Hotel Corners: Santa Monica Proper Hotel
Well, it’s been a minute, or rather, two months and six days to be precise, since I’ve popped into here. But it’s also been awhile since I took a "proper vacation.” "Proper” being the optimal word here. . . while I always understood how travel is a privilege in this world (I have my parents to thank for that moral compass), this concept resonated even more deeply over the past 1.5 years, with a world pandemic to throw the travel industry and leisure activity into turmoil.
One of my best friends and I were able to plan a long Memorial Day weekend getaway to Los Angeles and spend some much needed time together, catch up in-person, and experience all the wonderful food options (many of them in Santa Monica) the city has to offer. We also threw in a hike and massage, as one does, when you travel all the way to Los Angeles, lest you think, we just ate and lounged at our hotel.
Our hotel—the Santa Monica Proper Hotel is part of a new hotel group that is all about the “luxury lifestyle” way of a hotel. I’ve been following the group’s hotel openings (for now there’s San Francisco, Austin, and Santa Monica with a new one debuting in DTLA very soon) as well as the founders of the hotel concept, so I was eager to try one of them out.
This same best friend and I had last traveled to LA and California on a road trip from San Diego to San Francisco 11 years ago, and during that trip, we crashed at a friend place for a night on an air mattress and saw the LA tourist sites to check them off. So our luxe accommodation experience this time around was a real treat. Moving up in the world!
I’m going to start diving into a bulleted list of my personal review, now that I’ve got your attention with these eye-catching photographs.
Attention to design details has hit a home run. By just a glance above you can see how many careful choices were made with furniture and ambiance. This isn’t lost in any part of the hotel. From the restaurant, to the pool, to the actual rooms of stay. The hotel group has been tapping the interior master, Kelly Wearstler, who really takes hotel interior design to a whole new level and has set the bar for other “modern hotels.”
The elevators: Something that should become obvious when you’re incorporating rooftop restaurants into the hotel. There’s two “main” elevators for the restaurant and half of hotel rooms, which in evenings, can crowd quickly given their normal size. But the real fact I want to point out: They’re kept too dark during the day and as a guest you have to be quick on the key card to hit your floor. Both create confusion upon entering and really isn’t pleasant. There were at least 5 instances during my stay where people were very confused within the elevator and agreed on the lighting situation.
Pool/reservations: This might possibly be a mainstay for all weekends, so heads up, that the pool can’t really accommodate most of the hotel guests. It’s a small one considering the ratio to hotel rooms. So the solution they’ve devised is a booking system of 3-hour increments for hotel guests upon check-in with a 30-minute grace period. But there aren’t really “reserved” actual chairs, you just get what is left to your choosing for your reservation slot. The 3-hour increments are also pre-determined and set, so you don’t get to choose your 3-hour reservation necessarily. I was pretty bummed to arrive and hear the run-down on this upon check-in. None of this was mentioned in the preliminary “we look forward to welcoming you” email, and it would have been the time to share this with guests.
Hotel bathrooms: This was by far one of the nicest parts of the stay. The shower was so well-designed for functionality (only addition I would add would be a decorative stool or ledge for shaving!). And the marble design was warm, not harsh. The hotel has partnered with Aesop, so your products are top of the line. But since the products are so luxe and expensive, there’s no free travel size to take with you exception being the body lotion. All other products are stationary to the shower and extra large. An added nice touch were the hanging Parachute bathrobes. I normally don’t go for these in a hotel stay, to be honest. But these converted me.
Hotel beds: One of the comfiest I’ve slept in, and I’ve tested my fair share. The combination of the Italian linens and the actual mattress made for an easy spot to sink into and not-so-easy spot to wake up in to get going for the day.
Overall hotel room: Water is provided in eco-friendly replenished glass bottles, and all lighting is controlled by tech-forward touch pad that you can dim, including a blackout curtain that open/closes at the tap of a finger.
Hotel staff: In general, super welcoming and pleasant. However, there seemed to always be confusion, let’s call it. Confusion if we had walked out front of the hotel and were coming back a few minutes later, they didn’t recognize we had just left and wanted to know if we were staying at the hotel. I think this confusion comes from such a large crowd coming just for the restaurant scene versus the actual hotel guest crowd. I felt like I just wanted to almost flash a wristband for them to see, so we could stop with the questioning. It would have helped both sides of the equation. The rooftop check-in for the restaurant and the pool happens at the same booth. But then, only specific people can check you in on a specific device for one or the other, so you might not get to check-in right away while you wait for the pool person/device to appear. Again, confusing.
Restaurants: I had apps/drinks on the rooftop, Calabra, as well as some lunch while poolside. I also tried, Palma, downstairs. Both had enjoyable menus, and I will tell anyone and everyone dining at Calabra, order the laffa bread! If you’re not gluten-free, then this is a MUST.
Valet parking and spa services: I didn’t test out either of these hotel features, so I honestly can’t judge. But I was enticed by the spa and the Abhyanga signature “four-handed massage” which is based on Ayurveda practices and age-old Indian wellness (more like health, since “wellness” wasn’t a thing in age-old times. . .) principals.
All in all, definitely worth the money spent for the 4-night stay (pro tip: always check and compare the hotel’s website offerings to price it out versus the pricing on a third party search booking site, I usually always find something slightly better on the hotel’s website. In this case, I booked a “fourth night free” offer for our stay which definitely helped staying over a weekend with the higher priced nights.) I’ll definitely try to make a point to stay at another Proper hotel amongst their city options. They lived up to their name—it was a properly executed hotel stay, and I for one was glad the hyped interior imagery of the hotel was just the start to an overall memorable stay.