WorldMark San Diego – Balboa Park

If you are dumb enough to be an «owner» like me, this isn’t a bad location to stay in. You can walk to Petco Park and several restaurants nearby; be careful it’s still downtown and things change at night. The rooms are clean, the facility is clean, the staff is friendly, and parking is terrible. You might get lucky with street parking (watch posted signs or you’ll get a ticket) but you’ll most likely park at a lot down the street for $ 25 or at WorldMark for $ 30 a day. Like every WorldMark I’ve visited they’ll try to invite you to a free breakfast, cheap continental, but that will cost you several hours and you might end up buying more of these «credits». They’ll also keep calling your room unless you tell them not to upfront. On the plus side, San Diego is beautiful and there’s plenty of things to do only minutes from this location.
Update: bumped up to 4-​star once I spent some time on the Roof Deck. Probably the best part of this place.
NOTE: IF YOU ARE NOT AN OWNER, STAY THAT WAY. Buying a timeshare is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. It’s certainly not an investment, you can sell for roughly 10 cents a credit but you’ll buy-​in at 20x that. It’s unclear what the «Travel Share» benefits are because I’m still paying $ 30 for parking at this location, and your housekeeping fees will continue to increase, you’ll pay them even after you payoff your timeshare, without any appreciable benefit. Did I mention it’s hard to get a reservation when you need it? If you doubt any of this and want to make the plunge, contact me and I’ll gladly sell you mine.

Went back for the second time. Parking is now $ 30 a day plus tax and valet only… Gary is very helpful and tends to you even if you don’t valet. We declined paying $ 30 and chose to park in the street. Be cautious of parking instructions. We got a ticket for 40+ dollars for not following the posted sign.
Don’t get suckered into the free breakfast or lunch if you go to the group orientation for becoming an «owner». We wasted 3+ hours with a fussy baby and it feels like they won’t let you go until you buy something. They are very nice in the beginning but it is all a show. At the end our salesman Arnie became a dick and didn’t say bye or anything. He tried having other people join in in pursuading us and using different tactics. BREAKFAST was a joke. It consisted of cereal or bread, juice, water, and coffee. BUT if the prize is good at the end, you’ll determine if its worth it to attend.

I stayed at WorldMark San Diego for one evening as the last leg of a long road trip from San Francisco. I had previously stated at this very same «resort» back in 2011.
Positive
The valet employee at the front was genuinely helpful. Even though we opted out of paying for the $ 30 overnight valet service, he offered to assist us with our luggage and parked our car for free on a local street.
Plenty of extra towels.
Speedy check in and check out service.
Negative
I was dismayed by the aggressive methods used by the sales person to convince us to sign up for extra package deals. We had just checked in after a long road trip and was holding heavy bags and suitcases. After declining the «free» breakfast meeting invitation, the sales person proceeded to interrogate us on our short trip and on why we weren’t participating in this «free» opportunity. We kindly informed the sales person that we were exhausted and she retorted that we were welcome to leave anytime. We were too befuddled, too exhausted and too polite to complain to hotel management.
Another negative was the state of the suite we stayed in. The room smelled musty; the carpets, the fridge and the furniture were worn; the water pressure was rather weak.
Location of the «resort» was under a highway. I compare the location to the tenderloin district in San Francisco.

My wife and I were pleasantly surprised to see how clean this place is despite its age. The kitchen, living room and dinette were a nice touch too. Parking is very expensive. It’s either you park on the street (which sometimes is extremely hard to find an empty spot) or pay some ridiculously expensive amount per day to park at their lot. Welcome to San Diego. I will come back here when I’m in the area.
Green Features: Rooms have different bins for regular trash and recyclables.

Pretty much if you want to have a bad time on vacation come here. This is an establishment that has poorly trained afternoon employees that can’t do much without a manager being around. That’s another thing. If you like having a manager around you better hope you dont arrive for your 4:00 p.m. check in and need one because THEY WONT BE HERE. After having many issues with improper card charges and false promises of free internet I was left with an empty wallet and no internet for my stay. On top of those issues there is a 30 $ valet parking «offered» to you at this timeshare when the parking lot is literally right in front of the resort. Do not let them fool you into taking more of your money it is a ludicrous service to even have. Across the street there is a parking lot which charges 15 $ for 24 hours. I would advise either parking there or somewhere on the street and just taking public transit when you need to go long distances.
Be careful at night however because there is a very LARGE population of homeless people in downtown San Diego and a lot of them make camp around the McDonalds across the street from the timeshare. So if you are bringing children on your stay try to come back early and do not I repeat DO NOT try to walk around at night outside of the resort proximity because these homeless WILL try to approach you for whatever reason so steer clear as I noticed many of them were intoxicated or high on some type of drug. Also at night time you will most likely hear many screams from the street from raving homeless which kept me up more than once during my stay. Another issue is that drivers in downtown San Diego are insane! Don’t assume you are safe walking across the street just because the crosswalk gives you the OK. Many people run red lights drive well past the speed limit and dont use their blinkers. Just be very careful as you walk around downtown San Diego. If possible I would recommend staying at one of the other two timeshares they have located in San Diego if you are interested in a better, cheaper, and SAFER experience.
I wouldn’t have come here if I had some sort of warning. I know i will NEVER be staying at this particular timeshare again because of the intense negative experience I had during my stay.
The only nice part about staying at this location was that it was close to downtown so you could very easily walk during the day to some of the most popular restraunts and locations in town.

Been coming here the last 8 yrs. Staff has Been great, management great, as they are very accomodating.
The location is ok due to noise from the freeway n on Park Blvd. Easy freeway access n the Balboa Park.
It is home away from home for me.

The staff was wonderful! The units were small, which was expected. The only real downsides are the noise from the streets and the lack of parking. $ 30 a day was a bit steep. We were lucky to find street parking the first few days and used public transit. After we did use our car, though we had to park a block away. I would also recommend bringing ear plugs if you are a light sleeper. The bed was also a little hard for my taste but was perfect for my husband.

$ 30 to park a car? You should be ashamed. On principle alone you should not come to this cheap chain hotel. Because they charge for parking it ISNT WORTH IT. It’s a poorly run corporate crap hotel. Think about it, you deserve better.

I’ve stayed at this timeshare location on three different occasions, the first two were for one/​two nights but my most recent stay was for almost a week since I was here for a conference. The location is about a mile away from the San Diego Convention Center so it’s walkable if you like the exercise or you can walk two blocks to the trolley station and pay $ 5 for a day pass. Since I was already paying $ 20/​night for parking I opted to avoid the $ 15/​day parking at SDCC. I walked every morning and it wasn’t too bad. It’s about a 30 minute walk. If you’re short on time you can easily call a cab.
There’s a coffee station in the game room available in the mornings so I was able to grab a cup and go rather than use the coffee maker in the room. I also made good use of the complimentary laundry room and noticed they have new high efficiency machines. Yay! The gym was small but if all you need is a little cardio on a treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike and light weights, it will suffice for your stay. Otherwise there’s a 24 hr fitness for the gym junkie at Horton plaza.
I stayed in a studio on the 5^th floor and the room was very clean. There were many pillows with different degrees of firmness on the king bed which was nice because I’m not a fan of overly fluffy pillows or really flat ones. The water pressure was pretty good (but a little improvement never hurts) compared to other WorldMark locations. The kitchen was very clean and I was able to cook small meals for myself on days I was too tired to go out for dinner.
The only downside to staying in this studio is that it’s directly under the deck area that faces the Coronado bridge. Yes. That means a ton of people go to that corner at day/​night to sightsee and make a lot of noise dragging their chairs.
Other than my minor noise complaint, I had a very good stay. The staff and security were very friendly and I would definitely stay here again.

My wife and I always come in to San Diego 2 days before the beach house check in day on Monday. My Aunt was super cool and gave us a couple Worldmark days for like $ 50. Score. This place was walking distance to Ballast Point Tap Room, the harbor, the stadium, which has a new Stone tap room, DELICIOUS!
The staff was cool and let us store our bags for a few hours and I loved having beers up on top of the roof terrace. So awesome. You can look over and see the Coronado Bridge directly across from you.
The beds and fridge were just fantastic too. We loved this place.

I debated for a long time between 3 and 4 stars. This Worldmark has some great perks, but could use some improvements too.
My mom’s co-​worker offered her timeshare for us to use for our anniversary weekend. We stayed for 2 nights and got a studio room on the 1^st floor, since we checked in late Friday night and everything else was taken. Not having to use the elevator was nice, but we also got a nice view of the McDonald’s across the street and the transient parties that happened at night. No joke, «dancing» and partying. But they were nice when we walked by. We kept our drapes closed the whole time.
THE GOOD:
* Awesome location! It’s not super close to the Gaslamp or Balboa Park (we drove or Ubered to not deal with parking), but about a 15 – 20 minute walk to the park. Right across from San Diego City College. We were able to walk to convenience stores, coffee shops, our yoga studio, and cool downtown spots.
* Beautifully re-​done historic building.
* Free laundry room! This may have been the most exciting part for us.
* Apartment-​size fridge, stovetop, toaster, and dishwasher in the kitchen. It was nice being able to get ice and freeze it somewhere, or have a place for leftovers. The kitchen is also fully stocked with dishes, glassware, microwave, a blender, mixing bowls, pots and pans, etc.
* Cool rooftop patio with BBQs, but it gets COLD!
* Very, very helpful, friendly, enthusiastic staff.
THE BAD:
* The pillows were flat and the bed was a little hard. There weren’t many extra blankets besides the thin comforter. Not the best quality stuff.
* We tried turning on the heater to resolve the aforementioned problem, but the air from the vents smelled bad… BAD. We turned it off and just drank more to keep warm.
* Parking is $ 20 per day. You get in and out privileges, but there aren’t enough spaces for the building, meaning that if you arrive too late, they could sell out. And the parking lot is horribly designed, with tiny, weird-​angled spaces.
* Fitness center has 3 machines and some small weights, and is a little lame.
* The morning after we checked in, we got a note welcoming us, and asking us to stop by the concierge for a chance at a raffle, and for coupons and maps. I’ve been a timeshare presentation hostage victim before and didn’t want to use my precious vacation time in a sales pitch, so we avoided the front desk. No one called us, though.
* Poor reception/​Internet service; we brought our own wifi hotspot and it didn’t work.
* Kids might be kinda bored… not much for them.
Overall it met our needs and was a good place to stay and see SD, but I wasn’t blown away.

The name is a misnomer since it is not walking distance to Balboa Park. However the location is run by Wyndham and really nice for a timeshare. The view from the top is amazing at night. And with a beer and grill utensil in my hand it was epic! The staff were really nice and professional.
There is also a nightly charge for the parking lot from hell. Hell because nobody could park right given the lots weird angles. And of course you have those knuckleheads in the big trucks that can’t back in straight and the don’t scratch my car people. Get a life people!
Man, those sales people can get real annoying! They said I need to come down and get my free stuff. I knew what they were up to, so I didn’t go back. And, they called my room the next day. So, whenever I walked past the front desk, it was at a brisk pace. But, I did stop to enjoy their free pop corn and lemonade. LOL

I’ve stayed at several WorldMark properties now (we have ownership in the condos) and this one was good. It’s in a central location so it was very easy to get to all of the touristy sites San Diego has to offer. There was a mix-​up with my reservation but it was settled pretty easily.
Since we got in after 11 on a Sunday night we didn’t have to deal with the high pressure «how about you go to the meeting to review your member benefits and get a $ 100 Amex gift card» schpeel but our room phone started ringing at 8 am the next day. Hello! If we get in at 11 pm don’t you think we’ll still be sleeping at 8 am.
I get that they need to earn some $ by selling people more credits but we got phone calls twice in the morning on the 1^st day we were there and another one at 9 am on the second day we were there. We realized we just needed to unplug the phone so they wouldn’t bother us. This is a tactic I will be using everytime now, arrive late and unplug the phone :)
There is a parking lot that is $ 20 a night. Since we had the reservation snafu they did discount that for us. A gesture I appreciated greatly! The elevator is small and slow but there are stairs to get to each room, too. My hubby and I used the stairs unless we had groceries or luggage to schlep. The rooftop deck was nice, too. Sometimes a city view can be as pretty as a beach view.
Our room itself was as nice as can be expected. King bed in the bedroom, fold out bed on the sofa in the living room. There was a microwave, two burner stove, and dishwasher. If you’re picky about your water you’ll need to bring some bottled, otherwise the tap water was fine.
One thing I would note for families: the largest condo here is a 1 bedroom. they say it will sleep 4 and it does. But the little ones would have to walk from the main room through the bedroom to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Or after bedtime. It could lead to a little awkwardness.

This place was a honeymoon gift, place was clean and nothing to complain about. I felt like I was home. It wasn’t too fancy and it wasn’t gross. It met a little more than the middle. I was happy with the view and the stay. Great customer service and I would recommend it, hopefully I can come back to San Diego, we enjoyed the stay!

Do not stay here! As an avid user of Worldmark, this has to be the WORST place to ever stay! You have to pay $ 20 a night for parking, the rooms are incredibly small, and it’s annoying getting in that small elevator. The only reason why I have it 2 stars rather than 1 is because it’s close to downtown. Horrible place and don’t recommend it. to any​one​.at all!!!

We’ve only stayed here once, and do not plan on staying here again. If you don’t have kids, this isn’t a bad facility. I’m not sure if all the rooms are studios, or if that’s all that was available when I booked it. But a studio room does not work with kids! The studio is a decent size and has a small kitchen. There is no in room laundry.
Parking, you can either park on the street where your car will lot be watched by security or pay to park in the lot and security watches the area.
This location is in the busier part of San Diego, it’s close to the gas lamp district and other tourist attractions.

This property is in a borderline neighborhood, but close to Gas lamp and Balboa. The rooms are fine but lots of traffic noise being next to the freeway entrance.
It would have been ok without the incredibly nasty front desk manager. We were very nice, while she continued to berate us for a couple of simple, polite requests.
Suggest other than 5^th floor room; there’s considerable noise from rooftop air conditioners. Also the parking is $ 20 per day for an outdoor lot.

1^st off… $ 20 per night parking! Wtf… Seriously??? And you have to prepay for all nights you’re there? Umm… Ok I guess I have to since there isn’t any street parking because all the workers are already parked on the street! What a rip off this was.
Now that Ive gotten all of that out of my system hahaha this location wasn’t anything special. You’re right next to the entrance of the fwy. Gaslamp District is about 8 blocks away and there really aren’t any «good views». This place also did not have a pool.

I was crazy excited to stay at this Worldmark because it was located close to downtown, the park, San Diego Zoo, and the freeway. Instead I was extremely disappointed when I arrived. Exhausted from the long drive to San Diego, I arrived just before midnight to check-​in. The staff was very friendly but I was shocked at the $ 16/​day parking fee. The staff tried to convince me that fee was worth the security but I opted for free street parking instead.
After getting the room key, I lugged the bags into a tiny elevator and trekked to the room. There were no bedrooms left so I had a studio. After trying five times to get the key card to open door, I was successful. But I was expected so much more than I experienced. The bed and linens reminded me of a motel, the kitchen was clean but completely devoid of water and an ice bucket, and there were no toiletries in sight.
As it turns out the bed was uncomfortable, the pillows were completely flat and provided no neck support, and the water pressure was just short of a light trickle. The elevator was broken during my stay so I walked up and down from the fourth floor, luggage and all. I was just glad that the staff was so cheerful and accommodating. I received a voucher for a free one-​night movie rental from their collection, as well as, a free photobook voucher. And thank heavens there was cold water in the lobby.
I enjoyed having access to a 24-​hour laundry room but was saddened by the fitness center, which consisted of a treadmill, elliptical, and bike. There were some free weights but only up to 20 lbs. After hearing about how wonderful the other Worldmark locations were I had high hopes. Turns out the main pluses are the location and rooftop view.
What I recommend:
– relax on the rooftop
– bring your own toiletries

This is a place for people who have bought into a timeshare system.
The rooms are clean and comfortable. The front desk staff is nice.
The constant sales calls every few hours to the room to get you to go to a sales pitch are extremely annoying. I had to tell them to stop the sales calls several times before they finally acquiesced.
There is no restaurant on site, and only a Carl’s Jr. close by.
It is right at the end of the 163 so the traffic noise can be annoying.
The very limited parking for $ 16/​day
WiFi access should be free but is very expensive at about $ 11/​day, and very limited in speed once you do get it.
The last day we were there a pipe burst in the wall a flooded the neighboring rooms and hall. Part of the carpet in our room also became soaked. I added pictures of the flood response truck and gear to the photos.
I will never return here.