The Pierside Hotel

The Pierside opened in February 2023 in the former Wyndham Santa Monica At The Pier, dropping the chain flag to trade unbranded as the closest hotel to the Santa Monica Pier. Its 132 rooms sit above The Surfing Fox restaurant, a heated saltwater pool and an on-site board and bike rental shop, and it was the first new hotel on Ocean Avenue in eleven years.

The place

The hotel stands on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Colorado Avenue, at the foot of the ramp down to the Santa Monica Pier — the closest hotel to it, and the first new hotel to open on Ocean Avenue in eleven years.

The concept

The Pierside is the former Wyndham Santa Monica At The Pier, reopened in February 2023 without a chain flag after a full reworking announced in late 2022. The change is not cosmetic: dropping an international brand for an unbranded, locally pitched identity is a bet that a Santa Monica address sells itself better than a Wyndham sign does, and the repositioning went with a coastal-bohemian direction across the rooms and public areas. The property leans on its proximity to the pier and the beach rather than on scale — 132 rooms and suites, no ballroom-driven business — and on a practical set of holiday amenities: a heated saltwater pool, a fitness centre and The Board Shop, an on-site rental counter for beach and bike gear. It carries Energy Star certification, one of the few Ocean Avenue hotels to advertise the point.

Dining & wellness

The Surfing Fox is the hotel's restaurant and bar, on the ground floor with an outdoor patio opening onto the street, serving through the day. Beyond it the offer is deliberately light — a heated saltwater pool, the fitness centre and The Board Shop for gear — with no spa on site.