Vuelos

Upgrade, not happening. None of the 3 stays (same host) did I get anything other than standard.

Breakfast is upstairs on the roof or downstairs in the resto. They might cover liquor and tip, they might not.

gregorygrady

Just visited here for the very first time against my better judgement after reading reviews here. I decided on this hotel cuz it was closest to Petco Park and we were there to catch a Padres game. Worked out well for us and I'm glad I chose it. Was upgraded to a Loft room (Suite?) looking into the "Courtyard". Stayed on a Sat night so the music did get a little loud. And the pool party on Sunday afternoon caused the best pool chairs to be nabbed quickly on Sunday morning..................but certainly gave the hotel a very hip feeling.

Luckily I was treated fine by the staff and didn't get any of the rudeness that others have encountered, so I enjoyed my stay. However this hotel is far too trendy for the average FTer IMHO. I felt out of place like an old geyser..................and I'm still only in my early 30s and was there with my brother who is only in his early 20s. So I could see this place wouldn't be the most attractive option in SD for many FTers. Luckily the new PH Aviara is only 25 miles away and will fit the bit perfectly for everybody else. ^

Oh yeah, we arrived at like 5 or 6PM on a Saturday and there's free street parking until Monday morning, which worked perfectly for us to save us like $30. We were able to find a spot fairly easily just a block or two away. ^

Non-NonRev

I recently completed a quick BWB stay here on a weeknight: the hosts on check-in and check-out were very friendly and exhibited no rudeness at all. The host at check-in noted that I had been placed in a nice king room (it was an XL-king), and he offered to give restaurant advice. I assume that the front desk is left over from the Ivy days, and I like the positioning of the host's laptops so that he/she stands adjacent to you while working the keyboard - it's a nice little nuance that says "this is not a standard check-in experience", without getting overly cute-sy about it (I'm well above the target demo for this hotel, but was never made to (nor did I myself) feel out of place). ^

The room was very nice and comfortable - I loved the bed and the sofa was really comfortable. The (in)famous shower was fine - water pressure was good, although not spectacular (I like a good pummeling in the morning). As noted, you do need to be careful on entry and exit - I used my standard technique of throwing a couple of washcloths on the bottom surface of the tub to provide "stability" I only had a Diet Coke out of the mini-bar, as most of the other no-charge contents were laden with enough sugar to duplicate a small nation's annual sugar exports.

I left too early to try the breakfast, so can't comment on that; and as I was leaving at 04:30, the Escalade sat out front, but alas, no driver anywhere in sight


Edited to add: I forgot to mention that I did have problems connecting to the wi-fi. At first I could not see the SSID; disabling, then re-enabling my built-in wi-fi adapter allowed me to see the SSID, but I could still not connect. Called down to the host to verify that the hotel was not experiencing an outage; he suggested a full-reboot and to call back if I was still having problems. Instead, I just unpacked my trusty D-Link wireless mini-router, connected it to the wired connection, and I was on-line in an instant.

I did the Speedtest.net test; download speed was just under 3mb, while the upload speed was just over 3mb. Not too bad.

tinytina

Did a BWB stay here on Saturday night and got "upgraded" to that dark loft king room with the tv-wall-divider between the living room and the bed, with a view of all of the other rooms across from you and a tall wall (it was awkward, we kept our shades closed for the most part). The bed was comfortable, but there's a huge slab of wood that looms over you... a little scary-looking considering that it's California and earthquakes happen. It was loud throughout the night (you could hear the music from the club/bar) until about 2-3am, but the tv drowned that noise out.

Maybe I don't know how to shower right (I like to hold the showerhead thing for better control), but water kept spilling out of the cracks between the swinging door and the wall, and it also kept spilling through this open section in the glass into the toilet area. The bath amenities smelled good though.

For turndown service, they closed all of our curtains, cleaned up the room a little, then provided us with a bottle of water. No chocolates or anything, though the free mini-bar items included a Hershey's chocolate bar (and juices, sodas, water, chips). On a side note, there are some kinky items in the mini-bar menu for sale...

It was nice to not have to wait in line at night when there were a ton of people trying to get into the rooftop bar, the wine bar, or the club in the basement. They reserve an elevator for hotel guests so you can go back to your room without having to deal with terribly drunk people. The rooftop bar was nice... but everything got crowded pretty fast.

The breakfast was great! When we checked in, our host said "breakfast is covered, so order up!" And we did. I got the steak and eggs and the boyfriend got the brioche French toast with two sides of bacon (he really loves bacon). Both were good. We tipped with cash and did not drink alcohol, so I don't know if those are covered.

No issues at all with wifi.

cozkay

I was just here this past weekend also on a 2 night award stay. I booked my stay in early August asked for a room not so close to the noise of the club as we had our kids with us. FD said 2nd floor inner room is the quietest and that she would book us in large double because most suites and larger rooms are a king bed only. I was fine with that. Now I have stayed at Andaz weho a bunch of times with and with out my kids. Never felt weird or that I was an inconvenience. My wife and I are both in our late 20's and should of fit right in.

Well, I really don't like this property. Every FD person has this snobby attitude or better yet just to cool to be bothered. Check-in sucked, arrived at the hotel at 2pm. The place was empty was told my room was almost ready and that they would call when it was. That was fine with us we went to grab a bite to eat. Two and half hours later I call to see if the room was ready. Guess what? It was and nobody called. Came back to the hotel got our room keys, diamond amenity, informed breakfast was at the rooftop no mention of limit just enjoy. Got our large double due to the fact that I needed 2 beds because we were with our kids.

Room was nice, warmer feeling than weho. Bathroom is pretty cool with the huge shower. The noise from the clubs, main floor, basement and roof top was LOUD. At times my windows would rattle from the bass. I opened a window just to see and the cigarette smoke you could smell was awful. We got moved the next day to the smaller double room 3rd floor outside facing. It was quiet, some street noise of people having fun but barely noticeable.
FD didn't seem to happy to move us and it took a good 2 hours before we even go the ok to move.

Anyhow, this property is not for families with younger kids. Yes, it's part my fault but before I booked I tried to make sure that we would be ok and that's why we stayed. Never again would I stay here with or with out kids. Just no customer service at all. All the staff except for one valet was just horrible. The valet though was great from day one.

On check out, Diamond breakfast was on our bill both mornings showing as lunch, a order of drinks and food at the pool on the 2nd day(not ours). I explained that it might show as lunch but it was breakfast. FD looks into the bill on her comp. and sees that it is breakfast. Says she will take it off and asks about the pool lunch. I told her that it wasn't ours, she calls the host manger, the same host manger that gave me the keys to 2nd room on the 2nd day at around 4:30pm looks further into the bill and time says 3:01pm. He then takes it off the bill. He also made the comment of "we are taking the diamond breakfast off but just to let you know for future reference there is a dollar limit" Both mornings it was around $90 for the 4 of us. I didn't say anything but thank you, took my receipt and left.

Next day I am charged for both breakfasts, pool lunch that wasn't ours and a Luna bar from the room. Amazed I call the hotel and they said it was a mistake and they will look into it... they are still looking into it.

party_boy

did a paid stay there last Sunday.

1. Checkin/host was excellent. He gave good restaurant recommendations and was very accommodating especially since I was a bit frazzled after driving 9 hours straight.

2. The room I got was an XL king...pretty much a mini suite. Couch, table, tv on one side and a King on the other.

3. Bathroom was a little funky. I got the floor and toilet all wet with the hole on the side. I still don't know what the purpose was.

4. My room location was horrible. Right UNDER the gym. Whenever anyone would go run, it sounded like I was in a trance nightclub. Unfortunately by the time I figured it out, it was the morning.

5. On Checkout, I had to mention the diamond breakfast amenity.


All in all a standard stay, but overall a little underwhelming.

tinytina

So weird! My host actually specifically told us to eat up because there's no limit... I'm sorry you didn't have a good time here

cozkay

Yeah I am too, My wife and I even thought about it after and decided even if it was the 2 of us we probably wouldn't stay there again.

In contrast the Andaz Weho, a lot of people have had bad experiences there but I have had nothing but great service.

skywalkerLAX

How did the thing with the extra charges turn out ?

Did you pay that when you left the hotel ???

I have to agree, the differences between the Andaz SD and Andaz WeHo couldnt be more different. The staff at the SD property completely sucks including the management while the Los Angeles Andaz has a great General Manager who makes you feel very welcome at his hotel by his communication alone. And he got the staff more under control now as well as they cleaned out pretty good.

cozkay

Yes weho is simply one of my favorites. The breakfast in RH along with the service is top notch. It really is a no limit breakfast, not saying to take advantage of it but it's nice not to worry about.

As far as my check out. It should of been $89 that is what the bill says that I left with. Why I was charged everything again I'm not sure. I was charged close to $350 and still nothing. I'm going to wait until Monday to call again.

skywalkerLAX

I would not have left that property without a correct folio and my own charges only on it.

Dont call them again. Call Consumer Affairs! I recently talked to a representative for informative reasons and he said those things go through the hands of a Vice President at their department.

Andaz SD will NEVER get this done, I posted my experience where they charged me multiple times weird amounts on my credit card and it took them weeks to rectify it. I was close to disputing it with my CC Company. In the end Consumer Affairs put pressure on them to get it done. That place is a joke. What a shame, it is a great example of how incompetence at the general management is going all the way down to the lower positions.

cozkay

My folio says $96 after the host manager removed the charges with a bit of hassle. The next day I was charged the full amount close to $350. So I then had to call and explain my situation all over again.

Your right though I should just call GP and have them look into it. Thanks

PhilBrown309

Based on FT stories, Andaz seems to be a case of YMMV...wildly. I stayed at the SD property Sunday-Thursday a couple of weeks ago on business and wound up being annoyed that I wasn't going to get to stick around for the weekend action. The hotel is perfectly sedate during the business week. Had an Executive King, which seemed like a Diamond upgrade as far as I knew -- based on other FT reports it sounds like I'd prefer the room I had over the "Loft" upgrade anyhow. I had no issues whatsoever with breakfast (delicious and comped at the Quarter Kitchen, just sign and dash, but agree with others who said the menu lacked variety or imagination), nor with my folio at checkout. The staff seemed young and inexperienced, but enthusiastic and otherwise competent. I'm looking forward to a return visit with my wife...and I'm well over whatever arbitrary age-limit someone suggested as a cutoff for being able to enjoy the SD Andaz!

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Don't hold your breath....

Said another way, you will have to be proactive on this one. It took me ages to get a credit from this hotel. It was torture.

Management at this staff is completely incompetent.

amgt123

I've stayed at all the Andaz properties in the US, and multiple stays at the SD Andaz. Experience at this particular property varies greatly on the weekend you attend. Been during gay pride week and the hotel was PACKED with partyers. This was fine for me, but would definitely be an issue for other guests. Sometimes the house car is not available, so I got the hosts to throw in a couple wine bar preloaded cards. Last time I booked, the GP assistant mentioned that the hotel was loud, glad they started to do that, because the first time I attended, I didn't have an idea of what to expect. All in all, would definitely call this a club with a hotel attached.