projectmaximus

Have the conditions improved here much (since the reports of a less family-friendly atmosphere)??

I'm asking because I'm considering options for bringing my young family. We'll be in there area just to see a few friends, so originally planned for a short stay at the Hyatt House (practical accommodation only needed for sleeping at night) but now thinking about a more extended stay to enjoy the resort/beach. Is it worth doing so with two young kids or is the value add not really there? And is it a nice enough resort to invite our friends to visit us there? TIA

DELee

Unless you're a Globalist, I wouldn't recommend this location. Hyatt House would be more practical. This property is not on the beach and, personally, I don't feel is particularly good for young kids.

David

projectmaximus

But for a glob? I'm definitely leaning towards the HR unless it's just an awful experience for kids. The HH is $187/night after all fees, for a one bedroom suite. The HR is 12k pts for a base room. With cost (and proximity to our friends) being basically equal, I'm thinking possible upgrade, restaurant breakfast, and other amenities makes this a no brainer unless there's just something really bad about it.

HR La Jolla is ideal location-wise for us but they're not accepting points for my dates. I'm sure the cash price isn't worth it ($339/night all-in)

DELee

Yes, as a Globalist exercising an award, I guess they'll waive the now $42/night parking (valet or self) and $35/night resort fee.

Restaurant - assuming you mean the Red Marlin, for kids is now not terrible in terms of meal pricing for breakfast. You may want to find out what the waits are like to get a table - we were offered well over an hour. Prior incarnation of the Market as an Einstein's Bagels was poor at best and haven't been back since it was turned into "The Market".

The property isn't near anything walkable. If you decide that you want to eat anything besides onsite, then you'll be driving anyway.

If your kids are old enough, perhaps standup paddleboard rentals might work out. If they are young enough, the water slides might keep them occupied all day. SeaWorld is about 1.5 miles away but again you're driving. And paying for their parking.

If this property works for you and your family, then go for it.

David

Kacee

This property is not perfect, but I do like it. The location is actually quite central and convenient assuming you have a car. It's also surrounded by trails through Mission Bay, which are very pleasant. It's a 1 mile walk to Mission Beach. There's free and very convenient street parking if you don't want to pay to park in the lot. The redone rooms are nice. Red Marlin offers a good breakfast. They were doing takeout when we visited earlier in the pandemic and that worked pretty well (and still offer per website). The market had decent options also, including a yogurt parfait and a breakfast burrito of the day.

To me the negatives are the weak noise insulation (old building) and the suites in the tower are not true suites (they're very nice junior suites). It was getting a party crowd during the earlier days of the pandemic, but that was not unique to this hotel. I encountered same in properties across the country, as combination of low rates and closed bars/restaurants encouraged low life parties in hotel rooms.

If San Diego offered better hotel options this property would be farther down the list, but the decent options are really pretty limited. I'd rather stay here than either the gaslamp or convention center area. That's personal preference though.

mikeef

Thanks for all of the great info. We're planning a trip to San Diego next summer and looking at hotels. Three generations (grandparents, us, kids ranging 5-13) and were originally looking at the HR Mission Bay. I'm sure that the kids will love the pools but it sounds like the rest of the hotel quality is mixed? Most important thing is the resort atmosphere. Our ideal hotel would have been Hilton Bonnet Creek, but the weather in Orlando in July is a bit warm for our tastes.

Any other thoughts in San Diego, not necessarily Hyatt? Our next choice was the Marriott Marquis, but the Gaslamp district may not be the best location.

Thanks,
Mike

Kacee

The Marquis is not really in gaslamp, it's on the water, next to convention center. I used to stay there quite a bit, it's got a nice pool and an excellent fitness center. It's not a resort though, it's a convention hotel. Rates can be kind of ridiculous plus they charge a destination fee.

Might consider the new options in north County (Alila, plus the two Oceanside properties).

ralphs

For a family that doesn't care about being close to San Diego attractions, I'd look at Seabird in Oceanside. Seems quite family friendly and upscale. They're also asking for roughly twice as many points per night though, so that's a downside. And I also wouldn't stay there if going to the Zoo, Balboa Park, etc every day is on the calendar, the traffic will be terrible

mikeef

Thanks all!

Mike

auorab

LOVED the Seabird, beautiful inviting lobby, fantastic rooms, and the suites are divine if you can get one!

auorab

We had a really subpar stay at the Hyatt Regency this past summer that really cut our whole San Diego Vacation Short.

First, I took a paid upgrade to a Suite in the Marina Building. The decor in the rooms have recently been updated, but the doors and windows have not. There was a large gap under the doors to both the balcony and open air hallway and it was VERY loud, and there was quite a party atmosphere the weekend we were there. I talked to the manager, he was very gracious, and moved us to the room that we had originally reserved, an Marina View Corner Suite. Overall, I liked the Corner Suite room much more, but we were on the top floor, and the boiler was above us. When I say that boiler was loud, I really need to emphasize how loud. It was hard to sleep due the noise. We checked out two days early and headed home.

Huge dissapoitnement coming from the Seabird, especially considering how similarly these properties were priced!

projectmaximus

So we actually had a fantastic stay. 3 nights, booked two queen base room with points. Upgraded automatically in the app 3-days beforehand into Oceanview two queen as an explorist. Reached Glob-lite two days before stay and on the morning of, got a call from the hotel asking if I would like to be upgraded into the Veranda Suite, the largest suite in the marina suite building. They called to ask because the Suite is a King + sofa bed, and we had booked a two queen.

Veranda Suite was awesome...view was good enough and the extra space was great. Location of the marina building is slightly inconvenient for valet service and pools, but I liked the proximity to the fitness center and the walk to the restaurant along the boardwalk was nice. Averaged ~$85 at breakfast each morning, restaurant breakfast was pretty good, and all breakfast charges and parking was wiped off the bill automatically at checkout. Veranda Suite was solid...one major drawback was lack of any hooks in the bathroom. Should be an easy fix to at least add two, which is not totally sufficient but placement for more might be tricky. Also if a few of the wall switches could be connected better with some of the lamps that would be ideal. But overall nothing to complain about especially on a points booking + free upgrade!

Seemed to be a lot of families staying now, and had no problems with the clientele whatsoever. The pool areas are a little dated but that's not a big deal for us and the waterslides were nice. Did not take advantage of the free kayak/paddleboard rentals but was informed that we could have 4 free solo rentals during our stay.

JJ804

Does anyone know what is going on with limited award availability at this hotel? I couldn't get anything last weekend, and don't see anything for at least next Sun-Tue (21st-23rd). Is it just a small number of base rooms? Does anyone have experience with them opening inventory for a Globalist?

CMK10

Stay Report - 3/11 to 3/13

Location: I was spending the weekend bouncing around the area so the location worked out well for me. It's a pleasant place to be in and you can walk to a nice park and some restaurants. It's also really close to I-5 and I-8 so getting around is simple. Plus the view of the marina is really pleasant and it's just 10 minutes to SAN





Hotel: From the outside this hotel looks extremely dated. Like 1970s chic. It even still has the old Hyatt branding. But inside it's much nicer. There's a really nice lobby with fireplaces and a two computer business center. Lots of pools including water slide. At night the common areas have fire pits and look great. There's also a pool side restaurant and a bigger one for breakfast and dinner along with a small gift shop. Parking is valet or self parking. The valet guys were great I'll happily add.













Check In: A very friendly agent helped me out, thanked me for being Globalist and confirmed my upgrade. All staff here were great.

Room: I do think the moniker of Corner Suite is a bit of a stretch for my room as it's mainly just a bigger room. That said, it was nice outside the really small bathroom. I did like the living room area and I loved the balcony. There were outlets near the bed, wifi worked well, the TVs were large and soundproofing was good too.













Breakfast: I had two breakfasts in Red Marlin both of which were really good and service there was amazing.



Overall a very pleasant stay. I'd happily come back.

madderlake

Thanks for this! Were you there mid week or weekend? How were the crowds (presumably this is low season?)

Also, curious which restaurants you were able to walk to?

Did you happen to see anyone paddle boarding in the marina - curious if that is going on these days....

Thanks!