Historic Shangri La Hotel in Santa Monica Closes
Santa Monica's historic Shangri-La Hotel has gone dark; the doors shuttered by Sonder, a San Francisco tech company that took over the landmark in 2023. The 86-year old hostelry, renamed The Beacon when Sonder arrived, had been transformed into an automated rental in the style of Airbnb. Sonder properties did not typically have a front desk or room keys and amenities like housekeeping are requested through their app.
"The fact that hotels still have a person typing in who knows what when you're checking in at a hotel is a complete joke," twentysomething CEO Francis Davidson-Tanguay told Skift. 'It's really laughable how far behind the hotel industry is from a tech perspective."Sonder closed 80 locations last year, laid off 17% of its workforce, and received a delinquency notice from Nasdaq before acquiring a new round of investment totaling $18 million. CRETECH reports that the owner of their former 125-room Craftsman hotel, across from Downtown's Apple store, recently defaulted on a $56 million loan.
Today, Sonder lists only one L.A. property, the Winfield, on their website. Former locations, including the Beverly Terrace, City Center in Long Beach, and Lum Hotel near LAX no longer appear connected to Sonder. Marriott has entered into a licensing agreement to create Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy which will take over some 10,000 rooms from the company throughout 45 cities in the U.S. and abroad.
The Santa Monica Daily Press reports that existing room reservations at the Shangri La / Beacon are not being honored, citing one guest from New Zealand who lost not only their room, but hundreds of dollars due to exchange rate differences. A sign on the door announces a new name and operation coming in June when it will be renamed Eden. The hotel will have the same Streamline Moderne architecture and breathtaking views of the Pacific but the price of paradise is high. It may be a pre-opening glitch, but room rates on the site start at $999 a night, or about five times the rate of Sonder's other L.A location.
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