Upfront San Diego

I stayed here a few weekends ago. These reviews don’t do it justice. Hit up airbnb for the most accurate reviews and updates photos. This place is awesome and Michael is easily the most accommodating person I’ve met!

This lodging serves a particular niche of traveler. The house is an 1890’s Victorian in an ok neighborhood. It is very clean and nicely furnished. Outside there is a beautiful courtyard with waterfall, live bamboo surrounded fish pond and ornate iron gate. It looks much better from the front than from the side where it sort of looks «urban». Inside there has been extensive refurbishing/​updating, but the original look and feel of the building has been maintained. We stayed in the «Green» room upstairs which had a private outside shower… which was interesting. You can shower with an unobstructed view of the bay and downtown… pretty neat. The neighbors in the surrounding houses are friendly and wave. The hot/​cold water selector is a bit tricky, but with some patience you can find hot water. Toilets and additional showers and baths are shared with other guests and are located down the hall and also downstairs. If you like to cook your own meals there is a first rate kitchen available, along with a nice dining room and a living room with very comfortable sofa and chairs. Parking is on the street, we ended up parking on the north side of the house.
Now this is where it gets «different». This house is located directly under the glide path of the San Diego airport. During regular flight times the modest tranquility of the entire neighborhood is disrupted almost every three minutes by about 200,000 pounds of aircraft roaring by 100 feet overhead at 150 – 160 miles an hour. The owner of the house has done extensive insulating (roof, walls, ceiling) and has installed triple pane windows which does eliminate about 80% of the noise. I think it is a hilarious contrast to a very quaint setting. Because of the hilly nature of the area, the aircraft and jet engine/​props noise suddenly appears and almost as quickly goes away. You can actually look right up into the wheel wells of the planes as they pass over. At night, the blinking marker lights of the planes reflect off the surrounding houses as they pass overhead. Also to be fair, the landing is safer than the takeoff so the risk of mishap is not as great for the neighborhood as it seems. On final approach the engines are almost at idle, but the sudden noise overhead is a bit unsettling. If the house was in the take off path of the airport the engines would be blowing the shingles off the roof. We found this peculiarity a big help in navigating around town, we could always find our way back to the hotel by following the landing planes.
So, to sum up, if you are looking for a clean place to stay with character, a great price, like airplanes and are a sound sleeper this might be an interesting experience for you.

The room I rented was a 10′ x 9′ space with a ceiling height of 6′, divided in half by a partition cobbled together of corrugated steel roofing panels and bare two-​by-​fours. This partition was built directly against the bed, thereby requiring one person to crawl over the other in order to get to the toilet. The door to that toilet is a sliding piece of sharp-​edged sheet metal, which cannot be opened or closed quietly.
There is no window in the room, and obtaining any outside air required leaving the door open. However, there’s no security– or screen door, so that’s not an option. Besides, the dryer from the utility room vents right next to the entry to the room I rented; thus, the room’s air was either filled with dryer fumes if the entry door was open, or a stale mix of unfinished drywall and bare lumber odors if it was shut.
The overall effect was that of staying in a cramped, dank corner of someone’s badly converted garage. My wife was simply unable to breath, and although I paid for a stay of four nights, we left after one. I requested a refund on our unused nights’ lodging, which the property owner declined to provide. He also said he’d take legal action if I posted a negative review of my stay, so I’ve limited my comments to those whose veracity may be unquestionably confirmed. And of course I’ll delete this posting if the owner provides a copy of the building permit for the conversion of the room I rented.
I’ve posted a few photos of that room. Take a look for yourself, and see if you’d pay 74 bucks for a night’s stay. I certainly wouldn’t have, if the owner’s photos advertising this room had been as revealing as the photos I’ve shared here.

I loved Staying here! Michael, the owner, is as kind and friendly as they get. Also the house is gorgeous and very relaxing. I 100% recommend this place and I honestly hope to return to San Diego one day just to stay here again and catch up with Michael and his sweet dog Cinnamon.

Right in the flight path of the airport, the owners dogs pooping and peeing on the porch right where the outdoor dining tables are and where people walk through, no parking. There were cobwebs in all corners of the room, the bathroom was disgusting when I checked in, the rug in front of the toilet was sopping wet, and the owner argued with me about it saying he cleaned everything. His excuse was the previous guests were late checking out. I had to wipe up the previous guests hair myself. If you want cheapish accomodations and don’t care about your room being clean and animal crap everywhere, this is your place.

In my line of work I travel so much I’m practically homeless. I end up staying in so many hotels that they all start looking alike, to the point where if they shift a couch location on me I pull a Dick Van Dyke and fall over it every morning for a while.
That being said, if you’re a frequent traveler you know it’s the little things like having a proper kitchen and living room that makes the difference between a home away from home and an art-​deco furnished solitary confinement cell. Even if you don’t travel that much it’s still nicer to stay at a comfortable and more social place in my opinion and upfront San Diego fits the bill. Just check the site for pictures and that should be enough; the house is basically soundproof from the outside noise so no worries about being disturbed, the beds are extremely comfortable and the outside deck areas are extremely relaxing. All in all it’s as close as you’ll get to home on the road and for a lot less than any comparable hotel you’ll find in the area.