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Ooh- you've got me wanting to stay there even more!
Just need to save up for it now!
I guess I'm going to be the naysayer here ...
I've stayed at the Hotel Del several times and it sucked. I was given rooms in the older original building ...
one of which really stank, as in horribly smelly. I happened to see a print of the builder's plans on another wall in the hotel, and it showed that the rooms in my area were the original central bathrooms for the guests. The hotel was built in an era where few rooms had ensuite bathrooms. Literally ... there were a couple of rooms built on that floor that were in the men's bathroom urinal area. I had one of those rooms and it was so bad that my eyes were watering from the stench. The hotel was booked up and I could not get transferred to another room for the days I was there.
Another trip ... I was again booked into a room in the old hotel structure. This time, the room overlooked the roof mounted utility area for the central kitchens. So in addition to a view limited to old roofs, ductwork, and exhaust fans, I got to listen to the happy kitchen crew banging cookware and dishes and loudly playing their radios and having a grand old time until the wee hours of the morning every night. Again, they claimed they were booked up and would/could not transfer me to another room.
I've had friends stay there with similar disappointing experiences to mine, so these aren't isolated incidents.
The old hotel has it's gingerbread architectural charms, but it's also a very old hotel from a comfort and amenities standpoint, and rather expensive at that, too. Personally, I wouldn't stay there again. Neither the food or service is so exceptional as to warrant the premium price the place charges.
So here's my caution: Be very sure that they are booking you into a view room in the new additions to the hotel or refuse the room. Having had my bad experiences there, the last time I went there (for a seminar based at the hotel) I related my dissatisfaction with the place and was assured that I would be given a "nice room" in the newer facilities to make up for the prior issues. Upon arrival, I was again given a small room that was adjacent to the old women's central bathroom on that floor ... with the same stench issue that I'd had previously. I stayed the one night and checked out to head to a motel for the balance of the time there, and I didn't eat at their facilities, either. The only time I spent on site was for the training sessions that I had to attend.
Having traveled through Southern and SW England a few times, I can tell you that the Hotel del doesn't hold a candle to a number of the Victorian gingerbread structures that are commonly found in England. The Hotel del's claim to fame is that it is one of the few built like that in the USA that still survives ... and I was in San Diego long enough to remember when the place was a derelict structure and bankrupted several times. If it hadn't been for the historic register requirements, it would have been torn down and redeveloped a long time ago. Now it's a "landmark" ....
IMO, you'd do better to find other lodging in the area and then visit the Hotel del just so you could claim that you'd seen it in person, perhaps have a lunch there. Otherwise, I'd stay as far away from the place as I would other tourist traps that are highly overrated. It's about as charming as going to some of the holiday resort towns with an amusement park in SW England ...
PS: anybody who tells you that the noise from activity at the NAS or Lindberg field isn't obtrusive isn't from a rural area where that type of noise level is rare, they have to be from a city area where they are acclimated to a continuous level of background noise. While the flight paths don't go directly over the Hotel del or Glorietta Bay (which is where it is located), they are adjacent to the Hotel area and can be very intrusive, depending upon prevailing winds for the flight pattern in use at the time. Some days will have a lot more flight activity nearby than others ....
We're heading back to Texas next year to see friends and want a break somewhere afterwards, maybe CA, maybe New England, though if it were up to just me the Rockies would get a nod.
We're heading back to Texas next year to see friends and want a break somewhere afterwards, maybe CA, maybe New England, though if it were up to just me the Rockies would get a nod.
... PS: anybody who tells you that the noise from activity at the NAS or Lindberg field isn't obtrusive isn't from a rural area where that type of noise level is rare, they have to be from a city area where they are acclimated to a continuous level of background noise. While the flight paths don't go directly over the Hotel del or Glorietta Bay (which is where it is located), they are adjacent to the Hotel area and can be very intrusive, depending upon prevailing winds for the flight pattern in use at the time. Some days will have a lot more flight activity nearby than others ....
This is true (at least somewhat). There is ambient noise in every city, and the Del is no exception. Except I'm not from a rural area ... I grew up under the flight paths of Midway Airport, so I'm perhaps a bit de-sensitized to airplane noise.
And the parts I didn't quote are also worth noting. If you can't be sure of getting a nice room at the Del, much better to stay at somewhere comfortable and just visit the Del.
This is true (at least somewhat). There is ambient noise in every city, and the Del is no exception. Except I'm not from a rural area ... I grew up under the flight paths of Midway Airport, so I'm perhaps a bit de-sensitized to airplane noise.
And the parts I didn't quote are also worth noting. If you can't be sure of getting a nice room at the Del, much better to stay at somewhere comfortable and just visit the Del.
I grew up on Point Loma directly under the flight paths of Lindberg Field, dating to the days of propeller driven aircraft followed by early jet aircraft in low pattern altititudes over us. We used to have spotting on our cars from the jet fuel, they were that low over us.
As well, the NAS traffic used to fly very close to us, and I've sailed enough days out of CYC or on the Coronado ocean racing buoy course to have been somewhat deafened on occasion by the jets.
Even though airplane powerplant technology and the flight paths in the area have been greatly improved for noise considerations, the aviation traffic in the South Bay area can still be pretty obnoxious on some days.
Now that I've been living in a very rural area for decades, it's ever so much more apparent when the noise levels are present. I note that the OP mentions they are from a rural area of England ... and I expect that they will notice, too.
I live in San Diego and we've been to Coronado every day this week to either the dog beach or to walk near the beach path by the hotel. The noise from the military jets is deafening. They seriously come like every 5 minutes and are so low you feel like you can touch them. I don't know how people that live there put up with that crap when they pay so much money for ocean front property.
The hotel itself looks nice from the outside, but unless you rent one of those private villas (thousands of dollars), then you'll most likely get a really crappy room. My husband's last convention happened to be there and everyone was disappointed with their rooms. The beach is nice, but the rooms are extremely outdated. I would not pay out of my own pocket to ever stay there! There are much better hotels in San Diego. And, Coronado is so isolated that if you want to see San Diego, you'll need a car anyway and it's better to stay in a more centrally located place.
I'm a local myself so I've never stayed at the Coronado.... My opinion is that its a bit overpriced to stay at but a interesting place to go for lunch and the beach there is nice. I'd stay at either one of the Hotels in "Hotel Circle" or opt for a downtown hotel like tht Hyatt (I've stayed there, it was pretty nice) so I could walk downtown or go out for dinner/drinks and not have to deal with getting the car out or driving.
You have to stay there at least once in your life.
Why?
For those of us who have ... and were disappointed on major issues where this hotel has serious shortcomings ... it's an exercise in real abuse. Why bother? San Diego has a fair number of better hotels to stay at. There's lots of good public beach access and views readily available without paying the price to stay at this hotel.
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