LA Hotel/Restaurant Questions
 

I'm staying in LA with an old friend next month for a few days, and want input on these 3 hotels near LAX: 4 Points Sheraton, Sheraton Gateway, and Westin LAX. We want a business atmosphere, i.e. nice rooms, lobby where we can talk, nice pool, not overrun with kids. An ocean view would be a plus. Perhaps you have another recommendation with close proximity to a beach. We'll have a car. Any restaurant ideas--reasonably priced, interesting atmosphere, again, not overrun with kids? All input greatly appreciated!

I do have a much more pleasant hotel recommendation:

Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica. Ocean views, business atmosphere, lovely grounds, nice pool, four blocks from Santa Monica Pier, fairly close to the beach (though set up on a bluff). Not cheap, but oh so much nicer than any of those LAX hotels.

Restaurants? You have literally thousands of choices. Pick a cuisine or two, you'll get hundreds of suggestions. In the Santa Monica area, down the street from your hotel: Ocean Avenue Seafood, I. Cugini, Il Fornaio Spiaggia, Ivy at the Shore. A bit farther away in SM: Chinois on Main. Down in Venice: Joe's Restaurant, Chaya Venice.

Have stayed at the LAX Westin & 4 Points Sheraton. Obviously, neither have an ocean view. The Westin has very nice rooms & lobby. But the last few years when on vacation, we have stayed at 4 Points. Rooms are nice, service is good -asking for extra pillows & towels, etc. The Lobby & bar area is nice also. You can get a nice view of planes landing at the airport, but not hearing much noise from them. Have not used the pool though, which is outdoors. To be honest we only used rooms in these hotels to sleep in. Usually, 4 nights to 7 nights. We leave the hotel first thing in the morning & return at night in time to go to sleep. But I like that area because, for us & what we do, it is somewhat centralized, to go to the beach areas to the North & visit my parents in Santa Monica & then to go to Anaheim, Orange county, & Knott's to the Southeast. Also we have gotten very good rates in the LAX area. Be aware that if you have a car, there is an additional charge to park in the hotel parking lots.

moondoggie,

I think rjw's suggestion makes a lot of sense (as always)- and the Miramar in Santa Monica indeed is a great hotel that should meet (or excxeed) your requirements.

If you should decide to stick with the airport hotels you mentioned, I would opt for the Westin. It is nicer than the Sheraton Gateway in my opinion and should be a lot better than the Four Points which was converted into a Four Points only a few years ago and is a really old property- at least that's what it looks like to me.

LAX is a central location, but one does end up driving to get to EVERYTHING except their flight.

The Sheraton properties are closer to the airport, so you get the snarls associated with the rental return traffic, the airport parking shuttles, and what-not. The Westin will be a nicer hotel, yes; however, it is closer to the 405 off-ramp as well as right off of La Cienega, a major surface road up into the Westside.

I'm only pointing this out because it's convenient to stay at these hotels in Westchester, but it's not pleasant in that the hotel's the only nice thing in the immediate vicinity. There isn't anything to DO outside the hotels, other than a sleazy (but world-famous) lap-dance and adult toy emporium at Century and Aviation. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The recommendations re Santa Monica are all great, but if you want to stay closer to LAX, I'd suggest the Marriott in Manhattan Beach. Just a couple miles south of the airport and a couple miles east of the ocean. There's a 9-hole, 3-par golf course behind the hotel (golf course view!), and restaurants, movies and shopping all within walking distance.

To avoid kids, dine at Flemings (steaks), McCormick & Schmick (seafood, steaks) and Il Fornaio (Italian). More restaurants in downtown Manhattan Beach near the pier.