kenbo

On my last trip to Southern California, I stayed at both hotels. I think it really depends what you're looking for on your trip. You mentioned the Andaz being in the middle of everything. Aviara is surrounded by houses. Shopping is within driving distance but not anything like Andaz.

If you're looking for night life, there is no night life at Aviara. The hotel lobby was silent around 11pm. At Andaz, the night is just getting started.

If you're looking for activities and action, then go Andaz. If you want a relaxing vacation, go Aviara. I think I got the best of both worlds and I enjoyed both hotels. Breakfast was great at both hotels. If I had to choose one to go back to, I would pick Aviara.

ricohitman

This is exactly what I needed. I've only been to San Diego once and my wife has never been and we are looking to cram a lot of activities in through a 4 day weekend. Including the zoo and some shopping and a little bit of the beach. The andaz sounds like the option we need since we are really looking for the relaxed do nothing feel. Thanks so much!!

jlsf

Just spent 3 nights here and wanted to give my thoughts on the place:

1. The people are very nice and helpful.
2. The property is pretty nice, but parts of it are showing age (carpet in some rooms, some of the furniture, beds are too soft).
3. They have a nice big pool for everyone and then another couple of pools and lounge area that is just for adults. I was with 2 young ones, so I didn't stay in the adults only area, but it looked pretty nice/secluded.
4. The main pool is salt water - kind of nice that no chlorine and the salt was pretty mild. They also have sunscreen for you at poolside. You can also borrow water wings and noodles for the kids (or buy them and other pool gear).
One annoying thing is the board they have at the pool with the weather conditions; they would update the date, but the temperature was always wrong (61F at the beach when it was really 85F).
5. Got a free upgrade to a 2-room suite with great views of the Pacific and the golf course. This was very nice (except for the carpet needing a serious cleaning).
6. You must use the valet parking. Always a little annoyed when I have to pay for parking ($30) and then also tip someone each time I use my car.
7. The game room has a ton of things: Kinect, XBox (x6), pool tables (x2), shuffleboard, air hockey, foosball, etc.
8. The Beach Valet is a great service. This is provided as part of the $25/day resort fee.
They will load up a van with chairs, umbrellas, towels, sand toys, water bottles, and food (if you order it) and take you to the Moonlight State Beach. The driver will unpack everything and cart it out to the beach on a handtruck and set everything up for you.
The van will hold up to 9 passengers. After 3 hours they'll come back for you and all the gear. They offered to stop off on either way to pickup burgers/sandwiches/sunscreen if you like.
9. At check-in, they wheel out a wagon full of toys and let each child pick one (one hot wheel and one tiara for us).
10. There are no restaurants or shops within walking distance, but within a 10 minute drive you can be at all kinds of restaurants, outlet mall, Legoland, etc.

All in all, it was a great time.

jumpdogjump

The prior review is spot on - here's a couple additions for families (just finished a 3 night long weekend stay in a King Suite (Pool View) room 517. All the suites have now been updated, per the front desk. Hotel was at "mid 60%" capacity when we were there. The hotel common areas & pool were never crowded. High temp was about 75 degrees.

1. 3/4 of the family pool is 3' and 4' deep, which was great for our 5-yr.-old learning to swim. The tiny kid's pool is about 14" deep and quite small. Cabanas are 1st come 1st serve. Make sure to bring footwear as the concrete around the pool gets really hot.

2. Beach butler only had 2 scheduled trips, 10:00-12:30 and 1:00-3:30. Not having to worry about parking & lugging towels, chairs, umbrellas & water is great. We were meeting up with friends and knew we needed more than 2 1/2 hrs. for our beach day. We reserved the 10 am trip out - Concierge told us since the 2nd shuttle was full we had to cab it back with all the equipment. A quick negotiation with the driver solved that - he came back out at 2:30 for us. There are a few supermarkets close by if you're feeding a crowd - we provisioned the night before at the Ralphs on I-5 and Poinsettia. Note - we were dropped off at South Ponto Beach.

3. Fitness facilities are in great shape with new Cybex machines, free weights, treadmills & steppers.

CalFlyer

Wifey and I will stay at the Aviara in a few days, for a couple of nights.

Any information on how the resort fee is handled for Diamond members (is it waived)? How good is the Aviara with suite upgrades for Diamonds?

bambikatz

I've stayed twice. As a diamond, the resort fee was not waived. The suite upgrade was to a Park Suite Deluxe which I enjoyed.

CalFlyer

Interesting, since some of the services paid for by the resort fee should normally be free for Diamonds (e.g., WiFi). I will for sure ask for a partial refund.

PWMTrav

I'll be at the PH Aviara next week. Maybe an unusual question, but how much and when do folks usually tip the valets here if you plan to be in and out a bit? As in, on the way in, on the way out, both? $1? $5? $100 (just kidding)?

stephem

Thanks for the good info here. We just booked a suite (used points to upgrade a $195 rate) since that seems to offer more space for our 3&4 yr olds. I was surprised how low my corp rate was, could get two rooms at that rate for less than one room at BAR plus second on 50% off family plan. Looking forward to a nice room on the margins of Legoland ;-)

stephem

Great stay here, the property as a whole is great for kids and the suite is an excellent option for 2 adults, 2 kids and a baby. Lots of space in the room and lots of common space in the hotel, game room is a plus ;-)

The staff is great with kids, and we really felt taken care of. The breakfast buffet is free for kids under a certain age, so our kids gorged on raspberries and saucisson for free ;-)

It made visiting LEGOLAND bearable!

Parking should just be included in the resort fee, its not like anyone can come here without a car! Having a mandatory valet parking fee that is about 20% of the room fee is just silly...

777 global mile hound

Hi All,
I was wondering if anyone could comment on the quality of room service?
Planning on a work/study/conference call project/ stay after the new year and will be using room service for 3 days in a row! A first for me
Want to make sure I am making a good choice or explore other options
Man can not survive on toast and water alone
Thanks

RichardInSF

Just spent my first night at this hotel on a one night stay. I was upgraded to the Presidential Suite (rm 303) which has a large living room, a dining room, a kitchenette, a guest lavatory, main lavatory, a bedroom, and one larger/one smaller terrace. Needless to say, for me, the hard product was fine, almost up to the standards of an Asian PH.

Soft product, i.e. service, is not to the same standard. There were a few folks who cared but overall the service philosophy is best described as one of benign neglect. There is no separate elite check-in and even though I was in and out at non-peak times, there was a wait both times (with some terminals unstaffed). A few minor requests I made of housekeeping were forgotten and had to be repeated. Service at breakfast in the "casual dining room" was scant, so it is good it is mostly a buffet. There also can be a significant wait to fetch cars (valet parking is mandatory) so best to call when you are leaving the room instead of waiting until you get to the forecourt.

Breakfast for Diamonds is only in the casual restaurant and includes the buffet. There is an egg/omelet station which was fairly efficient. Other than that, the buffet was nice but not memorable.

For dinner, the casual restaurant is closed. The only choices were room service, a light menu in the bar, or two major dinner places: a steak house at the golf course (must take a shuttle to get there and back) and an Italian restaurant. Last bookings at the last two are at 9:15pm.

I had a caesar salad in the lounge; it was unremarkable. There was a combo playing loudly that didn't interest me so at the suggestion of the concierge, I took a table further away. That caused the wait staff no end of grief. I eventually had to get the lounge manager involved.

Be aware that any quoted rate will be increased by $60 a day for the resort charge and the mandatory valet parking (hard to arrive at the resort any other way), plus tax. When I mentioned to the checkout clerk that I wished they had self-parking he replied by alleging it was required to meet 5 diamond standards. As if!

Overall, it's physically a very nice hotel and I would stay here again. Guests should not expect luxury hotel service levels.

laxsnaogg

In reading the King room description, it does not appear that the sofa is a pullout. Can anyone please confirm?

I have two young kids, and prefer to avoid rooms with 2 double beds.

Suite rates look reasonable for my dates (and the suite description lists the sofa as a pullout), so I'll probably book that, but thought I'd solicit input here first...

BallardFlyer

Any diamonds had a resort fee waived lately?

HookEm

Diamonds do not even get the $5 discount on the resort fee that most
Hyatt resorts provide. So waived? Ha!