If you were to stay in a motel in Malibu, the easy-to-remember Malibu Motel might be your best choice.
Partially-rebranded as The M, the motel promises 18 clean, retro-styled rooms near the Malibu Pier and Surfrider Beach. The rooms even sport plasma TVs, refrigerators, 400-thread count bed linens, and private ocean decks. How do we know all this? Because thankfully, the M has a website. Wahoo!
The view from the M, Malibu Motel. Given, its not the best view, this roadside motel has to be one of the favorite places I have ever stayed. Simple, clean, very courteous staff and very affordable.
However, guests over at TripAdvisor have had severely mixed experiences at the motel. And judging from the photo (above) it's nothing to get too excited about.
Bottom line is just remember this is a motel off the busy Pacific Coast Highway, despite the fact that it's in Malibu and the beach is like 20 feet away. Room rates range from $119 to $219 plus Malibu city tax.
Yup, you read that headline right. This one's a motel in Malibu and there are actually quite a few of them along PCH. None of them are very good (and prone to loud traffic as you can guess from this picture) but they are cheap.
One of them is The Surfrider Beach Club, formerly the Malibu Shores Motel. The motel has two brief favorable reviews on TripAdvisor under its old name. But there is a more recent reivew on Yahoo! Local site. Rebecca wrote:
Surf's up at Surfrider!: Malibu Shores Motel is now Surfrider Beach Club; it has new carpet and paint, but the same tiny rooms are rented as unfurnished apartments. All the things you love and hate about staying at a motel-one price includes all utilities and cable is free, but the rooms are less than sound-proof and unreasonably over-priced.
There's also no website that we know of for Surfrider (not uncommon for these types of places) but the Wikitravel page for Malibu says:
"Located across from Surfrider Beach, this motel is more well-suited for families than most Malibu hotels."
So there you go. Pack up the kids and check it out. Call 310-456-6559 to book. TripAdvisor lists the average room rate as $119 a night. But if it's luxury that you are looking for, then consider the Malibu Beach Inn or befriending a movie mogul.
While our previous Malibu Beach Hotels stops have received seriously glowing reviews, the Malibu Country Inn further up on PCH near Zuma Beach doesn't have quite the laudits as its competitors.
From the outside, the inn looks like a safe haven and why shouldn't it? It's an all-white Cape Cod-style inn built in 1943 on the bluffs overlooking Zuma Beach. However, inside is not so picturesque.
The first reviews on TripAdvisor say "Smelly rooms" and "Unchic Shabby", a diss on the Shabby Chic decor that so many Malibu residents favor. Yet there are some renovated rooms (out of 16 total) on site, so you'll have to request those. However, that's not a guarantee as some reviews allude to an incompetent staff.
And the website is full of stock photos of couples, never a good sign. Although the fact that there is a website with actual room photos is a big step in these parts. Go to the TripAdvisor page for the reviews for more info.
So, why should you stay here? The rooms are cheap around $165 a night and the inn has its own Hideaway Cafe on site. And if it's the beach you want to be close to, the place has got killer views and access to Zuma Beach.
Casa Larronde is a little-known spot on PCH that is technically not a hotel, nor a B&B, nor a motel nor an inn.
It's a house on Carbon Beach that has two guest bedrooms including the John Travolta Suite where JT apparently stayed for three months in 1977 after he hit it big with Saturday Night Fever.
But before Travolta was here, the house was the fifth house built on Carbon aka Billionaire's Beach in 1951. Today, it gets rented out for most of the summer and during the rest of the year, the elderly owner Charlou Larronde rents out the two rooms, breakfast included. Here's how Los Angeles Citysearch described the place:
With floor-to-ceiling windows on both stories, this picturesque oceanfront house resides on Malibu's prime Carbon Beach, a short distance from the famous Surfer's Beach. The two guest bedrooms have private baths and include the often celebrity-occupied John Travolta suite with a sand-side lounge deck, kitchenette and fireplace. The owner of 50 years serves hors d'oeuvres during the evening cocktail hour and cooks full gourmet breakfasts for guests in the morning.
Rates start at $155 a night for downstairs bedroom. John Travolta suite starts at $175 a night. Call 1-310-456-9333 to book.
Despite its ugly sign and tired exterior facing the Pacific Coast Highway that seems to do the opposite of beckoning guests in for the night, The Casa Malibu Inn on the Beach is actually one of Malibu's best hideaway hotels on the beach.
It's the #1 hotel on TripAdvisor (out of a whopping 5) and it was called out by the Today Show as being one of the five best-kept secret getaways in the U.S. Jamie Lee Curtis even told Travel + Leisure it was one of her favorite places for travel bliss. He's what she said:
I drove past all these celebrities' houses--many of which I had visited in the past--and pulled up to a little inn, thinking, What is this weird place? It's on Carbon Beach, one of the most sought-after stretches of sand in the world. A few hundred yards down the beach are the homes of some very famous and wealthy people. So there we were, two girls born and bred in L.A., sitting on this completely empty, gorgeous beach on an 85-degree day in January. And I thought to myself: Anybody can stay here. Anybody can have this.
The 21-room inn features upgraded rooms with modern amenities like DVD players and WiFi. The decor can be a little scary depending on what rooms you get. We saw pictures of some very cute shabby chic bedding and other with that dreaded floral pattern.
And Jamie Lee Curtis was right. Anyone can stay at the Casa Malibu at the affordable room prices which start at $129. Oceanviews do cost more and rooms on the beach start at $289.
There's no website that we know of so you must call 1-800-831-0858 or 310-456-2219 to book.
Thanks to commenter DanS we were pointed to a CNN article that mentioned the Malibu Beach Inn owned by Hollywood mogul David Geffen, is hosting firefighters and rescuers who are battling the Malibu fires. Even better, Geffen's spot is hosting them for free.
First built in 1989, the 47-room hotel recently underwent some renovations to transform it into a luxury beach getaway. While the inn is located on Carbon Beach near the fires, it's not in any danger. From the hotel's own website:
The hotel is currently open but priority is given to firefighters and emergency personnel fighting the Malibu Canyon fires. Please note Pacific Coast Highway is closed in BOTH directions from Kanan Road to Topanga.
So now is definitely not a good time to visit Malibu but maybe someday.
Meanwhile, Beverly Hills hotels like the Peninsula and the Beverly Wilshire are filling up with Malibu residents who have fled their homes. Also Britney Spears must be wanting to get in on the action as she's hotel-hopping around there again.
Down in San Diego area hotels are near 100 percent occupancy. The good thing is some of these hotels are offering fire evacuees discounted rooms.
If you were to stay in a motel in Malibu, the easy-to-remember Malibu Motel might be your best choice.
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by juliana
