California - San Diego hotels?

Going down in a few weeks and planning to stay near downtown San Diego. We enjoy staying in good hotels and have a budget of ~$1k for 3 days. We're traveling with a 5-year daughter that sleep on the King with us. What would you recommend?

We typically like newer/more modern decor. I took a quick look and it looks like starwood has 3rd night free at their hotels. There are so many nice hotels in downtown that it's hard to choose. Please help! Thx.

Among the Starwood properties in Downtown San Diego, if you're traveling with a child, you might appreciate the spaciousness of the Sheraton Suites. I think you'll find the U.S. Grant not to your style and a bit small in the rooms. The other Westins in San Diego should be OK, but smaller rooms than the Sheraton Suites.

For other than Starwood properties, the Omni is quite nice - I'm not generally a fan of the Omni chain, but the San Diego property is the nicest Omni I've ever seen

If you stay at the Omni, and you want a laid-back atmosphere, make sure there's no Padres games when you're staying there. It gets a little crazy. The Omni even has a special entrance to the stadium.

Thanks for bringing that up. The Padres are indeed in town that weekend.

Which Westin (SD/Gaslamp) do you recommend? I found a decent deal @ Gas lamp Jr Suite 550 sq feet with 3rd night free. I'm not tied to any brand in particular.

I can't speak to a lot of hotels in downtown San Diego, but if you have a 5 year-old, I'm guessing you aren't looking for an all-night rager, so stay away from the middle of the Gaslamp (4th and 5th south of Broadway will be loud on weekends). That shouldn't be a problem at either Westin. The Gaslamp Westin has a slightly better location (they're only a 5 minute walk away from each other) unless you're taking the train/trolley in town. It also has an easier check-in experience as Emerald Plaza is a mixed use building with a big weird lobby. Emerald Plaza has a better pool if you're in to that. If it were up to me, I would stay at the cheaper hotel. In my experience, both hotels are similar as far as rooms are concerned.

you may want to look into hotels closer to shelter island / coronado if you want to be away from the noise. there's always the hotel del...

you may want to look into hotels closer to shelter island / coronado if you want to be away from the noise. there's always the hotel del...

I'm not a fan of the Del. For Coronado I prefer the Marriott or the Lowes, or if they're within your budget, a boutique place like the Glorietta Bay or the 1906 Lodge.

In downtown, the Covention center hotels are well located near public transit - and that would be a Marriott, a Hyatt, and an Embassy Suites - IMHO, the Embassy Suites is probably the best value of the 3 - but make sure there isn't a big convention in town when you are - Fortuantately, Comic-Con is over, but there may be other big conventions in town during a summer in San Diego.

Haven't stayed there but the Hilton Bayfront just South of the Convention Center and across the trolley tracks from Petco Park looks brand spanking new and pretty nice. It's also very close to a trolley stop but might be a bit of a walk for some from the downtown area.