We are a family of five.. my husband, myself, two sons (ages 18 & 16) and daughter (9). We required two separate rooms. This hotel was the only one in the entire downtown SD area that would guarantee the rooms would be on the same floor. In fact, upon check-in, we were thrilled to find that the rooms were right across the hall from each other. My husband, daughter and I stayed in a 1-bedroom suite.. which was perfect with a separate bedroom that actually closed off from the living room area (where my daughter slept on an ample sofa bed). That area also came with a mini fridge, microwave and sink.. all of which were very convenient. She also had her own TV, so we were not forced to watch cartoons at night. My sons' room was actually a handicapped room, but that was great since it provided them with more space than a regular-sized room. They also had a nice view of the street below; the view from the suite was of the backs of nearby buildings and a/c units. But we were not in the room often.
We stayed for 5 days, checking in on July 23rd and leaving on the 28th. EVERY SINGLE staff member we met was incredibly friendly, helpful and pleasant -- from each valet parker, front desk personnel, bellmen, restaurant waiters and workers, and housekeeper. They were always smiling, greeted us each time we entered or left the hotel, answered our questions. The day we checked in, there was no hot water in my sons' room and the remote on the TV in the suite did not work properly. One call to the front desk and the maintenance worker was up to our rooms in less than 10 minutes, fixing both problems.
The rooms were very nice and the pillow top beds extremely comfortable. Great water pressure in the shower. Nice big towels.. and plenty of them! Plenty of shampoo, conditioner, lotion and free bottled water (in the suite only) without having to ask for more (esp. since there were 3 of us in the suite). Lots of light from the windows. Thermostats that worked properly and were not too noisy. Pillows were a bit lumpy, but I am very picky about my pillows -- not worse than other hotels. Nice flat screen TVs. Free wi-fi was very fast and efficient for all our laptops, iPads and iPhones. Even though our room was nearest to the elevators, it was always quiet except once when loud people down the hall got home after a night of partying.
One of the best things about this hotel is that it used to be an old bank. They took painstaking steps to keep as many of the original fixtures as possible.. including the huge vault downstairs.. which you can see and step into. Aside from the vault(s), they had original tellers' windows, old fashioned phone booths, beautiful ceilings, lots of marble. The 4 elevators were very quick and we never had to wait more than a minute for one to arrive when we needed it. Liked the fact that you needed a room key to operate the elevators to ensure safety.. although the hotel did not ever feel unsafe.
Free newspapers and coffee down in the lobby every morning, although there were also coffee makers in all the rooms. We only ate the breakfast buffet at the one hotel restaurant. While the service was great and the eggs made to order, the rest of the buffet was adequate. It was cheaper to order the buffet than other breakfast items ala carte, though. We found breakfast options nearby for the rest of the mornings. The restaurant was pretty empty at all times except breakfast.
We loved the proximity of this hotel to 5th Avenue of the Gaslamp Quarter. It was within walking distance to literally hundreds of restaurants, as well as nearby Horton Plaza (not too nice any more), movie theaters, trolley station, convention center, waterfront. Since parking downtown is at a premium, it was great to leave our car with the hotel valets and walk to where we needed to go. Overnight parking was $33/day, but that is par for hotels in downtown SD. The valets were very accommodating and always held the doors open for us. Nice guys.
I would not hesitate to stay here again. I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to stay in the downtown SD area.. whether for pleasure, business or convention.
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