pinniped

Is it normal that you can't OLCI at this hotel? Do they have digital key?

I've heard stories of people having to wait in line to check in - want to avoid that if possible. The app will allow me to proceed through the OLCI process (kind of) but is not showing any rooms available on the map.

My room type has not been upgraded, although I suppose that could still happen (my checkin is tomorrow). I don't expect any kind of large upgrade, but a mini-upgrade to partial ocean view would be kinda nice. The room type is available for booking...

retiredfromhilton

I hope you do get an upgrade. But remember: an empty room is not necessarily an available room (for upgrade). Very often rooms are kept empty because the hotel's revenue management system is predicting a chance to sell it to walk-ins at rack rate, or the hotel owner is having it held for himself, family or friends, etc, etc.

pinniped

Completed our three-night stay. Overall, a pretty good stay with a couple minor issues.

(1) I'm not actually sure if we were upgraded or not, but our room was very large. The FDC said they do not do Diamond upgrades - if I wanted one, I'd have to pay for it. But then she suggested a room for us and said "this is a good one...lots of space." It was facing the interior courtyard and the size of what in most hotels would be a junior suite, with a spacious living area and a walk-in closet that was way larger than we needed. Nice outdoor sitting area with 2 chairs and a table. Although it sounds like a lot of the Victorian rooms have some minor issues, this one did not: bathroom, bed, wifi, HVAC, refrigerator, etc. - all in working order. I don't know if all rooms at this hotel are large or if the FDC did us a favor; either way, it was good.

(2) They referenced that they have not converted to the Hilton system yet. I had 3 reservations because the system can only accommodate one certificate per stay, and although I mentioned this to the front desk every day, they never could figure out how to merge the stays. So at various points during my stay, the key would stop working, or digital key would stop working, or both. Because the front desk area is a constant disorganized zoo, this was a bit inconveniencing. I have three receipts now from this hotel - and I'm expecting a 4th because the gratuity I left for breakfast always shows up 1 day late. After the stay, there was no way to check out of the hotel in the app. There was a mob of people at the front desk as we were leaving, so we just told the concierge our room number. I eventually got a receipt late in the afternoon.

(3) Breakfast is a nice continental spread as others here have mentioned. The hot buffet items, available for a $20 upgrade, look about what you'd find on a typical $20 Hilton buffet. I honestly thought the best items available were those on the continental buffet (the pastries, meats, salmon, cheeses, etc.) and we did not feel the need to upgrade. Had juices, sodas, and coffee - all at no charge. We made reservations for breakfast via Open Table each day but didn't really need them: there was no queue for a table even if you didn't have a reservation. We had outdoor seating each day.

(4) The valet pickup/dropoff area was a disorganized mess most of the time we were there, and we learned from Uber/Lyft drivers that it's been this way for several years. So do your Uber/Lyft driver a solid and walk to a street - Orange Ave or either of the side streets on either end of the property - and save yourself and your driver 15-20 minutes of sitting in a totally unnecessary 200-yard-long traffic jam. If you brought your own car, prepare for dropping it off and getting it back to both involve a lot of time wasted.

(5) We did not do the Sunday brunch. It appears sold out through January and I didn't ask if there was a backdoor for hotel guests. We just decided that trying to blow through $100 worth of food and booze on a Sunday morning was a bad idea. We went hiking in Torrey Pines instead. (Highly recommended if you like hiking, BTW.)

All in all, we enjoyed the stay. The room itself was more than sufficient and the location is fantastic. It seems like they could optimize a few things: get fully integrated into the Hilton app, designate a taxi/rideshare lane, and better staff the front desk. This hotel doesn't yet see itself as "Hilton", which is probably in part why Diamond status means little here. They have their own Beach Village owners/members that are much higher value to them than someone with an Aspire card and a free night certificate. But still, it's nice to have this unique and historic property in the portfolio.

HawaiiO

Supposedly there is a female ghost that resides at Hotel Del Coronado!

Amazing property.
Was there once many years back.

ABQ Jon

For what it's worth, the breakfast upgrade also includes cooked to order eggs. When the restaurant is busy, though, you have to place the order the first time you see your server, because you will never see them again.

araknis

Looks like Valet @ $50/night is the only option now at this hotel. Any tips on off-site parking options?

Colin

just a few blocks off the commercial streets around The Del, the parking on Coronado residential streets is largely unrestricted.
use Google Maps, street view, and look for parking restriction signs. if none, park and it's free.

spchester

pinniped

I hate valet parking too.

Unless I trust a place to actually execute the process extremely well: zero wait to drop a car off, and extremely minimal wait (as long as it take a fast kid to run a couple hundred yards) to get it back.

This hotel is unfortunately not such a place. It was a complete zoo almost every time we walked out the front door of the hotel. Ubers/Lyfts are better summoned to the other side of the hotel.

farnorthtrader

Here now, must say a little bit disappointed. Probably built it up more than I should have. We were here 15 years ago, just to walk on the beach and have an ice cream and thought then that one day we would stay here.
Was concerned right from the time of booking as they specifically notate their booking as "pay when you stay" but then they take a "deposit" right away, which was for the full amount of the one night cash booking.
Like a previous poster, had two rooms booked (one in my name, one in wife's name, also diamond) for two nights on 4 separate reservations. Front desk said that he was combining them, but keys stopped working midway through the second day. Received receipts for checking out first thing in the morning, so I expected that something was wrong. There was an error on the receipt, so I wrote back to ask them to fix it, no response.
No recognition of diamond status, not even a mention. One room was upgraded to partial ocean view (and partial open pit construction site view), the other was not upgraded at all. He gave us two breakfast vouchers for the room with two people in it, (which would only get us breakfast for one morning), but then gave us 6 vouchers for the other room that had 4 people in it, so it seems pretty much random, but we ended up with the right number of vouchers according to the Honors program and they didn't bother to collect the first morning anyway, so it didn't matter. Both the front desk person and the breakfast people the first morning seemed like they really didn't want to be here. I love the hotel because I love historical buildings, but neither the facility nor the staff compare to other WA, Conrad and Curio properties that I have stayed at. I really understand why people who stay mostly at domestic Hiltons think the program is pretty awful and people who stay at international Hiltons think it is fantastic. It is like they are two different companies

pinniped

I do a mix of the two. I honestly don't think the program is awful. It's just that visiting a US or Canadian Hilton is a purely transactional experience - I pay, I get a clean room and an mostly-edible breakfast, some points that I get to use for award stays later, and I go on my way. "Diamond" is basically "more award points." That's it. Many of the international hotels, especially the Asian ones, take the hospitality part more seriously and try to elevate the experience to something more aspirational - not just a transaction. They care about the guest experience.

I believe the issue is the disconnect in expectations. All of the Honors marketing and imagery makes it seem like there's great hospitality everywhere. It's a lot sexier to talk about upgrades and show photos of the top Asian resorts than to say "stay with us because Hampton Inns are usually cleaner than the motel next door." (Credit to Hampton: they usually are.)

retiredfromhilton

While Asian Hilton properties welcome diamond members (and everybody else) with more warmth and perks than hotels in the U.S., you must remember that more than half of the Hilton properties in the U.S. are Hamptons, which have very limited scope for upgrades, and very little budget to support things like late check out. (It's worth noting that the vast majority of Hamptons in China -the only Asian country with many Hamptons - do not participate in Honors. Along similar lines: a far greater proportion of U.S. Hilton properties(versus those in Asia) are also 'focused service' brands lime Homewood, Home2, Tru, and Hilton Garden Inn

Staying with Hilton in Asia is much more likely to mean staying in a Conrad, Waldorf, or Hilton, than in the U.S. And, while even those brands usually provide a better experience than they do in the U.S., the difference is less sharp than comparing what happens in any brand owned by Hilton property in Asia versus in the U.S.

mintcilantro

mintcilantro

+1

I just finished a stay here this weekend and I felt this is a great place to burn the hilton free night certificates. Sure there are better options like Conrad Maldives but I wasn't able to travel to those locations.

I don't know of any other points hotel in SoCal with such convenient beach access. If there is one I'd like to know but most of the ones I researched required crossing Hwy 1.

We had two rooms. The victorian room 3410 was much nicer than the Tower/Cabana room 4108. But the tower rooms have more convenient beach and pool access. The cash rates for victorian rooms are higher but they are still avaialble using the free night certificate.

There are many sections of the property that are very tired. There is a lot of construction and renovation going on. Hopefully it will become an even nicer property in future.

As expected, beach gear rentals at the resort are very expensive. You can just walk across the street and there is a place called Little Sam's with lower priced rentals.

There are plenty of restaurants within walking distance so you don't have to eat at the hotel's pricey restaurants. We had a pizza one day at Eno's and it was very good but pricey.

Also, we took uber/ lyft from the airport. It was around $25. We didn't feel like we missed having a car since we were there to enjoy the beach and the ocean. A bike rental was an enjoyable way to see all the nice houses in Coronado.

I will be back here to redeem free nights in future.

cinnab0nn

Visiting San Diego soon and looking to use my soon-to-expire Hilton Aspire credit. Actually staying at Hotel Del seems too expensive but I thought eating at some of the on-site restaurants might work. Anyone know how these might code, and whether they would reliably trigger the credit?

Don't want to eat like I've got $250 in free money and then have to pick up the tab haha. If anyone has any info it would be appreciated!