon
1301 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, CA

Reviews

7.8

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 69 out of 150 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 30 out of 150 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 21 out of 150 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 15 out of 150 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 15 out of 150 reviews" "

8.6/10

Cleanliness

8.4/10

Staff & service

8.0/10

Amenities

8.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.2/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

6/10 Okay

Jeffery, Ashton

Business traveller
Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Okay. Did not clean rooms daily. My room was on the first floor and required steps. Also, I am African-American and a security asked if I was a guest at the hotel which which did anger me. I did not report it.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Victor

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful location and great rooms.
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2024

4/10 Poor

derek

Travelled with partner
No warm water during my 2 nights. Ghost town atmosphere. Street noise kept us up.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Cheryl

Travelled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Gorgeous hotel with gorgeous view of the Pacific
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Tory

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I had no problems
Stayed 5 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Abigael

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Francine

Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024
Response from Sonder on 29 Apr 2024
Hi Francine, thank you for leaving a review. We’re sorry you were unsatisfied with your stay. We’d love to hear more details about your experience. Please feel free to reach out to our 24/7 support team. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

10/10 Excellent

Cristina, Guatemala

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nice location, just the suite we needed, very comfort beds , nice staff
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Phil

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Great location. Wish they had recycling available. TV streaming only needs to be rethought for those who are not from USA.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

mattew

Travelled with family, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very close to the pier and walking distance to the ocean. You can view the ocean from the bedrooms and living area.

10/10 Excellent

Kenneth

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

2/10 Terrible

Michael

Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024
Response from Sonder on 4 Apr 2024
Hi Michael, your honest feedback is appreciated. We’re sad to hear about your experience. We’d like to learn more about your stay to help us identify how we can improve for the future. Please reach out to our support team at any time.

4/10 Poor

Harsimran

Travelled with partner
Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Robby was great at check in however the rest of our stay was okay. No food or water on the property snd no phones in the rooms so keep in mind to bring all the essentials you will need during your stay.
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024
Response from Sonder on 12 Mar 2024
Hi Harsimran, your honest feedback is important to us. While we're glad our staff was helpful, we're sorry your stay fell short of expectations. We don't provide food and water at many of our properties. Some of our locations have a water bottle refill as well as snack bars and restaurants on-site. If you decide to give us another chance, we'd love to recommend another building for your next visit.

2/10 Terrible

Brittany

Business traveller
Disliked: Amenities
Noisy
Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2024
Response from Sonder on 12 Mar 2024
Hi Brittany, we're sorry that noise disrupted your stay. Our team would've been happy to deliver a white noise machine and earplugs to aid sleep. You can reach us through our app, call, text, or email 24/7. We hope you'll give us another chance and stay with us again at any of our 40+ locations.

10/10 Excellent

Grinelli

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Lovely

10/10 Excellent

Kevin, Las Vegas

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Room was great, very comfortable. Only problem was storing luggage for the afternoon after check in. Not enough vacant large lockers for our suitcase.
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

4/10 Poor

Kawaldeep

Liked: Cleanliness
No room cleaning included in the room rather. They say this is to keep the room rates low, which they are not. You can book a room clean for 40 USD but have to give 2 days notice. During my stay, the room next door had a loud party and were smoking weed. The smell and noise were awful.
Stayed 6 nights in Feb 2024
Response from Sonder on 16 Feb 2024
Your honest feedback is appreciated, Kawaldeep. We strive for sustainability in our stays — our guests can book housekeeping services on demand for a nominal fee. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to parties and smoking, but we're sorry that someone broke these rules. Our team would've been happy to investigate and reach out to them to remind them. You can always reach us through our app, call, text, or email 24/7 for assistance. We hope to show you a more relaxing visit next time.

10/10 Excellent

John

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice property with a history!
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Craig

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Tess

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Loved the location, beautiful ocean view from my window where I saw beautiful sunsets. A bit noisy being right next to the road, but can't beat the location where shops and restaurants were all within walking distance. Small issue with the cold water tap, which only had hot water. Maintenance came to fix it a day after my arrival, but for the rest of my stay, it was back to boiling hot water. I just let it run for a while to let it cool down. Hotel should get that problem fixed.
Stayed 6 nights in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

William

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

6/10 Okay

Reiner, Seattle

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness
Funky hotel designed in the groovy Art Deco style. Rooms open into an exterior corridor overlooking a well-kept and appealing courtyard with tables, pool and hot tub. Nice. Service here is not fully professional and hit and miss. Rooms are atypical and problematic: bathroom = poor shower hot water experience: shower hot/cold; sink scalding hot water out of the cold side. Not possible to rinse mouth after brushing teeth. Bottom line: a simple hot shower is a basic amenity that this hotel property is unable to provide. Rooftop bar was poorly operated, an utter rip off.
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024
Response from Sonder on 8 Feb 2024
We appreciate your detailed feedback about your experience, Reiner. While we're glad you enjoyed our style, we apologize for the issues you encountered in the bathroom. You can always reach our support team 24/7 through our app, call, text, or email for help with things like this during your stay. Should you decide to give us another chance, we'd like to make it up to you.

10/10 Excellent

Shion

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities
The location is perfect, with the beach, shops, and restaurants within walking distance. I also liked the efficient system for checking in & out, chatting with the receptionist, and checking the number to unlock the door key on the Sonder app. Although there was no desk in my room, I could work in the lounge with a large table.

2/10 Terrible

barry

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Room comfort
Terrible - Bedroom with ensuite Nite Club
There is a bar/night club on the top floor that is open to the public. We were on the floor below. Unless you like pounding dance music reverberating through your room until 2am, I woulnd't recommend this hotel.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024
Response from Sonder on 8 Feb 2024
Hi Barry, your feedback is important to us. While we do enjoy a dance and delicious cocktail from the nightclub upstairs, we recognize the loud sound is not for everyone. Please accept our sincere apology — your comfort is important to us. Let us know before booking your next trip, and our guest services team can review the location with you.

10/10 Excellent

Richard, Corona

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

Max

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
A great location in Santa Monica. Right across from the beach. Close to the pier, bars, restaurants and shopping. Great views of the beach and sunset from the rooftop bar and the rooftop guest lounge. Wonderful spot to stay a few days or a week. Unique hotel with art deco style from days gone by. Pool and hot spa good to be enjoyed even in January. Most rooms have great views too.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2024

10/10 Excellent

ARNAUD

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Really Good place to be. Friendly staff. Some problems with elevators (both were out of service for few hours and the room was at 6th floor). But we recommand this property
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Brent, Walpole

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
location was great. Customer service was great. Two issues for me: bed was a bag of feathers-too soft. The shower/tub was difficult getting in and out; if anyone is older or shorter it might not be usable. No fan in bathroom or anyplace suitable to hang towels unless you think the shwer is a place to hang towels.
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Kayleigh

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We stayed here for NYE and the RoseBowl! Very clean, great location, safe. Wonderful area. We will be back for sure!

6/10 Okay

Julie

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I didn't like the shower/ tub situations. I couldn't get the water hot at all. also they had a new years eve party that was right outside my room and their was no warning of that. now glasses in the room either.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023
Response from Sonder on 16 Jan 2024
Hi Julie, your honest review is important to us. We apologize for the inconvenience you faced with the bathroom and the lack of hot water. Additionally, we regret the disruption caused by the New Year's Eve party at the restaurant. Your comfort is important to us. Our team would've been happy to deliver a white noise machine and earplugs to aid sleep. If your travels bring you back, we hope to provide you with a much-improved experience.

6/10 Okay

Stephanie

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023
Response from Sonder on 8 Feb 2024
Hi Stephanie, thank you for leaving a review. We’re sorry that you were unsatisfied with your stay, we’d love to hear more details about your experience. Please feel free to reach out to our 24/7 support team. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

6/10 Okay

Leah

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Rude young prick at the front desk
Great, but I would have like a little more customer service. There was also a younger individual working behind the desk yesterday that if it were my hotel I would have fired him on the spot! I walked up to ask a question to the girl he was working with and he snapped at me and told me that I (the customer) interrupted him talking. He was a complete little prick! Get rid of that guy!
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023
Response from Sonder on 8 Jan 2024
Hi Leah, thanks for bringing this to our attention. This isn't the experience we want for any of our guests. Customer service is one of our top priorities, and we're sorry for falling short. We'll review this encounter with our team to ensure this doesn't happen again. Should you decide to give us another chance, we'd love to make it up to you.

10/10 Excellent

Carol

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great spot, close to the beach, shopping and dining. Character building. Pool deck was amazing! The heated pool and hot tub made our stay! Valet parking was quick and secure. We did discover a couple of silverfish crawling around our room which wasn’t ideal, but there were only 2 that we saw. I would love to find a place that puts some care into providing a comfortable mattress on the hide-a-bed. This place was no different. 2 of our 6 guests didn’t sleep well on the pull out couch because the mattress was terrible. The heating/cooling system was hard to understand so we struggled with getting the temperature right in the room. We had a great stay though.
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Bart

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023
Response from Sonder on 9 Jan 2024
Hi Bart, thank you for your kind review. We’re glad you enjoyed your stay, and we can’t wait to host you again.

10/10 Excellent

Moses

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Larry

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great room with a great view
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Margaret

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Cole

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great location
Very clean and well kept, great location being a 5 minute walk from anything you could need.
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

jonathan, Las cruces

Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

6/10 Okay

Jack

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023
Response from Sonder on 18 Dec 2023
Your feedback is appreciated, Jack. We’re sorry to see your stay fall below our standards. We’re constantly working to improve, and we’ll utilize your review to help. We’d love to host you again and show you a better experience.

8/10 Good

Elizabeth, Patterson

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
The property itself is awesome! I had to take my Dad for a big surgery and we were in a suite with a kitchen that was outstanding! I booked this a few weeks in advance, and got 3 nights for around $950 total. The last day, I paid $50 for a later checkout which is totally reasonable. We ended up needing to stay another night, and they said no problem, our room was available. It was $438. I said that is over $100 dollar increase from when I booked it. She said that's what it is and there was nothing she could do. I thought they would at least credit the $50 for the previous late check out fee. That's the only thing that turned me off about this place.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

4/10 Poor

Rachel

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023
Response from Sonder on 18 Dec 2023
Hi Rachel, thank you for leaving a review. We’re sorry your stay fell below expectations. We’d love to hear more details about your experience. Please feel free to reach out to our 24/7 support team. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

10/10 Excellent

David

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Sebastien

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Really great rooms with amazing sea views. Rooftop patio and pool area fantastic. Would go back again anytime
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

8/10 Good

Tanya

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 5 nights in Nov 2023

8/10 Good

Tyler

Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Brendan, Glasgow

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Loved our 3 night stay at the Beacon. Receptionists were friendly and helpful, excellent and peaceful swimming pool area and don’t miss the Coco Club bar on the top floor - great fun and amazing views over Santa Monica. Good parking (pay) next to hotel
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

6/10 Okay

Clement

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2023
Response from Sonder on 13 Dec 2023
Your feedback is appreciated, Clement. We’re sorry to see your stay fall below our standards. We’re constantly working to improve, and we’ll utilize your review to help. We’d love to host you again and show you a better experience.

10/10 Excellent

Darlene

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I liked the property a lot and the room was very clean and the staff helped whenever we needed assistance
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Orchid

Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2023