Covington traveler Heidi Lord Butler visited Shutters on the Beach, a luxury, boutique-style, oceanfront hotel in Santa Monica, California. Upon her return, she gave her Covington vacation advisor, Dale Fuller, this fabulous description of her suite at Shutters on the Beach, so with her permission, Travel Maestro is sharing it in full with our readers.

The Most Beautiful Room Ever at Shutters on the Beach

Dale, you are truly the travel agent extraordinaire! Every trip you have planned and arranged for me over the years has always been outstanding. Whether I am traveling to Hong Kong, Bermuda, the Bahamas, L.A., New York, Chicago, Canada, etc., your attention to detail never ceases to amaze me. However, my recent trip to Santa Monica may well have been your best yet! Honestly, I am not sure you could ever top this one.

As you know, you booked one special night at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica using Virtuoso. I listened to your wise advice and let you book us a one-bedroom suite with a direct ocean view. We’ve stayed at Shutters on the Beach several times in the past, but this was the first time we booked a suite.

Upon check-in, the hotel staff mentioned to us that our travel agent from Covington Travel is a Virtuoso member and went over all the amenities associated with Virtuoso, including a room upgrade – and did they ever upgrade our room! I was quite surprised since the room you booked was already going to be very nice. They informed us that our room upgrade wasn’t just any upgrade – it was the nicest room in the hotel!

I’ll admit, as we were shown to our room, I was a little excited because all the rooms at this hotel are beautiful. Well, they opened the double doors to our room and my husband and I were blown away. I cannot begin to describe how absolutely fantastic this suite was!

When you enter into the suite you are in the foyer with a beautiful half bath to your right. As you walk further into the suite, you are greeted by two large double balcony doors with a direct view of the Pacific Ocean. Sliding plantation shutters are the window treatments for the balcony doors. There’s a beautiful living room with a fireplace, a large flat-screen TV, a sofa with down cushions, and two arm chairs, perfect for settling into with one of the many books lining their bookcases.

On the other side of the room is a large walnut dining table with a beautiful antique sideboard against the wall. Off the dining room is a mini-kitchen containing a full-size stainless fridge, wine cooler, microwave, Keurig, and to top all that off, there is a beautiful hammered bar sink as well!

The floor in this suite is a beautiful dark wood flooring with large wool rugs, one in the living area and another in the dining area. The colors are varying shades of delft blue with Ivory. Off the living area is a separate room – an office with a beautiful antique walnut desk, a full-size sofa, and a large flat screen TV. The same wood floor is in the office with yet another wool rug in the center of that room.

Off the office is a large beautiful bedroom with two separate balconies, each with sliding plantation shutters. One of the balconies is again a direct oceanfront, facing the pacific and the other balcony overlooks the entertaining section of the pool deck. (They had two separate weddings here during our stay!) The bed was a king with crisp white linens accented with a patterned delft blue coverlet. Of course, there was another fireplace with a large flat screen TV over the mantel. An antique desk was in the corner with beautiful antique bedside tables and lamps.

Off the bedroom was a huge walk in closet with drawers, shelving and a safe. The last room of this suite was the bathroom. Wow! There was a huge soaking tub, of course, another flat screen TV, a vanity with double sinks, a separate shower, as well as a separate room for the toilet. And in the tradition of Shutters, by the tub they had a glass jar full of their signature bath toys: green turtles, black whales, and yellow ducks!

I have tried my best to describe this suite to you so you can get a sense of how fantastic it was. We have stayed in a lot of remarkable properties, but I have to say this one takes the cake! I absolutely love this hotel!!! Each room is decorated in what I would describe as a Hemingway style, but the suite we stayed in was by far the most beautiful room we have ever stayed in – ever … of any hotel!!

We, of course, had a great dinner and breakfast in their restaurants, but honestly, we hated leaving the room for our meals because the room was so fantastic. We could have had room service, and we thought about it, but had originally planned to have our meals in their great restaurants and wanted to experience that again.

I can’t thank you and Shutters enough for allowing us to have such an unbelievably wonderful stay. I can’t wait to go back! Thanks again, Dale.

As a proud member of Virtuoso, Covington Travel provides exclusive complimentary amenities at Shutters on the Beach. In addition to a room upgrade (subject to availability), Covington travelers receive Continental breakfast for two daily, $100 spa credit, and early check-in/late check-out privileges (subject to availability).

To check rates and availability at Los Angeles’ only luxury oceanfront hotel, contact a Covington Vacation Advisor.