Hampton Inn San Diego-Downtown

OK when nothing else is available, although I didn’t like having to pay for parking when I don’t remember ever paying at any other Hampton Inn I’ve stayed at. But the beds are comfortable, as always. And it is conveniently close to most any place you’d want to visit in San Diego. I just wouldn’t make them a first choice whenever staying down there again.

Clean rooms, comfortable beds. Close to San Diego Little Italy. Many cool places and great food. Close to all the shoreline activity and easy freeway acess. Trains and trolley not a big deal. It’s a City folks.

What a terrible place. So noisy that they give you earplugs in the room. Hearing and cooling are so loud you can’t have the unit on at night. Coffee maker is broke. Shower has been remodeled but there is no shelf for the soap!

Everything about this hotel, with the exception of the service, is just okay. The service, however, is GREAT! I really wish I would have got the name of the man who was working when we checked in — younger guy, probably late twenties, worked the evening of Jan 7 and Jan 10 in case any managers or important Hampton Inn people are reading this — who was phenomenal. Chatted with us about our plans for the trip, where we were from, where he was from, etc but above and beyond the normal employee. He was such a genuine dude and we appreciated that! I also have to give kudos to the housekeepers — we left our room around 2pm to go adventure and assumed we’d have to wait until the following day to have our room cleaned up. Nope! We came back to fresh towels and a clean room! Very nice surprise, especially for a late riser such as myself :)
The room we stayed in… meh. Just okay. The trolley/​train runs right behind the hotel which is super convenient, but also super loud. Speaking of loud, the walls are very thin. Not only did we hear the person upstairs walking around, but we also heard housekeeping when they were knocking on the doors of our neighbors and it really sounded like they were in our room! Plus the beds were pretty hard — I did the initial «bed belly flop» when we arrived (c’mon, you’ve got to do it at every place you stay to check the comfort of the bed!) and it did not end well. My poor downstairs neighbors.
We didn’t wake up early enough to try breakfast at the hotel, but like I mentioned earlier the location is right by the MTS station. It’s also a very short walk to Little Italy and there’s a convenient Rite Aid right up the street. One of the first nights we walked along the water down to the USS Midway, then to some plaza for dinner (wherever Cheesecake Factory is), then into the Gaslamp and then to Petco, so if you’re willing and able to trek around it is doable.
Our average Über ride around the city was between $ 5 and $ 10, so overall I think this place is a good choice if you’re looking to explore all over San Diego and not just hang out downtown. It won’t break the bank and it’s a good place, but we might try a different place next time.

Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t stay here again.
They have signs everywhere saying if you aren’t satisfied, you don’t have to pay. Well, we honestly didn’t even bother to complain to them, as the goal was to spend the night for New Year’s 2016 (which we did) — so our mission was accomplished. Also, when we checked out, nobody asked «Was everything OK?» If they had asked, we would have told them. So, overall, were we satisfied? NO, not for the price we paid!
I’ll start by saying if we paid a lot less, we still wouldn’t have been satisfied, but at least it would have been justifiable. But, for $ 200+… noooooooo waaaaaaaay Jose!
Here’s why:
This place was being renovated when we were there. Good for them! A step in the right direction! BUT — there were several things that could have definitely been BETTER, had management made better decisions, and this is where this location falls short. They are:
– Thermostats were all being replaced. Our room had a paper in it saying that a worker would come in «only for 10 minutes» at ANY TIME up to 8:00pm. YOU DO THE MATH ON THAT. This is on NEW YEAR’S EVE (2016). Are you serious? What kind of good time /​relaxing time can you have when someone is going to bang on the door any second, and come into the room and install thermostat? Why couldn’t they be installed in those hours BETWEEN other people checking out and people checking in? After all, it only takes «10 minutes». So, yes, at some time, workers did bang on the door, and we had to have them in there installing a thermostat — on New Year’s Eve. (And, why did they pick one of the most «in demand» evenings of the year, which is a special occasion for almost all customers???
– The lamp near the window has a very heavy (solid) metal ball that screws on the screw to hold the lampshade down. As I opened the curtains, this HEAVY solid metal ball (looks the color of brass) rolled OFF the lamp and fell onto the floor, just inches from my big toe/​foot. Had it hit my foot, it probably would have broken a bone, if not just caused a ton of pain. I tried to screw this brass ball back onto the lightshade, but the exposed screw on the nightshade was too short. THUS, someone in the past had just set it on top, as opposed to securing it.
– The shower. The show head is fixed; does not move. It’s also SUPER SAVER, as well as has a HORRIBLE spray pattern. Call it an «hour shower,» not a «power shower.» Using a measured container, I sprayed water for one exact full minute on full power (at a hot/​cold water mix) and it came to 2.0 gallons per minute. Now, I do realize that California has strict water conditions, and that, BY LAW, limit water — and these restrictions are the toughest in the country. But, currently, these ridiculous restrictions limit the water to 2.5 gallons per minute. The 2.0 gallons per minute limit is effective JULY, 2016. So, why are they implementing it so soon? And, due to the poor spray pattern, you can’t even wash off your legs. If you take showers, you know what I mean! There are other shower heads that are way better, EVEN with limited water — such as the rain play shower head by Hansgrohe. In any case, I’m sure the argument they will make is they remodeled, and they didn’t want to go back and re-​replace the shower heads later. So, I guess this means the guests DON’T get the benefit of the doubt, but the business does. If they were to say this (and they haven’t yet — because I haven’t heard back from my questionnaire they sent me weeks ago), then it would indicate they don’t really care too much for the comfort of their guests. By the way, by 2018, water will be restricted even more. So, either way, shower heads are basically a big business in california, and they’ll have to evolve with the laws. Thus, it’s a predicable and normal cost in this industry.
– The air conditioner was LOUD. I think it was new (I’m not sure), but it was LOUD. It’s not central — it’s one of those individual units INSIDE the room, near the window, on the floor.
– Now, this is not such a big deal, but the elevator is also super sketchy/​slow.
– Positive — breakfast is good
SUMMARY — I don’t mind staying in old places, and we do stay in various places all around San Diego, Mission Bay, Old San Diego, Gaslamp District. The bottom line is the comfort for the guest. It’s not about the age of the place, or the shininess of the paint. This place is renovated and shiny, with modern technology (such as – the front desk can see and control what your thermostat is set to at all times), but it simply lacked the comfort of other places we have stayed. Management made, in my opinion, not the best of decisions regarding workers being in guests’ rooms on a special occasion (New Year’s Eve, 2016).

Disappointed. Paid to stay here for 4 days and on our last day we got a bill under our door for parking. We were charged $ 14 per night for parking in the Hampton inn parking structure. You would think that it is only reasonable that if you are paying for a hotel the parking is also included! Did they expect us to park on the street? Further, the entire place seemed to be under construction.
Despite it all Endela did an awesome job keeping our room nice and stocked. Thank you for the room service.

Stay away! I stayed 4 nights and regretted every single penny I spent. First of all, staff was OK except for the fact they forgot to mention that I had to pay to park in the hotel. Shouldn’t that already be included? Anyways, whatever.
My stay there also consisted of a lot of construction going on which meant lots of noise. I woke up one morning and went for breakfast and was surprised to see the carpet completely removed and a bunch of workers replacing it. I thought I was on the wrong floor but, no, I wasnt.
I will never come again and will spend a lil more next time for a better stay.

We stayed here because we had a free night at any Hampton Inn. I’m glad it was free because it was not impressive.
When I checked in, I asked how we paid for the parking. She asked when we were leaving and several other roundabout questions before telling me it was free due to construction. It took quite a while to get checked in as she didn’t seem to know what she was doing and had to keep calling a coworker.
There were no king beds available so we were given two queens. Fine. The faucet in the shower was barely hanging on to the wall and dripped all night. So much for saving water in the drought! The breakfast was pretty standard and not bad at all. However, the customer service is severely lacking. When I called to book the room I got a headache dealing with that woman as well. Oh, and the construction (they are renovating) is nice and loud!

This is a Hampton Inn, not great, but not terrible. What is terrible is the staff here. I arrived, after driving for two hours, at 1 AM. The automatic sliding doors had been locked and a sign directed me to the side door. The side door had a sign saying press the button to gain entry. By this time the lady behind the front desk has seen me. Me in my shorts and t shirt, so no real place to hide a weapon or firearm. So I press the button and wait… and wait…“oh, the door is already unlocked,” I think that is why I don’t hear a click or a buzzer. So I try the door, it’s locked. I wait a few more moments, the lady behind the desk stares at me and I think maybe it’s unlocked now… nope. I think I hear some faint voice coming from the intercom, but it’s unintelligible. So this goes on for about a minute, I try the door every few seconds, it’s locked and the lady behind the desk is just looking around. Finally, I hear a click and the door opens. Instead of a warm welcome or an apology, I get a terse, «Are you here to check in?»
«No sh! t for brains, I enjoy standing outside random hotels trying to get in at 1 AM» is what I was thinking. Talk about an a$$hole!
If you do stay here and can put up with the stupidity of the platinum blond front desk clerk and the rude night manager with perm job and growing bald spot, save a few bucks and tell them you are not parking in the parking structure. Then go and park in the parking structure, the gate is left open late at night.

Man where do I even begin?
We stayed here for a wedding and could not wait to leave the second me stepped foot in our room.
I walked into our room first while the rest of my family was parking the car. Upon opening the door I saw the bed linens piled up on the bed, food and trash and hair balls all over the room, cigarette butts everywhere, sand and dirty towels all over the bathroom. I know hotels aren’t the most sanitary but I felt like I was going to catch something just standing there… I went over to my cousins room about two doors down and she’s standing there sweating profusely trying to frantically put on makeup for the wedding in two hours. Their air conditioning unit was BROKEN and the heater had been left on. She works in a hotel in San Francisco and said this was by far the worst hotel experience she’s ever had. We called he front desk and told them, and in the 45 minutes that I stood there not a single cleaning person came to our room. The guys who came to check their air said they had to look and try to find a usable new air unit. We went to the front desk and they told us they were completely booked but we stood our ground, the wedding was now less than an hour away and we hadn’t even started getting ready!
They finally found us rooms, thank god but I can’t get the sight of that nasty room out of my mind.
The breakfast was ok, the waffle maker was cool but the rest of it was just bland, cold eggs and sausage. You definitely won’t see me back at this hotel.

Terrible hotel, terrible customer service and overall horrible phone experience.
I called to change my Birthday reservation from a Saturday to a Friday & Saturday trip.
Mind you, I have 7 friends flying out from around the country to this hotel for my bday as it is the closest to the CRSSD festival.
They mistakenly re-​booked my reservation for JUST FRIDAY and i called right back to tell them they made a mistake. They said «oh. looks like Saturday is all booked — sorry there is nothing we can do»
They mistakenly re-​booked my BDAY BASH reservation then refused to give me any kind of make good. Completely absurd! I am also a gold member. I called Hilton Honors and they ALSO refused to help out.
I will be revoking my gold membership and never staying at a Hilton ever again due to their terrible customer service and lack of sympathy or competence.

This review is strictly for the front desk old man who checked us in. Very rude!!!
Never staying back here again. They need to hire more professional people. Rooms are okay. AC is good. But seriously!!!
So while my husband parks, i decided to go ahead and check in, which i have done many times before. I am pregnant and my whole body is hurting at this point. We had a fire in our condo, so had to get a room for the night to sleep. So when I went to check in, this old man behind the desk asks me where my husband was, to which I said he is parking. Then he has the nerve to say sorry I can’t check you in till he comes here as some husbands don’t want their wives on their reservation. I had the card in my hand and my id out and just wanted to pay for the room. But he wouldn’t do anything till my husband came up to the reception. What was that all about ??? He not only refused to check me in, he was very very rude about it. Is this a way to treat a woman? And in which world can a woman not check into a hotel without her husband? He could have atleast started the process. But he did not do a thing till my husband showed up. So disrespectful !!!
Never had such rude reception ever and we have travelled around the world multiple times.

Very pleased with this hotel! It was clean, quiet and comfortable. The room (king) was spacious and clean, the bed was comfortable, the bathroom was big enough and clean.
The staff were great!!! Super friendly, helpful, polite, professional and fun! They really made us feel appreciated as guests, but were relaxed enough to be fun and happy!
The pool was nice! Not big, but clean and nice!
Location is AMAZING!!! Right across the street from the Star Of India.
I’ll be back.

The Hampton Inn was clean and very affordable.
Took the train from Fullerton to San Diego for a beer fest. The train station was only 1 block away from the hotel and the beer fest was across the street. So close all around.
Complimentary breakfast before 10am and coffee and water available all throughout the day.
Free wifi and its really easy to connect to it.
Nice and friendly staff are there to help you at anytime.
Would definitely stay here again.

This is my second time I staying here and both times the stay has been just OK.
The first time I stayed I was only there for one night and the gate to the parking garage was open. The same was the case this time, only I stayed for two nights instead of one and the parking garage was open the entire time. You’re supposed to use your room key to enter. They said it was temporarily broken this time, but I was here nine months ago and it was temporarily broken then too.
The front desk people are nice and professional. I wish they had security near the entrance or that the staff was a little more diligent about keeping transients out of the lobby since it’s not very big in the first place. The first night we were there some guy rode up on his bike at 11 pm with sunglasses on and talking to himself. He roamed the lobby and crowded a lady who was trying to get some tea and then when I called out to my brother he walked right up to my brother’s face and started saying «So you’re the guy??» repeatedly. It was awkward and uncomfortable to say the least.
The room was alright but it got very humid inside and the air conditioner was a wall unit that didn’t really work. The wallpaper was coming off of the walls in the bathroom and there was also hair in the bathroom from the previous guests. The curtain rod was installed in such a way that the curtain wouldn’t stay closed while in the shower.
On the second day we were locked out of our room even though we were booked for two nights and it took half an hour for the front desk to finally fix the situation which was exhausting be cause we were on the top floor and had to go back down to the front desk three times after sightseeing all day.
The facility is very nice but looks aren’t everything.
#27/​100

Stayed for a week long work-​convention at the San Diego Convention Center and was put up here for 7 days and 6 nights.
LOCATION: 2 Stars… It’s close to the airport so you will constantly hear planes flying in and out, but what bothered me more was the train tracks. It seemed like every half hour you hear the bells ringing, but you don’t hear the train– because they use the bell crossing for their light rail. @_@
— It’s about an $ 7 – 8 taxi ride to the Gaslamp/​Convention Center
–They do provide ear plugs in the room, but if I have to wake up at 6−7am for work I won’t hear my alarm…
STAFF: 5 Stars– Big shoutout to Ellis and everyone else that works there. They are all super friendly, greeting you if you’re walking in at 2am from a night out in the Gaslamp district or waking up at 6am for breakfast. They will bend over backwards to make sure you have a pleasant stay and have everything you need. We had an issue with our toilet not flushing, and the front desk sent someone right away to have it fixed.
AMBIANCE: 4 Stars… It doesn’t look like much on the outside, but the inside is very modern and updated in the breakfast/​dining area. Yes the hallways and rooms could use a little updating, but for the most part the rooms were clean and comfortable.
BREAKFAST: Something I don’t see very often! They have a complimentary breakfast from 6AM-​10AM! Super excited when I had to wake up very early for work and they had this hot and read to go!
–OATMEAL — brown sugar and nuts (I added the berry compote in too!)
–2 WAFFLE IRONS! :D Berry compote, maple syrup, whip cream NOMNOM
–Cereal and Milk (Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran, Special K, Honey Nut Cheerios)
–Scrambled Eggs
–Sausage Patties/​Links
–Fresh Fruit (bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit slices)
–Assorted pastries and toast
–COMPLIMENTARY ²⁴⁄₇ Coffee/​Tea bar

Service: staff courteous, professional, and friendly
Location: close to airport and downtown but next to the noisy train tracks and construction sites
Amenities: lobby is updated, complimentary breakfast is good, rooms are clean but slightly outdated

Location is good, staff is ok, rooms are kind of old and need updating, parking is terrible.
Stayed here one night on a recent business trip and it was kind of hard to find at night. The location is good and is walking distance to many restaurants and the harbor. Parking was an absolute nightmare and the spots were really tiny in the underground parking structure. The room was clean, but old. The train noise went on all night and I couldn’t get much quality sleep. The breakfast in the am was not very good either.
Definitely one of the worse locations for Hamptons inn.

Pros: Walking distance to Little Italy restaurants and a $ 6.00 lyft from the gaslamp area (busy times dependent). Short walk to firehouse museum and maritime museum. Easy to find on Pacific Highway. Free shuttle to the airprt, breakfast, and wifi.
Cons: No room service/​restaurant and laundry facilities. However, you could do your laundry at the Residence Inn, which is on the next block, just let them know you are a Hampton Inn guest. Also, the delivery menus being slipped under the door were a bit annoying.
The meh: Train isn’t too loud, but if you’re a light sleeper utilize the complimentary ear plugs.
I would stay here again.

I am not impressed.
There is not enough parking for the guests.
Parking spaces are comically small.
Quite a few hit and runs.
G1 and G2 parking are designed in a way that you have to take the elevators to your rooms, you can’t access your rooms by stairs if you’re on the 2^nd floor.
You’ll arrive at an exit that leads to the outside and get locked out.
Their elevators break down *very frequently*.
I hope your room isn’t on the top floor, cuz it would suck to walk up all those stairs.
The elevators are slow, very shaky, and they jerk when they come to a stop.
The pool is on the 2^nd floor.
Its very small with a coat of oil/​human debris floating on top of it.
I could not summon the courage to enter the pool.
The fire alarms went off ⁸⁄₁₆ 4 AM and startled me awake.
We walk down the stairs, congregate outside.
There was no fire. We were locked out.
We knocked on the glass on the lobby and were let back in.
The poor gal working the front desk was manning the desk by herself,
the phone lines were ringing off the hook.
At least there were complimentary earplugs in the room.
Were they expecting this? lol
There are no stairs available to the public,
so we used the staff stairs to get to our rooms.
Tried to get settled into sleep again,
then 20 minutes later, fire alarm goes off AGAIN.
This time I don’t evacuate.
I roll over and shove in some earplugs and try to sleep.
30 minutes later, repeat.
15 minutes later, repeat again.
Goodbye sleep, it was nice knowing you.
I kicked off the covers and went downstairs in my PJ and took a photo in front of the firetruck. That was the highlight of my night.
Breakfast is complimentary, but the lines are super long, and not much of a variety.
Breakfast area is neat and the décor is contemporary.
I like the complementary ice water and cookies in the lobby.
Close to maritime museum and star of india.
sort of walking distance from Extraordinare Desserts