Hotels and Adventures!
The main aim of the holiday was to keep our 3 year old son entertained while enjoying some good weather at the same time.
With that in mind we had travelled to San Diego to visit the local attractions such as Seaworld, Legoland, San Diego Safari Park etc. We did consider Florida but we wanted something a little more relaxed than the full on Theme park every day holiday.
Hyatt Regency Mission Bay.
Normally I stay in ICH Group hotels to try and take the advantage of the few perks that their Platinum membership level provides. However in the San Diego area with the exception of Indigo Hotel in the Gaslamp area there is a lack of quality hotels in the ICH Brand, hence a need to look further afield.
So for the first 5 days we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay.
Although the stay would fall across Labour Day weekend the rates were quite competitive.
After reading various reviews I selected a Tower Room as these are located in a slightly newer building and the rooms are finished to a higher standard, compared to the older Bay 1 and Bay 2 buildings.
However upon checking in after our long flight from Dublin, we were told our room had been double booked and we had been downgraded to the Bay 2 building. Not a great start!
We were told we would be moved to a Tower Building room the next day.
Too tired to argue, we went to our room to crash for the night.
The Bay 2 room wasn’t too bad. It was obviously an old building, but the rooms were clean but very basic, and reminded me of a glorified motel room.
More worryingly was some of the people staying in the same building. Most of our neighbours thought that having their mates in their room, or sitting on the open air lobby outside our room drinking beer until the early hours was perfectly acceptable.
Thankfully we were moved to the Tower Building in a better room the next day. As well as having the resort fee and parking charges waived for our complete stay, which was a welcome offer.
The public areas of the hotel were nice and well maintained.
The pool area was good for the kids with 3 different pools and water slides. It was full by 10am on the Sunday and Labour Day Monday, but fair play to the staff for ensuring towels were removed from unused sun beds.
Views of the pool from our Balcony.
The balcony also provided a nice place to sit and have breakfast either from room service or from the onsite bagel shop.
Busy pool on Labour Day
A few of the Hyatt from the Marina. The Tower building is clearly visable.
By the Tuesday the hotel was a lot quieter with the tourists replaced with conference attendees.
Other than the annoyance of having to swap rooms at the beginning of our stay it was an enjoyable stay and we would most probably return.
Hyatt Regency La Jolla
We then moved on to the La Jolla Hyatt Regency for another 6 nights.
It’s a little distance from the centre of La Jolla, it is nicely located on the I5 Freeway and you can be in the centre of La Jolla very quickly, although parking in La Jolla itself was never easy.
This was more of a business hotels, with even more conferences than Mission Bay, and at the weekends the Conferences were replaced with Weddings but neither disturbed us.
We booked a rate which included parking and breakfast. The breakfast restaurant was located in a foyer at the rear of the hotel, which felt and a little odd due to its openess. The breakfast was a good selection of hot and cold items and most importantly there was good quality proper hot tea available! They also changed the hot items each day to provide some variety.
There was also a nice pool area, but it was shared with the onsite fitness club, which meant half of the pool was separated into lanes for distance swimming.
The only photo I have, taken during the only rain we experienced during our stay.
We enjoyed our stay at both hotels and both had advantages and disadvantages. If I was only going to return to a single one, I would have selected the Hyatt at La Jolla. If we were returning to the area I would also like to try the Hyatt Grand Manchester located in the centre of the San Diego.
Here are some pics of our adventures during our stay.
Enjoying the planes at the Midway.
I thought the Midway would be a little boring for a 3 year old, but he loved it.
Sitting in the planes and helicopters, as well as exploring the ship itself.
Enjoying stupidly expensive ice cream. $20 for 3 x small cones, good job it tasted good.
Legoland at San Diego. A very enjoyable day out, with a good mix of small rides and displays.
This was at the Birch Scripps Aquarium. A small but more educational aquarium which has great views over La Jolla. Well worth the visit.
San Diego Safari Park. This was an excellent Safari park and far more enjoyable to see the animals in a more natural environment compared to the San Diego Zoo.
Enjoying a ‘light’ snack at one of the many brewery style restaurants. The beer wasn’t up to Adnams standard but better than the usual American domestic beers.
Intercontinental Century City Los Angeles
Prior to our return flight we wanted to stay nearer to . So we stayed at the IC Century City for the last 2 nights.
I had booked a junior Suite via BA, which was upgraded to a Premier Suite prior to arrival as a result of my IC Ambassador status.
View from the balcony
We had stayed at this hotel on 3 previous occasions and had enjoyed our previous stays.
This stay was to be no different.
The hotel has been recently going through a major refurbishment that is ‘almost’ complete. From speaking to the staff there are 3 floors that are still awaiting refurbishment which will be complete by the end of the year. However our suite was located on one of these 3 outstanding floors and was the older style. It was a good size with very usable space but was now showing its age with worn/damaged furniture and fixtures.
It would have been nice to stay in one of the refurbished rooms, but I do prefer to the extra space that the Premier Suites provide over the Junior Suite we had booked.
Again this hotel was busy with conferences on both days. This didn’t affect the public arears of the hotel i.e Lobby and Bar, but at the start of each day it made the Hotel driveway and valet area rather manic. With cars have to queue in the road awaiting space to enter the driveway.
It’s not a good first impression when arriving at the hotel, or while waiting for your car to be returned from valet. Noting the hotel car park is valet only. But if you like car/people watching its quite enjoyable to sit and watch people come and go.
The hotel is nicely located within 500 yards of the Century City Westfield Mall. Which houses some reasonable restaurants which provides options for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. It also had a good selection of high end shops if that’s your sort of thing.
So in conclusion another enjoyable stay, and I look forward to returning when the refurbishment is complete.
Watching departures from Santa Monica Pier during our stay in LA
