Wexflyer

There was a large gas explosion at the new Hilton nearing completion at the waterfront/convention centre in San Diego today. Five workers "critically injured", nine "injured", 5 floors damaged, according to LA Times.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,5541703.story
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...n19blast4.html

Puts some of our complaints in context.

bos_adventuregirl

I just made HH Gold in Dec. (so I'm new to this) and have a question: I'm booked at the San Diego Bayfront Hilton this summer with an Executive level room. As a Gold, what should I hope for as a bennie? Upgrade to a suite (dreaming right?) or just a free breakfast or internet? I know I can set the values in MyWay, which I've got as "upgrade." But since I'm already on the Exc floor, what are the chances of upgrading beyond that?

FYI, I'm staying with the family for five nights -- during the Comic Convention.

Thanks!

landstuhldoc

Not sure if this helps - stayed 4 nts @ Bayfront in Jan as HH Gold. Booked standard room - no upgrade, no free breakfast. (On the other hand, my room had an astounding view of the Bay). I did get my free internet as asked for on Myway. They had not opened the Exec Lounge yet either.

I received a coupon for a free pastry and coffee at the Starbucks in the Hotel. IMHO - don't think you'll get bumped up to a suite. Nonetheless - This is a very new hotel with inexperienced staff and you may get different experiences from other FTers as the hotel irons the kinks out.

fromYXU

As HH Diamond I rarely get upgraded when I book a room on the executive floor. Expect no upgrade but enjoy it if you get one. I would set my preference to something else beside an upgrade.

ColumbiaPete

I just had a one-night stay there last weekend and was NOT impressed, other than the view. They definitely need to "iron the kinks out" of this place! Seemed like "everything" was a struggle...parking, asking for a second breakfast cert for the second registered guest in my room, not to mention the 4 hour wait with 3 phone calls to get a malfunctioning toilet fixed...hopefully they'll have their act together by the time the OP gets there!

ColumbiaPete

Sorry, I forgot to add re: the upgrade for a Diamond: They offered a "premium bay view" room as a standard upgrade and then at the time of reservation they offered the option to "stand by" for an additional $15 for a King deluxe room, or $19 for a "Corner King deluxe room". Seemed kind of a ripoff to me, as did the opportunity to "upgrade" the Starbucks breakfast cert to the full breakfast buffet for $15 per person.

This is definitely a convention center property with prices to match!

windchill

You are in town at the worst possible time to get anything free from the hotels. I've been a vendor at Comic Con for 6 years and every year the hotels get booked faster and at higher rates than any other time of the year. While I hope you and your family enjoy your time there, don't expect a whole lot from the hotel nor should you judge your San Diego experience on Comic Con week.

bos_adventuregirl

Thank you for your responses :-) Pretty much what I expected. Conventions are never a fun time to "enjoy" any hotel. But, I'll at least opt for free internet and keep any other expectations low...

bostonpilot

As mentioned above, you won't get anything during ComicCon in San Diego, everything books up solid.

Despite that though, I have been very unimpressed with the treatment at Hilton properties in San Diego. Based on casual observations (Ownership names on elevator safety certs, etc), I think most/all of the properties in town are owned by the same people, and thus the uniform treatment.

During the last half of 2007, I did ~20 separate stays in San Diego Hilton brand properties. I stayed in all of the non HI properties in town as a Diamond.

Across the board, I had to ask for an upgrade and with that hardly ever got one. The Doubletree Club would occasionally give me a suite, but the hotel isn't all that nice. The Hilton Gaslamp gave me an exec room a couple of times, but the price is usually outrageous. All the other properties it was either a no go or an occasional exec room unhappily given to me.

The only exeption was at the Hilton San Diego Resort where I stayed for a week and got a nice upgrade without asking.

San Diego is a great city, but I am far from impressed from the HHonors treatment there.

formeraa

Was very impressed with the Hilton San Diego Resort. On the other hand, I've stayed at a number of San Diego area hotels (HHonors and others). I'm not overly impressed with any of them. Typically, I pay premium prices for the "opportunity" to visit San Diego and end up with mediocre service at best. While I understand the laws of supply and demand, I also expect stellar service for stellar prices.

davew-krdm

Hello,

Just spent a 4-night Diamond AXON award stay at the Hilton Bayfront San Diego. Some pros and cons listed here:

Pros:

- Nice location on the bay across from PetCo Park and a 5 minute walk from the Gaslamp district, trolley station, and convention center. Close to the action without being too close.
- Generally good front desk, housekeeping, bar service with two exceptions below.
- No problem with parking, though at $21/night ymmv as to whether or not you think it's a good deal.
- Very nice facilities - everything in our room worked, everything was clean, room seemed more spacious than it was due to high ceilings/large window.
- Good and uncrowded workout facilities. Very nice pool/sauna area.
- Great view from our room on the 16th floor to the north (downtown and the marina/bay). A warning, though, that views on the south side are less than impressive.

Cons:


- No exec lounge and a poor food substitute - crackers, olives, and hummus in the bar each day. Starbucks "drink and a pastry" in the AM. Would have been better off selecting free internet. Speaking of....
- Poor internet service at $13.95/day. Needed to re-authenticate several times, which led to 7 days of internet service on my 4-day stay. Speaking of...
- I tried to check my folio in the room on the TV. It never worked - always showed a zero balance. So....
- I went downstairs early on the day I checked out to review my folio, which was $491.57. Huh? Two days were charged at $30 per, and one at $197. Plus the aforementioned 7 days of internet in 4 days, plus 3 days of parking (I used 2). 15 minutes later, and after being told by the rather unprofessional counter staff that that amount was the "tax on my room", they took off the charges to be billed to Hilton and removed the excess parking and internet charges. No apology, no nothing, for wasting my time.
- The other poor experience we had was being walked in on by housekeeping staff during there turn-down service. No knock-knock "housekeeping", just the unmistakable sound of the electronic door unlocking and someone starting to enter. Not cool!
- Free Hhonors water was only available from machines on floors 29-30. Since we were on 16, and the elevator banks are basically 1-18 and 1-5/19-30, getting water entailed going downstairs, running up to 29 or 30, going back downstairs, and going back to the room.

To sum it up:

- It IS a nice hotel in a great location.
- Don't select the MyWay food option if you'll use the internet.
- Don't expect ANY special treatment as a Diamond, and you won't be disappointed! Seriously, maybe I have high standards, but I expected better treatment.
- I'd happily stay here for a conference if someone else was paying.
- And finally, the Embassy Suites less than a mile away treats their Diamond guests much better, and I'll be heading back there again next time I'm in SD.

Dave

PHLGovFlyer

Wow! I have to report that I basically had an identical experience there last week on a one night paid stay (minus the room incursion for turn down though).

Thoroughly unimpressed by the Diamond "benefits", the "food" bennies as a Diamond, the starbucks "breakfast" (???), the parking charges, and the water coupons that required me to leave my 17th floor room, elevator to the lobby, change elevator banks, elevator to the 30th floor, hunt for the vending machines, use the coupons in a vending machine, elevator to the lobby, change elevator banks, and elevator back to the 17th floor (Ugh! 90 plus floors and four elevator rides for two lousy bottles of Desani - which is filtered tap water to begin with?).

Yes, the place is very chic, and the workout facilities are nice, but you're spot on that there are a bunch of HH properties in the area that will do you much better!

I'll also add for those that are curious that there is nowhere on the property with any sort of view to the field at Petco Park. I checked out the top floors and the best you could possibly hope for is a tiny sliver of deeeeep center/right field.

travelexpert

Thanks for the reviews.

I love the area, and have enjoyed stays at the Hilton Gaslamp and Marriott Gaslamp-both of which are less than 0.25 miles away. In particular, love the latter property, which is as close I have ever seen to "boutique style' within a Marriott....

Based on the feedback--there seems no compelling reason to stay at this property.

bostonpilot

A clarification question for you guys......

It sounds like this place isn't worth a stay. Were there any sort of room upgrades with diamond?


How's the pool/hot tub?

I'm thinking of a stay there next week, but not too compelled with these reviews.

davew-krdm

The only non-paid room upgrade is to a "view room" i.e. a higher floor than you might otherwise get.

The pool/hot tub are quite nice, outside, though the view from there is of the container port across an inlet on the bay.

I'd just go back to the Embassy Suites next time.

Dave