We stayed here 2 nights in early June 2010. It was not a bad place to stay. Our biggest problem was the costs of staying there, which made the other stuff that was not up to Hilton standards seem even more frustrating. First the bad stuff: We used Hhonors points, so our stay could be free. We were trying to save for other activities--like dining out and going site seeing. We did do a room upgrade and paid 40 dollars for that. As beautiful as the view in the room was, most other hotels we've been to have been willing to upgrade for free when you tell them you are there on a romantic getaway. On top of that, everything necessary was ridiculously expensive. We paid 20 bucks a day for parking and 20 bucks a day for high speed "premium" internet access. We did watch one movie for 15 bucks on pay-per-view one of the nights. Our final bill when we checked out came to 170 bucks, even though we were supposedly getting a "free" stay. The decor of the place was not inviting--it was rather intimidating, actually. The lobby felt like the lobby of a hospital. Almost everyone who was staying there with us seemed younger than us (I'm 28--my husband 39). All the older folks seemed a little put off by all the contemporary design as well. I get the feeling that they will have to renovate soon because the style of the place is very *now*. One thing made my husband and I a little ill was the strong odor of sewage coming from who-knows-where as we walked down the hall to our room every night. I don't know if someone had a serious case of the stomach flu, or if we were located next to some sewage pipe. Regardless, it was definitely more than a little rank and we were always nearly knocked off our feet by it. We never complained to the management, though. One not so significant issue was that the consierge was away from her desk more often than not. But there was plenty to the good side of the whole experience as well. We did have to take a short walk to get to the gaslamp district, but it was well worth it. LOVED it there. Balboa park and all the museums didn't take long to get to by car. We highly recommend Donovan's Steakhouse. As mentioned before, prices aside, the room's view was really spectacular. Coronado bridge and island were beautiful sights at night. Other hotel guests have complained of noise, but this was not a problem for us. We slept through the night with no problems. We were located on the ocean-side of the hotel, though. All in all, we did enjoy our time here, but the time we enjoyed was not as much in the hotel as around SanDiego.
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