CA San Diego Downtown Embassy Suites

[dbnyc]

this was a non-Priceline stay. we were using HHonors Points.

i was worried about this property because i read some mediocre reviews. (which were pretty much confirmed w/ this stay).

they have a free airport shuttle. this "shuttle" is basically a small van which you have to call the hotel to arrange for the "shuttle" to go to the airport to pick you up.

the driver of the "shuttle" is one of the hotel's bellhops.

the hotel is located right next to the Seaport Village trolley stop. it's a 5 minute walk from the American Plaza trolley transfer station at Broadway. and a 7 minute walk from the Sante Fe Depot (train station).

i wouldn't really call this hotel's location "Downtown". it's more on the outskirts of Downtown.

anyway, the mediocre comments that i can now confirm are that this hotel is in need of a renovation. nothing is really that bad, but the room decor and color scheme look dated, and not that new or clean.

the bathroom lighting is horrible blah flourescent lighting.

i think they might have renovated the bathroom tiling lately, as it looked clean and new.

we requested and got a great Bay view (w/ the Coronado Bay Bridge in the distance). but this view also meant we were facing the Helipad, and could hear helicopters taking off and landing all the time.

the balcony was a full balcony, but i believe this is only on the 13th and 14th floors? oh wait, were we on the 13th floor? i didn't even notice until now.

the laundry room was conveniently on our floor. there was 1 washer and 1 dryer. it cost $0.75 for the wash (took 30 min?) and $0.75 for around 40 min of dryer time. the dryer doesn't work too well, so we ended up hanging up our slightly damp laundry in the bathroom to dry.

this Embassy Suites had an atrium garden that needed some help. (paled in comparison to the SFO Airport Embassy Suites) there was also koi in the ponds. but i'm not so sure these were normal koi.

they looked and acted like mutant gigantic goldfish piranhas. there were fish food machines, and we stood leaning over the railing outside our door once, watching other guests feed the fish. and jeez those are the scariest koi i have ever seen! i think if a person fell in, the koi would attempt to eat them.

if you like turtles, you might be more interested in the other side of the pond, were there is "Turtle Town" (as the sign said) and you can feed the cute turtles who swim leisurely to the food.

i suppose families with children will get a kick out of the mutant koi and the cute turtles.

btw, San Diego is really not a pedestrian friendly city. the famous seafood restaurnant "The Fish Market"/"Top of the Market" is right down the block from this hotel.

however, there are NO sidewalks. we had a fun time walking back late at night in the dark. heh.

anyway, i probably left out some info, so if anyone has questions, just contact me via PM.

okay, well i should probably add that San Diego is a great place to visit, and i would probably stay at the Embassy Suites again if i was on a budget. it was convenient to public transportation. but then again, public transportation in San Diego can be really time consuming. it'd be better to rent a car (except Embassy Suites charges $15/day parking)