My wife and I spent our wedding night here in May, 2005. We got married in Seattle and needed to overnight near LAX on our way out of the country. The Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey is close to LAX... More

My wife and I spent our wedding night here in May, 2005. We got married in Seattle and needed to overnight near LAX on our way out of the country. The Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey is close to LAX without being an airport hotel. (I also considered Beverly Hills (e.g. the Pen) and the Hotel Bel Air. My stay was booked with Marriott points, which technically meant being booked into the lowest category of room. I've read that the standard rooms at this property are tired and small. A better deal would have been to book the Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts rate which was about the same as the best available rate, but came with a marina view, late checkout, and food & beverage credit for dinner and breakfast. Still, my conceit to pay for the whole trip on points got the better of me. A kind request a few days in advance and we were upgraded to a suite with a direct view of the marina on the 9th floor. The bellman brought up our bags, brought us ice, and may generally have been the friendliest and most enthusiastic hotel employee I’ve ever come across. He pointed out their complimentary shoeshine service which required only leaving shoes outside the door (a nice feature, very common, but I really like it). In the room we found the bed turned down with slippers, chocolates, and water bottles on each nightstand. There was a real marble bathroom and a nice bed. Bathroom had some of the most extensive amenities I’d seen, products by Bvlgari plus toothbrush, nail file, etc etc etc. The balcony extended only about 3 feet, conducive to walking outside briefly but not to spending any time out there. We placed a couple of our leftover wedding cakes out there for the night as a substitute for refrigeration and ate them in the morning with room service coffee. We walked around the Marina mid-morning and had a nice but pricey lunch at the hotel’s restaurant, Jer-Ne. The duck and cheese eggrolls were outstanding. This suite was anything but small or tired, a real treat. Not sure how I would have enjoyed a regular room, but I had absolutely no complaints with this one.
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