The Bottom Line
Read our comments below about the bar, and if you are a light sleeper who goes to bed early, avoid Shade on weekend nights. On the other hand, if you like a party, you'll be in the right place.
Pros
- Convenient location in downtown Manhattan Beach
- Luxury linens, toiletries and other extra touches
- Sleek, modern decor
- Great customer service
Cons
- On weekends, noise from the bar downstairs leaks into the rooms
- Desk arrangement is more suitable for vacationers than for business travelers
- Erratic temperature control
Description
- 1221 N Valley Drive
Manhattan Beach, CA
866-742-3377,310-546-4995
Website - 38 rooms including 5 suites
- Tempur-Pedic "memory foam" mattresses. Choice of several pillow types.
- In-room expresso machine. Room service (which comes from a nearby restaurant late at night).
- Free high speed Internet
- Rooftop "skydeck" has lounge chairs and a small relaxation pool
- Valet parking for a reasonable fee
Guide Review - Shade Manhattan Beach
Among Shade's best features are the rooms' open design, using sliding screens to surround a super-relaxing jetted bathtub. The restful, watery-colored decor includes just enough warm wood to create a comfortable feeling and the linens and toiletries hold up the highest quality levels. Shade's staff is helpful and friendly and front desk staff even remembered our name, a rarity these days.Shade's unique, wow-inducing touches earned it a place on Conde Nast's 2007 Hot List, but any effort to create a place as cutting edge as Shade is bound to have some misses along with its hits. After initial fascination with the cyclone fireplace, we realized that it delivered neither warmth nor cozy ambiance and it stayed off, a glaring, chrome-plated eyesore in the corner. The "chromatherapy" colored lighting felt like a 1970s throwback and the multi-functional rolling desk works better for eating breakfast in bed than for extended work. A more serious flaw was poor temperature control, over-cooling when it cycled on and then staying off so long that we woke up feeling too warm.
The Shade website says designer Christopher Lowell set out to help people achieve a sense of balance, harmony and spiritual well-being and the room design delivers. Unfortunately, the goal of a restful environment got lost when the Zinc Bar was added in the lobby. Its modern decor understandably draws a crowd, and on weekend nights, it gets loud, with noise and music leaking upstairs into the rooms and even getting to your room feeling a bit like walking through a battle zone.
As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary accommodation for the purpose of reviewing Shade. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy.
