Review - Luxe Malibu ⭐️
Introduction
Following the opening of the original Luxe Hotel last year, the Luxe Hotel Malibu is the second hotel on the Luxe SL . This is a vast recreation of the LA area complete with restaurants, shops, beaches, pools and restaurants.
Aria and myself went to visit, and tour the surrounding sims. In summary, it’s an amazing undertaking, and a real labour of love let down by, in some places, the lag.
(All photos by Aria Christen, rights reserved)
Overall look and feel
The hotel is located on the ‘Malibu’ part of Luxe SL and is meant to be a more upmarket and exclusive counterpart to the original Luxe Hotel, think four star vs five star.
The Luxe Malibu has a more opulent entrance to the original Luxe, the rooms are more expensive, and the public areas look better (it’s of course newer), with the spa being a highlight. The Luxe Malibu also has an outdoor pool / terrace.
The Luxe SL development as a whole started from very small beginnings in 2018 by owner and sim designer Angel, who originally had it on a quarter parcel.
Now it spans seven sims and a mainland region (it’s possible to fly and sail here).
The emphasis is very much on RP, though you can of course opt out of this if you wish (we did). Meanwhile when checking into the hotel you are given a HUD giving you access to over 50 locations and businesses.
We’ve got a gallery of some of them there, from pictures Aria took.
You could spend all your Second Life here, and some people clearly do. However, it’s also definitely worth a visit, and the hotel could form the basis of an LA vacation with you and a significant other.
Note, staying at the hotel means you join the group, which is the only way to know when (e.g.) restaurant events are happening.
Overall - 4.5 / 5
The rooms
We stayed in both a Junior Suite (395L) and a Deluxe Suite (695L). There is also a Presidential Suite (2000L) and standard rooms at 250L
Despite being cheaper, we actually liked the Junior Suite more. It had a more hotel-like feel about it in the sense that it looked more RL, and we generally go for realism wherever we stay.
In terms of the difference between the Deluxe and Junior Suites, the Deluxe has a separate living room, and the Junior Suite has a sitting area much as you’d find in an RL Hotel Junior Suite. The more expensive Deluxe Suite also felt maybe a little too sterile.
Note, that the original Luxe Hotel also has some good rooms, and they are cheaper, so you may also want to look at those, but as mentioned earlier it’s a different feel - think Hilton versus Four Seasons.
The rooms are all in skyboxes, so the lag is not a problem and privacy is good.
Overall - 4 / 5
The facilities
The Luxe Malibu has one of the best hotel spas we’ve seen, it’s really well designed and sits in its own skybox.
The downstairs pool is nice, but more laggy as it’s connected to the main development, same with the bars and restaurants in the hotel.
When it comes to the wider sim, a few things stood out.
The airport is one of the most realistic airports in SL in the way it's laid out - not many pilots fly here right now, hopefully that will change.
There’s also a nice restaurant in the airport. Both the airport restaurant and the terminal itself are good photo spots.
We liked many of the bars and restaurants, especially the Buddha Bar and Club Poizon. The aquarium is also well worth a visit.
Then, you should definitely spend time on ‘Venice Beach.’
Suffice to say you won’t be bored here.
As mentioned, the main problem is some parts are laggy, Aria had to leave her computer running for hours in some places so that she could take pictures. This will affect your experience, unless you have a new machine with a good graphics card.
However, the airport, rooms and spa are generally problem free.
Finally, when you book into the hotel you’ll get notifications via the group when various restaurants or clubs have RP events. As mentioned earlier, this is important as a lot will otherwise pass you by.
Overall - 4 / 5
The animations
The rooms have beds with the cumming soon engine - it’s not that well known, but we think it’s one of the best animation options (especially adult). It’s what we now have at home.
Credit to Angel for not going down the Ruckus route as so many hotels in SL do. Note, this does not have MM / FF options.
The sitting areas have Lalou chairs with D/s options.
The spa has Kraftwork mud baths, an excellent choice, and furniture from Chez Moi and Atelier.
Overall - 4 / 5
Other considerations
Prices - 250-2000L
Privacy - Good, the rooms are in skyboxes
Adult - In the hotel yes, in the wider sims the HUD will direct you to ‘adult’ facilities and areas
Lag - As mentioned, for us this was a big problem in places. I’m a Mac user while Aria uses a PC. The pictures you see here were taken by her in Black Dragon, but she found it hard going. However, a few areas were fine, such as the airport
Conclusion
Angel deserves a lot of credit for creating two really good Hotels, to anchor her imaginative LA Roleplay sim. It’s enjoyable, really well designed and immersive. Stay at one of the Hotels, and make a weekend of it.