Husband and I stayed at the Hotel Palomar for 4 nights in February 2012. The hotel has recently been taken over by Kimpton and fully redone, and it looks great, very modern. The location is pretty good, right downtown and walking distance to lots of restaurants and the shopping centre. The rooms are smallish, which is to be expected for the location. We arrived early and were able to check in right away, which was appreciated. We were "upgraded" to a room with a balcony - I wouldn't pay extra for this, as the balcony is tiny (no room for a chair) and there is no view to speak of.
The room was clean and the bed was comfortable, if a little soft. The bathroom has just a sliding door on it, there is no separate door for the toilet area, and the shower has just a half glass wall, so you'd better be comfortable with your travelling partner. The shelf in the shower is slanted, presumably so water doesn't pool on it, but the unfortunate consequence is that toiletries have a tendancy to slide right off the shelf and onto the shower floor. There is no tub, which was fine for us but may be an issue for others. There is no carpeting in the rooms as it is all hardwood - fine for us, but those travelling with children may have an issue with this.
Parking is $36 valet, and there is no self-parking on the site, though this is fairly standard for an older building in the downtown area. The valet staff were very prompt and friendly.
The hotel offers free wi-fi. There are no ice machines available, but the front desk staff will happily provide ice on request. There are also no water/pop machines on the floors, but there is a drug store across the street from the hotel.
All the staff we encountered from the front desk to the valet to housekeeping were pleasant and helpful.
We got a decent rate booking online and would certainly consider staying here again if the rate was as good and our stay was for just a few days.
hotel reviews