Holiday Inn San Diego Bayside

We stayed here in the beginning of June for the Rock and Roll half marathon. We absolutely loved the hotel. We stayed in the newer tower and had a great view of the harbor which is right across the street. The hotel was clean, modern and very nice. Our room had a microwave, fridge, coffee maker, and the beds were so comfortable. Even the bathroom was great! The location was a little bit away from most of the San Diego attractions but it’s a quick car ride. We saw this as a bonus since it’s away from the traffic. We used the free shuttle to and from the airport which was very fast. We did not use the gym or pool during our stay. The staff is friendly though the only reason I am giving 4 stars instead of 5 is because my husband and I were told on two different days that we both could not use the hotel shuttle to be dropped off at the finish line for the marathon since we both were not running on the same day. I did the 5k on Saturday and he did the ½ Marathon on Sunday and since I was not running on Sunday, the front desk said that I was not able to get on the shuttle. When we were waiting for our über ride to the race, the shuttle driver asked if we were riding with them, I told him what the receptionist told us, and he said that was incorrect and had been driving people that were not running the whole morning. Unfortunately, our Über driver was already close by. This über ride ended up a pretty expensive ride for being a surge time and that was a huge upset for a stay. I’m not sure why we were the only ones being told that non-​racers could not ride the shuttle since there was only about 5 other people getting on the 15 – 20 people shuttle bus we were glad to pay the small fee for both of us to that they were charging. Other than that our stay was very pleasant.

Complete incompetent management staff. GM has poor follow up, supervisor at front desk rather argue with customers than to find solutions. Some serious issues in this location. Terrible terrible service. Only pleasant guy is the bus driver /​bellman.

Awesome rooms, awesome people and staff but the people that I called for room service are condescending and kind of mean. I tried to order room service and got transferred to the same person I just got off the phone with, telling me to order from the number I just tried to call. The late night «room service» was a pizza place that was a few miles away and had a $ 20 minimum for delivery after hours. I definitely would recommend eating out, but the rest of the experience not involving food was amazing. Just eat out so you don’t have to deal with the food staff (:

My Husband hired a band as a surprise for our wedding. He put them up at the Holliday Inn as they said they had security and it would be close to the venue, but not in the same hotel I have myself and my guests at (Homewood and Courtyard).
Our band’s gear was stolen from the parking lot they claimed to have security for. Rather mysterious they had problems with their security the night they knew a band was there (not!). The hotel knew what happened before my band knew and said «Not our fault» as they walked up.
Feel free to stay here if you do not care about the security of your cars and your safety. If you like your things and safety stay down the street at Homewood or Courtyard. They were actually cheaper! I had no issues with Homewood and Courtyard and nothing but the best customer service there.

Amazing place to stay my family and I stayed here for a few days it was nice and clean… they have a café in the same lot a convenience store A pool, Jacuzzi, miniature golf and laundry services it was amazing especially for the price we paid it was great! this will definitely be our hotel whenever we need to come back to San Diego.

I came here with my family and had a great experience. All of the staff was super kind and helped out with anything we needed. Security guard on sight in case of any emergency. Great pool with good hours. Hot tub was great size with jets. Mini golf/​putting area which was free and fun to do! Small gift shop with souvenirs and more! Delicious restaurant and bar with outdoor tables that have a fire in the middle, really cool!!! Rooms were a little on the small side but Televisions were great size and beds were VERY comfortable. Also very clean an well friendly rooms. I would recommend this hotel to anyone and will definitely be staying here at my next visit to San Diego.

This place is great.
Location — right across from the marina and numerous restaurants; no need to drive anywhere.
Facilities — they have a heated pool, mini golf, ping pong, plenty of parking
Cost — they are one of the more reasonably priced; stayed here on spring break for under $ 150 a night.
Wifi — free wifi; it’s not the fastest but it works great for basic needs.
Staff — any problem I had with my stay or room was resolved within minutes; the staff were extremely helpful, especially Rachel at the front desk.

Good location to the yacht harbor and the airport. The staff is friendly and the shuttle drivers are quick and helpful (please make sure you tip them!). I’ve only stayed in the second building where the gift shop is located. The rooms are nice size with the usual amenities. Nice 42″ televisions in the rooms and plenty of outlets on the desk and right beside the beds (on the side of the night stand) for those with a million electronics to keep charged. The bathroom is separated into two. So you have the toilet and the shower in a closed room and the sink is outside that part so someone can prepare in front of the mirror as the other showers. The toilet is made for a smaller size person for sure or kids. Not a large toilet so for a man who has to use it, it isn’t an ideal sit.
Plenty of stuff to do around the hotel within walking distance. The shuttle is willing to take you several locations around the hotel even the infamous Gaslamp District. The walk around the harbor is great for exercise and and have a scenic view.

We had a nice king suite and everything was super close. The hotel is clean, and the staff are very helpful. There is a convenient store, restaurant, and bar lounge all on the premises. It’s also walking distance to several restaurants, and the harbor.

Great rooms. The work out facilities are only open til 11pm even though it is listed as 24 hours. The staff is very friendly. I even forgot my razor and the security guard brought it up to me on his rounds.

Not the worst or the best Holiday Inn I have stayed at. Just OK.
The hotel has several buildings. You may know from other reviews that some buildings have less than stellar rooms. I was upgraded to a room in the newer tower. The room was pretty good and had a nice view of the harbor.
So what led to the so-​so reviews? It may be a minor point but is an annoying one. The room is designated as an energy saver. That means you have to leave the key in a slot to keep the power and climate control system running. When you check in on a sunny day, the room is a sauna. You can get around it but getting two keys and leaving one in the room. However, when you leave for the day, housekeeping will remove the extra key and let you room sit idle with no climate control operating. I am all for saving the environment but want to keep my room comfortable also.

Showed up at 5pm on ¹²⁄₃₁ to check in to our room with a king size bed for me and my SO and are charged $ 10 for parking. Lame, but whatever.
We get to our room. It was new years eve and the room was 55 degrees, so we turn up the thermostat and leave. The room is your standard holiday motel, nothing special.
We go have dinner and drinks across town and count down for the new year.
We arrive back at the hotel at 1:30AM, and the room has now dropped to almost 50 degrees.
The heater isn’t working and is blowing ice cold air.
I call the front desk and get a ton of attitude from a lady named «Lola».
I ask how long it will take for someone to come fix it and she responds, «as long as it takes for someone to arrive»… wow.
Someone comes about 15 minutes later, fiddles with the heater for a few minutes and determines the heater faulty and says we should move rooms.
He ushers us to a different room, but the room only has 2 full size beds.
I call the front desk and get an irritable Lola who says they don’t have any other comparable rooms with queen/​king size beds available.
I ask if I can upgrade rooms to a suite or something that has a bigger bed for me and my SO, to which Lola says no, but for our troubles she can offer us some BREAKFAST COUPONS (no, seriously).
The heater doesn’t work in this one either, but the maintenance guy is able to fix it after about 15 minutes of tinkering.
Our previous key card doesn’t work for the new room, so the maintenance guy says he’ll slip some new ones under the door, because it’s almost 3:30am at this point and we just want to go to bed.
We wake up in the morning and there’s no key cards under our door (of course), so we just decide to pack all our bags and leave.
I can not in good conscious recommend this hotel to anyone.

You must pay for parking. 10 $ gone.
Tv is nice and huge.
NO BREAKFAST! Ugh.
My children enjoyed themselves and that worth another star.

Checking in at 1am after our flight being cancelled Lola, who checked us in actually made me laugh after our frustrating evening. Rooms are great. The bed and pillows were amazing. The pool was nice to lay by! Highly recommend staying here

Stayed for our USMC graduation stay. They were more than accommodating. They had a special shuttle just for MCRD with 2 times. Manny the shuttle driver was amazing! He really knew his stuff! Lola was awesome even at 2 am! The room was small but served its purpose. The pool needs to be heated. It was freezing! The walls and ceilings/​floors are well padded we never heard our neighbors.

Utterly disappointed. I get it, it’s a Holiday Inn, but I had pretty high hopes as we were using them solely for our wedding block. On our peak night, we had over fifty rooms. That, in and of itself warranted a little better than what we got.
1. The reception staff is an atrocity. One of the women, actually rolled her eyes when we walked up. NEVER SEEN THIS WOMAN BEFORE. First impressions count (remember that). The other front desk staff was apathetic at best.
2. They royally messed up the gift bags we were «trying» to deliver the guests. The staff lacked the mental capacity to open a door and see if there in the office where they were suppose to be. THEN, they told our guests that the bags were gone. This is not rocket science, you flag a reservation, someone checks in with said flag and you hand said person the bag. Not hard…
3. They did not comp us a room until we had to ask. Poor form. We brought in a couple hundred room nights and they acted like they had to get special permission for this. It’s one night and YOU’RE WELCOME for the business.
I was so nervous that these angry, apathetic people were going to be the first impression for all my family and guests flying in that I tried to figure out a way to move hotels. no joke.
The reason I am giving them a couple of stars is because they did go out of their way to keep the bar open for my guests later than normal. I greatly appreciate that and they also left strawberries and champagne in our room. It was a nice touch
Please though, heed my warning, unorganized and not so friendly.

I like this hotel. I’ve stayed twice in the past year and it’s always been pleasant. The new rooms are way better but the older ones are great options too. Location to the airport is great as well and to restaurants in the area. Small suggestion to put a hand towel and trash can by the sink if it’s in a separate location from the main bathroom.

This review is way over due, my husband and I got married here on 10÷18÷14. We had our ceremony and reception here and it turned out PERFECT! The prices alone made this a steal but the help we received from booking to the day of the wedding was wonderful. They made everything so easy on us, Jenay was AMAZING!!! We didn’t have a wedding coordinator but that didn’t effect us because Janey filled in that position for us. She helped us with our rehearsal and even stayed on our wedding day to make sure everything ran smoothly. She was a sweetheart throughout the whole process. I absolutely loved our wedding and wouldn’t change anything about it. The hotel gave us a suite on our wedding night and OMG beautiful!!! We didn’t want to leave. They also didn’t have any noise limitation, the music could be as loud as we wanted to be for our reception.
If your looking to have your wedding here, DO IT!!! You won’t find a better place. Janey, thank you again for making our wedding day absolutely beautiful!!!

Don’t be deceived by the «new» front building. This place may have a new tower, but the rest of it is at least 40 years old. The old wings have that musty hotel smell, and the rooms have been cheaply remodeled. They should have just torn the place down rather than trying to put lipstick on a pig.
Ratings for my stay.
1 star:
— Smoke alarm started chirping in middle of night, but couldn’t be moved to another room because the hotel was full. Finally, security guard just disconnected it.
— Toilet valve was broken, so it flushed all night.
— Air conditioning couldn’t keep the room cooler than 77 degrees.
— Dirty carpet
— Moldy shower
2 stars:
Neighborhood and parking around the place is a bit dark and seems sketchy.
4 stars:
— Good location close to airport.
— Staff is friendly.
— Free airport shuttle.
Overall verdict:
I would not recommend this hotel

We had our wedding reception their 3 years ago and they did such a great job with the room, food and drinks. It was the most reasonable priced venue we could find and had a great view of the harbor.
Really nice rooms — had a corner suite for the wedding thing and nice view. Even their normal rooms really nice.
Great grounds, pool, bar and café. Staff always nice. Great place to stay if having an early flight out as they have a free shuttle to the airport.

Great room, will definitely really nice!!! Highly impressed with how clean it was.
The food was so so at the restaurant but I’d definitely stay here again.
Free shuttle from the airport was a bonus! James my shuttle driver was friendly.
Five stars!

The Holiday Inn Express at Bayside has great rooms, amenities and good food. It is an absolute shame that the representatives at the front desk will leave a bad taste in your mouth before you get your bags up to your room.
Katia greeted us with attitude and spoke down to us as if we were inconveniencing her because we didn’t know the exactly how our reservation was entered, even though it was already supposedly prearranged.
The following morning we were assured that we would not have to switch rooms for our two night stay, yet we still received check out papers under our door.
My wife called down to the front desk for clarification and got more sass and attitude from Keith.
If you can get passed the terrible customer service or lack thereof, the Holiday Inn is actually pretty decent.
Definitely go and have breakfast at the café, where all the staff are cheerfully serving delicious food.

BEWARE! $ 150/​night ROOM IS TERRIBLE and smells like mold/​musty/​cigarettes. Ask for one of the new construction buildings and pay more. Search for «Mold» and look at the hidden reviews.
Staff is friendly and accommodating, and the lobby is pretty baller.
1– star part:
The $ 150/​night «Budget» rooms in the two story north west building are the second worst rooms I have been in. The worst place was in Orange Country with a wet mattress I laid on, to give you an idea. This room smelt like mold. I called and explained I saw a Unilocal review days prior with the exact same thing that every room in this two story building had the same mold smell.
3– star part:
They moved me to the building south and next to the restaurant. It was a suite and had a great layout, but still smelled somewhat of mold. Not as bad. It had tons of windows so I could air the room out and turn off all AC units. For $ 150 for that suite, it was more worth the value.
Staff:
This place has a great lobby and staff, but that’s about it. The rooms are TERRIBLE and I feel really bad for the receptionist that have to sell them and deal with upset customers on a daily basis.
Tips:
BTW, Holiday Inn EXPRESS is the one with the free breakfast apparently, not Holiday Inn.
Full review:
This room 201 on the 2 story north west wing is unacceptable for $ 150/​night. More like $ 80/​night. NOT a 4 star hotel room.
Booking
o Super easy, got a confirmation in my email
Arrival
o GPS said it was on the other side of the street, but hey, I was able to get there
o Excellent lobby first impression. Bathrooms were super nice, flavored ice water in lobby
Checkin
o Nice front desk receptionist
o She mentioned «Economy budget room» that I booked, and I began to get scarred
o I asked about the free continental breakfast and she said it was only for the Holiday Inn Express
I didn’t know there was a difference, but I will only be going to Holiday Inn Express now
o Parking was $ 8, with in/​outs. Not bad. She drew me a map, super helpful
Parking
o Parking lot was a bunch of little ones, but the map helped.
o To get my ticket, I really didn’t have to, I could have just used my parking pass instead of taking a ticket at the parking gate.
o Parking lot was narrow and in a strange location, but hey, it worked.
The first room
o Walking up to room 201, I saw a mini golf course, big steel security gated courtyard, AstroTurf on the stairs. This is where I began to worry.
o My room was on the end, which was nice.
o I walked in the room door. BAM instant smell of cigarette smoke or mold.
o The room had nice shutters, but that’s about it. Basic. For $ 150/​night is ridiculous (in a bad way).
o I called the front desk to let them know I want a non-​smoking room, she replied all rooms are non-​smoking. I said it smells like mold and if there is anything they can do.
o She replied she will send housekeeping to spray some air freshener, and if that didn’t solve the problem we would continue to discuss.
o I look on Unilocal for nearby places to eat, I saw the Holiday Inn Mission Bay and read the reviews. 2 days before, a terrible review of THE EXACT SAME BUILDING I WAS IN, they ended up asking for a refund and leaving. I asked if instead of leaving if I could pay more money for a nicer room anywhere not in the same building. She upgraded me to a less-​smelly suite on another part of the property.
o I called and asked if I could pay more for a room in a different building, she said she had a suite she could more me to for the same price in another building. Wow, super nice of her.
o I walked into the lobby and someone else was on the phone with her COMPLAINING ABOUT THE EXACT SAME THING.
o SERIOUSLY, THIS HOLIDAY INN HAS SMELLY MOLDY ROOMS.
o Receptionist was super nice and put the other lady on hold to give me my card.
* Existing parking
o You have to use the guest pass by itself, not the original ticket for parking. (it’s not validation). This took a few tries to figure out, wish it was explained to me to just use the card without requesting a ticket.
* The second room (You resolved the problem for the most part)
o Still smelled a bit, so I turned off the AC, opened all windows/​sliding door and left for 5 hours. Came back and it wasn’t as bad of a smell, but there is definitely some funk in your Holiday Inn buildings down there. Not sure if you guys don’t change your AC unit filters, if there was construction dust, or if the walls are just old and smelly. The rooms look modern and nice, but they SMELL.
I left you guys a bad Unilocal review because of the room itself. Your staff is amazing.
For $ 150/​night, that smelly economy room is a joke. Maybe for a Priceline name your price it might make you guys a few bucks to trick people, but as a full paying customer who works inside a affiliate hotel of yours on a daily basis, it was far from your chains/​affiliates standards and might be the last Holiday Inn I ever stay at, unless it was built in the past 20 year

This is a great place to bring the family for a trip to San Diego, and it’s priced just right. We were greeted warmly at the front desk, requests for extra towels and a crib were honored in a timely manner, and the place is clean and smells great. Parking is a very reasonable $ 10 per night with in and out privileges.
Also worth noting is that there is a GREAT restaurant on premises called the Point Loma Café. This place is a really good hotel-​quality restaurant disguised as a coffee shop. The Holiday Inn management should really think about giving the place a makeover to have the setting match the food, because this is the only coffee shop in which I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating Lobster and Gouda Flat Bread (so good!). Oh, and kids eat completely free if you ask for a coupon at the front desk at the hotel.
Lastly, if you’re looking for something really fun for the kids, the hotel has a couple of «themed» rooms with bunk beds. We stayed in the Seaworld-​themed room, and my kids loved getting to sleep in the bunks and watch their own TV, which are nicely separated from the grown up sleeping area with a tall partition. The kid area also has a video game console, a desk for coloring, playing, and your own little phone.

When booking this hotel, I was worried that its proximity to the airport would make noise a problem. It wasn’t — in fact, this Holiday Inn is a pretty pleasant place to stay.
The rooms are clean and well kept, and come with mini-​fridges! Everyone in my group got rooms where the sink wasn’t in the bathroom — great for making your mornings more efficient. There’s a decently sized pool with a bar.
My only complaint is that there are a ton of identical-​looking buildings that make up this hotel, and not enough signs. So it’s easy to get lost, especially at night.
On my way out, I grabbed a toothbrush and toothpaste for free from the front desk and hopped on the free airport shuttle. Although it’s pricey for a place that’s not by the waterfront, they have plenty of extras that make things smoother when you’re traveling.

At least gets two stars because it was a pretty hotel, comfy bed, pretty rooms.
However, the front desk staff (with the exception of one lady) were the most unfriendly/​unwelcoming staff I’ve experienced yet at a hotel like this. How Miguel is still one of the first faces to greet you, I have no idea. No smile, no enthusiasm, no desire to serve.
Also, the last day we were there, we had to switch rooms (purchased with points)…they transferred our stuff to the new room and in that transfer, my $ 80 chi iron wound up missing. I called the front desk (Miguel again, ugh) and he was not concerned, u enthusiastically said that he’d investigate and call me back, but never heard a word.
The airport shuttle drivers were awesome though. So, I have to exclude them. Will never stay here again and it’s frustrating because I liked the location.

Had a pretty good experience at this hotel. It was clean, staff was nice, located in a great spot. What more could you ask for?
I do wish we had a better view of the bay, and wish the pool wasn’t under construction when we were there, but hey can’t complain overall.
We also ate at their restaurant which had pretty bomb food, but the service sucked! We were trying to just grab a quick bite to eat before hitting the town and our waitress took forevs! It wasn’t even packed!
I would def recommend this hotel and be back myself.

I booked this hotel on Priceline using the express booking so other than the star rating and general area, I didn’t know which hotel I was getting. I asked for a 3 star on Shelter Island but felt this was more of a 2 star. The hotel lobby was nice but the rooms and the rest of the hotel don’t quite match the looks of the lobby. The girl checking us in was not very friendly either but whatever. While the area was super convenient and close to everything, there were a lot of homeless people near the hotel. One of which was clearly demented or on drugs cause he scared my daughter with his screaming.
Our room was in building C and the parking in that section was pretty scarce. The outside of that building was pretty beat up but at least the inside of the room was decent. We set the thermostat to 65 at night but it got humid and sticky anyway.
I probably wouldn’t stay here again willingly. Like I said, the area was very convenient though.

I booked my room here through Hotwire and was pleased with my 1 night stay experience. This Holiday Inn is a decent, remodeled hotel. My room had nice décor and came with a mini refrigerator. The shower had amazing water pressure, which was nice as well. The cleaning staff kept my room pretty clean. Parking is plentiful but it might be a walk to your building from your spot. The location is great; it’s close to Shelter Island and Point Loma.
The cons: The property is pretty large, so it’s somewhat confusing to find the lobby. My building was the furthest building from the lobby, so it was a nice walk/​drive from check-​in. My room had thin walls and a pretty thin/​cheap door. I could hear slamming doors, and when housekeeping was vacuuming a room across the hall, it sounded like they were in my room! Last but not least, parking is 10 bucks.
Would I stay here again? Maybe if I get a good deal on it! And if I find one and end up back here, I’ll be sure to bring ear plugs =)