Malibu Beach Inn

Malibu Beach Inn is 47 rooms and suites in a three-storey building on Carbon Beach, the strip of Malibu coast nicknamed Billionaire's Beach, with Pacific Coast Highway at its back and the sand at its front. It opened in 1989, was remodelled in 2006 and 2007 under David Geffen, its owner from 2005 to 2015, and has since belonged to the Mani Brothers, whose art collection hangs throughout. Their designer, Waldo Fernandez, redid the public rooms, the restaurant and every guest room, finishing in 2016, in white oak and a palette of blues and greys.

Every room has a king bed, a queen sofa bed, a balcony and a view of the Pacific, and most have a slate-bordered fireplace. Bathrooms have walk-in showers and Toto bidet toilets, but no baths. The entry category, the King Pier View Room, is about 400 sq ft (37 m²), with an oversized balcony that looks west across the pier car park to Malibu Pier and Surfrider Beach, the ocean off to the left. The King Premier Ocean Front Room is about 350 sq ft (33 m²) and faces straight out to sea. Above them in price sit the One Bedroom Ocean Front Suite, about 525 sq ft (49 m²), with a pocket door to the bedroom, and the One Bedroom Sleep Suite, about 600 sq ft (56 m²), with floor-to-ceiling Pacific views from bedroom and living room.

What it is chosen for is the sea being the other half of the room. The sea-facing rooms are sunrise rooms, and in winter the sun comes up across the bay. A private stairway of 34 steps drops to the sand, where chairs and umbrellas go out for registered guests on request, with food and drink brought down. Carbon Beach Club's terrace is suspended over the beach for dinner as the light goes, with the sun setting beyond the pier in midwinter. The concierge arranges in-room massages, private beach yoga and sound baths, and the whale-watching season runs from December to April.

The trade is the road. Pacific Coast Highway runs directly behind the building and some guests mention hearing traffic over the surf, so ask for a sea-facing room on the third floor. There is no pool and no spa, and the Pacific, where the hotel provides no lifeguard, is the swimming. Valet is the only parking, at $40 a night, and LAX is 38 minutes away on clear roads, far longer in traffic. Rooms start at about $755 a night before Malibu's 15 per cent hotel tax. Book it for an anniversary, a proposal or two nights with nothing planned, and see the rest of Los Angeles by car on day trips.