Holiday Inn Express San Diego Downtown

Easy to find fun area all kinds of stores walking distance.
Let me just say for an older hotel the place is clean! Pool is nice and clean.
But wow customer service is over the top from the moment I checked in to the cleaning lady all are very nice and helpful. Parking is very tight so come in a small car

Oh man oh man.
Let me just say if you are concerned with cleanliness and presentation look elsewhere. Coming here was an absolute disappointment. I don’t even know why they bother having this place open while having full on construction.
Pros: decent breakfast
Cons: The cleanliness of this hotel is disappointing. I was lucky enough to find a Roach on the carpet! I’m assuming that is due to the construction. Not a pleasant surprise. My room had no balcony while others rooms did. Mine was just a view of poles and boards of the construction.
Room: small and dark rooms. Carpet looks old and dirty. The hallways are small and are in need of an upgrade.
Parking! Wow ridiculous sharp turns with no signs to direct you. It’s tight and with poor lighting. It reminds me of the parking structures from Downtown LA. Good luck navigating through that place it’s ridiculous and the $ 15/​night is too.
PM Staff: The older man at the front desk is rude and lacks customer service skills. I know it’s late but if you are not happy there find another job.
AM Staff: They are decent and friendly.
The Presentation of the hotel is bad as mentioned before and the clients are just as bad. Young and rowdy. we encountered young males 18 – 21 year olds running around the hallways at night.
I’m sorry to say It was a very bad vibe and it is not worth my hard earned money. The whole time I just wanted to leave and come home. Lesson learned. I recommend Spending more and stay elsewhere.

Eh… booked this hotel since it is in downtown. Price was much higher than I expected for a hotel with renovations. We could not open our windows or get a view outside. The only view we got was of tarp. We paid around $ 155ish for our room (3 people staying there 2 queen beds) tack on the $ 16 daily rate for parking. Paid more for our room since we wanted 2 queen beds which is weird because the other hotels I’ve been too always had the option of 2 queen beds or a king bed. I guess it’s a way to make more money.
It wasn’t worthwhile to stay here in my opinion. It is walking distance to a lot of restaurants and places in downtown which is a plus however walking up and down the hill to the hotel sucks. At least it saves you the hassle of having to move and pay for parking. When I checked in they gave me a room that was still being cleaned. Had to take the elevator down to get it changed. Not sure why their systems didn’t show that the room wasn’t ready.
Cons:
Renovation — they didn’t even note it when I was making the booking
Parking — OMG wtf… Don’t bother driving a big car into the parking lot. The space to drive around is very narrow!!! My friend had to do multiple three point turns just to make sure his car doesn’t hit the wall. So many scratches on the way down of people scrapping their bumpers and what not. Not cool!
Stairs– WTF this is such a weird configuration. Because the parking is on a slope, you must walk through a number of stairs to get to the hotel reception. Granted there is an elevator but it’s slow as f. Definitely not recommended for people with disabilities.
Bathroom– They need to renovate this portion. Feels outdated and the sink had a crack on it.
Breakfast– Okay. Some items were gone quickly. Pretty busy b/​c I believe we were in town the same time as graduation families.
They have water/​coffee at the lobby.
Bed comfort was okay. Not the most amazing bed to sleep in.
TV channel selection were good to pass the time.
Wouldn’t recommend staying here until they finish their renovations.

Well, I sure wish we had known they were under renovation. Would have stayed elsewhere if we had known beforehand. At least, the room rate was fair so that helped make up for the disturbances.
There were a few things which I liked about the hotel. The location was very convenient. It was close to everything in downtown. Walking distance to Balboa Park, Gaslamp quarter, and Little Italy. Breakfast was pretty good and well stocked. Bed was comfy.
Nothing outstanding about this Holiday Inn Express which would make me upgrade their rating. Most things were just average, but that would not stop me from staying here again (if the price was right).
Should also mention that I hope they include improving their elevators as part of their renovations. Felt like the elevators were going to fail anytime soon. Also be careful in the enclosed parking garage. It’s pretty tight in there.

Hi Budd.
Thanks for writing. I’m glad you wrote to describe the deal I thought I was going to get. You really have a way of writing and as a reviewer, I really appreciate that. And I really appreciate how hard it is to admit you might have made a mistake, and you’re willing to try it again with the same client at no charge. Maybe that’s what you meant to say, and didn’t, or maybe you meant to say it and didn’t and it doesn’t matter. Because no matter what at the end of the day you don’t represent the kind of value to the people like me that we expect and pay for and we don’t get it, we hurt your business because it’s the truth, and other people simply need know the truth. What I meant to say was other people simply need to know the truth and if it hurts me a little bit for them to learn it, well I’m just the happiest man on Earth today.
Anybody want to stay at the Holiday Inn Express downtownl?. Well folks it’s time to see if Unilocal really works. if it’s not just another platform to b****.We got plenty of those. But my people are looking for rooms, they’re not looking for headaches compromises hassles or half measures OR solutions that don’t work for them or in your case people who write and say nice things but don’t deliver.
In the case of the Holiday Inn Express I’ll see if it’s free for as long as it’s free because it’s a pretty sweet deal for what 66 a night or something? That’s Karma by the way. Been around longer than your establishment, and be around longer than I write reviews.
And Bud and anybody else who’s interested, that’s going to be a long time. What the Rolling Stones might say in a song that launched a career that’s still going is that «Time is on my side»
Have a really awesome Tuesday everybody. I’m expecting great things and you should too. And when you don’t get them and you paid for them, well, you know what to do don’t you, question mark.
I’m tired and I’m old and I need a cup of coffee. Like any cup of coffee. If you want a great one you’re going to have to hunt it down and find it and get that. Just like a hotel room except when you go to get a hotel room a hot cup of coffee is the only thing you expect. And apparently Bud from nulls, I still want a cup of coffee whenever you have one I just wanted a hotel room before all this craziness begin I think they can do the right thing I have great in it from one to two stars in the hope they do the right thing. And if they don’t. Well I’m going to have to change it back to 1 because I’m an aspirational guy but I’ll never ever ever suffer fools like the people that run the Holiday Inn Express downtown San Diego. They think somehow my people will be convinced that telling it what you get for money and then taken away from you when I get there is cool. And that’s for whiners and complainers and moaners who don’t like their clientele at 66 bucks a night.

Wish I would of known they were doing construction would of booked somewhere else felt like there was no privacy guys were on scaffolds outside of our balcony from 8 to 5, it was a nice day outside was a shame we had to close the blinds all day so I wouldn’t feel like people were watching us. So this romantic getaway was a fail

I had no negative experience per se at the Holiday Inn Express SD Downtown. The * * * «A-​OK» rating equates to an «average» which is good in my book, worth recommending and returning to. The only issue, so to speak is merely the room rate, which of course I knew ahead of time what it was when booking the accommodations, so it’s not like it was a surprise of any sort.
When I visited, it was getting a facelift on the exterior with scaffolding around the perimeter. So, I think this place was improving. However, I’d not known it was to be «under construction» during my stay. To that regard, I think that was a little bit of a negative surprise.
So, rooms facing the outside would have construction workers walking by your window as early as around 8am, and you an see them (thus they could probably see you) through the translucent curtains. However, you could draw the night shade blackout curtains for privacy, but that only blocks out the visuals, not the audio, and you can still hear the sound.
The breakfast they have is better than most continental breakfasts that only offer danishes. This has fresh pancakes, hot meats (bacon or sausage), and a decent spread of stuff you’d normally pay $ 5 – 10 for at a Denny’s, and it’s a serve yourself AYCE buffet format.
The rooms are okay, no frills. Comfortable and a clean n’ safe place to sleep.
The location in proximity to the Gaslamp (Petco Park and The Convention Center) is about a 20 minute walk, which isn’t bad. If you took an Über, it’s probably about $ 5.00 during off peak hours and less than 10 mins overall. It’s not casually walking distance, but is a nice walk when you have the right weather, time and shoes on.
The parking lot itself is hard to locate in a way, but you simply enter on the other side (Not ASH), so if you’re going up 7^th, you turn left at Ash, then turn left onto 6^th, and then turn left on the next street (I forget the name) and the parking entry is right there. The parking lot is very narrow with the ramps going up, so proceed with caution. If you have a long car that can’t take sharp turns well, you might have challenges getting in and out. If you have claustrophobia, beware. They charge $ 16 for parking per day with in/​out privileges. It’s much cheaper than parking in hotels located in the Gaslamp which are often in the $ 25−50/day range, but there are some public parking lots between the Gaslamp and this hotel that’s in the $ 8 – 15 range per day too, in case you don’t like this lot or logistically it’s impossible to park your car in.
The rates we paid were a bit high for the caliber of hotel. I liken it to paying Ruth Chris Steakhouse prices for Sizzler quality. It wasn’t bad per se, but I know generally you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere, whether the amenities, aesthetics, geographic location or what have you.
We paid $ 230 per night and had to add in $ 25 for Transient Occupancy Tax, $ 5 for SD Tourism Fee and $ 16 for parking each day, so that comes up to about a $ 45 upcharge from the base rate. At $ 275 per night, it’s pretty expensive in my opinion.
However, we went/​stayed during maybe a peak season in April during one of those «supply /​demand» times when a convention was in town depleting the room vacancies, probably driving prices up.
I’d categorize this as a hotel probably worth under $ 150 «all in», so maybe hovering in the lower $ 100 price per night (then add in the fees) which would be fair to me.
So, at the right rate, this hotel would be * * * * and possibly even * * * * * five stars (after eliminating the construction currently going on), but when judging the overall experience as a whole and mainly with the pricing, it’s, to me, considered «A-​OKAY» and average.
I could have stayed at the Bayfront Hilton for a few bucks more. So, in that statement, the wheelhouse of the Holiday Inn in terms of it’s appeal is and should be in their pricing and ability to offer reliable lodging at affordable prices. …but I know they were selling out themselves as was the entire area when I was staying in SD, so the prices were probably influenced and reflected by the capitalistic laws of supply and demand.

I booked this hotel for Mother’s Day weekend. We celebrated by going to the San Diego Zoo. We stood 2 nights here. Hotel and service was great. The only thing is the check in parking is too small. I recommend going to parking and park first. It’s around the corner in the back of the hotel. Good breakfast as well. Very great customer care.

Very friendly staff! The shuttle service was easy to use. The rooms were good sized but the bathrooms are very small. Breakfast is free with stay and has a pretty good variety.

Boy toy and I stayed here after getting a good deal on Priceline. Just to have a night out in the Gaslamp. The room is meh, I would say average but it’s okay. The beds were very comfy, and they even have pillows marked soft and firm for different preferences. The staff was helpful whenever we called on them for anything. One of the selling factors here is an excellent continental breakfast that will have something for everybody.
One thing that sucked is we got booked in a balcony room but they are currently renovating the hotel (including the balconies) so we couldn’t even open the sliding glass door to let fresh air in and it was super hot in the room. We had the air conditioning cranked as high as it would go.
All in all, it was a decent stay and we had fun being in the area.

Almost gave this place two stars because of the parking garage. It’s absolutely insane that they built it the way they did.
Hotel was ok. Seemed expensive for what I got but the beds were comfortable and the place was clean. Elevators were really slow. Seriously… they were ridiculously slow. I took the stairs most of the time because it was faster.
They were doing a bunch of renovations while I was here so it’s hard to say if the place could be a lot nicer in the future. But I don’t think they’re going to make the rooms any bigger so I stand by my 3 star review.
Breakfast was ok. No complaints there. The staff was friendly and there were good tv stations. Just think it wasn’t worth the price I paid.

I would have given it more stars but I was left waiting for 45 minutes at the train station because the shuttle driver «doesn’t start his shift until 1:30» (in the afternoon). Seems to me they should have a driver available when they advertise it as a service. They took me there in the morning. They knew I had to get back.
It really hosed me for my drive back to LA for traffic. I had specifically left my conference at 1pm and walked to the train station to take the shuttle back and be on the road before 2 due to traffic. Thanks for nothing Holiday Inn! Now I get to sit in traffic for the next 4 hours! Arg!

Had a great stay overall! Here’s some more detail:
Pros:
–Extremely friendly staff — particularly, Aaron at the front desk was very helpful when I checked in. The breakfast crew and cleaning crew were also incredibly friendly
–Happy Hour at 5 – 6:30 — free beer, wine, and snacks. Can’t beat that!
–Continental breakfast has a great selection and long hours
–Outdoor seating area with a beautiful view of downtown San Diego
–Convenient location and walking distance to everything you need
–Shuttle to airport and other hotspots
–Fast complimentary WiFi
Cons:
–Currently undergoing construction, which can be noisy during the day
–No gym
–I took the airport shuttle, but I did overhear a few other guests mentioning the steep charge for parking.

First let me say that this hotel is in a great location. Can’t get any better than being in the gaslamp district. Everything that you need is within steps.
Upon greeting to the hotel I tried to park before checking in. Big mistake lol. Make sure you go check in first, so you can get a key to access the parking garage. The parking structure is a little tight be should be ok for you if you know how to drive lol. The walls tell stories of how many cars have hit them lol.
The main lobby has been updated and is more modern. The rooms are currently under construction and should be done in a year according to the hotel staff. The actual rooms are in needed of a remodel, but I found them to be pretty spacious. Each room does have a balcony which I think is a bonus. You do get some nice views of the city.
I enjoyed by stay here even though it was short, I’ll definitely be back when I’m in the area.
Unilocal 100 challenge 2016– ¹¹⁄₁₀₀

I live in South Bay area and I was in San Diego staying in Holiday inn express on the weekend. This hotel is at really central location with-​in near distance from Airport. I used my IHG points to book the hotel room and I was upgraded to a junior suite. Also as my flight was landing at morning 9:00 AM, for which I requested an early check-​in via hotel email. The manager was very kind enough as he requested the front desk to prepare my room and help me with early check-​in. Their wifi is pretty good and high speed. There was some problem with my bathroom tub, where-​in the water was getting clogged. The repair person came with-​in minutes when I informed at the front desk and fixed it.
That’s so awesome and I’m thankful to all these awesome team people working at this hotel.

I travel to San Diego frequently for work and I will stay here from now on! The staff have been amazing, the general manager, Budd is friendly, personable and truly cares about his guests and hotel. Yeah, the hotel is older and need of upgrades (they’re working on it!) but it is clean and the staff knows how to take care of its guests. Parking is ok, it’s a downtown San Diego garage. Can’t beat complimentary their happy hour on Sunday– Thursday evenings. Great location and bang for your buck. I’m now loyal!

This is an amazing hotel.
There is a free complimentary shuttle service to pick you up from the hotel as well as various places like in front of the harbor or the Santa Fe Depot. Service here is excellent the employees are polite and informative.
I have no complaints at all.
This hotel also has a special happy hour. On the floor of their lobby they have various wines as well as complimentary snacks. This place really wants you to enjoy their time and does everything in their power to do so.
One thing they could improve on is their breakfast. I’m a vegetarian and I wish that their omelets did not have ham pieces in it. Of course this is for free so I guess you can’t really complain. They have bagels and bacon plus various cereals and yogurts.
Location is good. Near gaslamp and the trolley.
Over all a five star stay.

Was here overnight for new years eve. Hotel rooms were fair and clean. Service was excellent and they have happy hour for hotel guests from 5 – 6:30. Also free breakfast. Parking is expensive $ 16/​per night. Overall ok but needs to be updated.

My son and I stayed there over the Christmas weekend and we loooooved our stay!!! Yummy breakfast and super friendly service. I called in before arriving to ask a question and Jayson answered the phone. Such a nice guy. Once we arrived, our room happened to be available so we were able to check in early. So awesome! What won me over overall, the last day there, we woke up to a thank you card from the hotel staff with all of their signatures. Sweet gesture! Will def be staying here every single time I/​we visit SD! Anna and Luis were super nice and helpful as well! Great job you guys, keep up the good work

We stayed here last year to watch a play at the theater so we decide to stay here again. The place is amazing. Staff is really nice and friendly. Rooms are a good size. I appreciate what the hotel had given us, they upgraded our room because i was their guest of the day. Its awesome to think that they appreciate you when you come back.
I definitely recommend holiday inn, just remember if you have a big car/​truck check with the hotel what the maximum clearance is for the parking as it is a tight place.
Overall, i will come back again and again. Great job staff of holiday inn san diego! :)

The service here is great and the rooms are really spacious and nice. The parking garage is $ 16 extra and super tight but has easy access.

They let us check in about an hour and a half early which was very convenient. Upon entering our room we noticed it was still dirty from the people before. We informed the front desk and they immediately reissued a new room and upgraded our room to one with a view and comped our parking fees.
As for the rooms: the beds were very comfortable and the room was very spacious, but I can’t say the same for the bathrooms. It was very small and the door doesn’t even fully open because the toilets in the way. But really? Who cares it’s just a bathroom.
The parking structure is very tight, but at least there were more than enough spots to choose from.
As for the breakfast: I’ve definitely had better at other holiday inn locations, but it was still filling and enjoyable with plenty of tables.
The location of the hotel is probably the best. It is within walking distance of anything you might need and a short walk to the Gaslamp district.

I had a long list of what I was looking for in a hotel when planning our trip to San Diego. I wanted to find a hotel in Downtown, with free Wi-​Fi, free breakfast, a balcony, a refrigerator in the room, parking and a pool. I spoke to a travel agent & she told me I wouldn’t find all of those specifics. Well, I did.
In general, I am a big fan of Holiday Inn Express hotels. They are consistent and I have really never had a negative experience. Reserving was a breeze, checking in was a breeze & checking out was a breeze. Our room was clean, had a decent view during the day & a better view at night. The bathroom was on the small side, but otherwise, our room was perfect for us. Having the refrigerator in the room was important to us because we knew we would be going out to eat A LOT & wanted to be able to save our leftovers. There is a microwave in the lobby for heating them up, which is awesome too =]. We ate at the breakfast bar every day. What’s so nice about their breakfast is the large selection– pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, bagels, muffins, fruit, cinnamon buns, cereal, yogurt, etc. They also have a free happy hour Sun-​Thurs, which unfortunately we didn’t take advantage of, but I highly recommend that you do if you stay here!
Parking is available & is $ 16 a day. Yes, this might seem a little steep, but keep in mind most places in Downtown, San Diego do not even have parking at all. I saw some complaints about the parking garage being tight, but in my opinion it wasn’t bad at all.
We were about 3 blocks away from any decent bars, which wasn’t a big deal at all. The walk back was a hike though– considering the hotel sits on a hill. It’s really not that bad though & A LOT better than paying for a taxi/​über/​etc.
We really enjoyed our stay here!

I’m originally from San Diego (3^rd gen), having moved away 11 years ago (so I know the ‘turf’ quite well). Came here on short notice re: a family emergency. Most hotels booked (a bit surprising as this is end of September. post-​tourist season). We found this availability, which turned out to be a big disappointment. The parking is in a cramped multi-​tiered garage — witness car paint on the turning poles. The rooms are small. The air conditioner is too noisy to sleep with it on. We attempted to sleep with the sliding glass patio door open. the huge nearby jets landing are pretty close. and quite noisy. It’s 11:30p as I compose this, and the jets are still landing. Oh well. we will look for another place far away from downtown. Move on and keep looking.

The hotel was nice. I would have given four stars, except when we did a late check-​in we were told that we could do a late check-​out the next day at 2pm as part of their rewards program… which was great… until they called us at 12:30 saying that they don’t offer late check-​outs and that we would have to be out by 1. The night guy said we could check-​out at 2 and the morning people kicked us out earlier. They really need to do a better job communicating with each other so they are on the same page when communicating with hotel guests.
We ended up going to another Holiday Inn Express where they asked if we needed a late checkout at 2pm and said we were eligible as part of their rewards program. Hopefully this experience will end on a better note. The downtown location would not be my first preference on my next trip. The hotel was nice, I just took away one star because I didn’t appreciate the miscommunication.

Hearing «Holiday Inn Express», I wasn’t expecting much, however, after seeing that my family booked the «downtown“one, I was expecting to be in the action of the city! WRONG. The title of the hotel is misleading, don’t buy «downtown» because it is anything but downtown. If you like to walk, good for you because you will have to do a lot of it if you want to do anything — little Italy, gas lamp Quarters, the harbor, or any beach will either make you put your money towards Über, taxis, rental car, or a lot of physical activity to get there. The hotel is actually located on the edge of the city…
Also, as an architect major, I cannot for the life of me understand how someone could design these bathrooms and be okay with it! The door opens into the room, that is already small, but that’s not the problem. It opens up against the toilet! If someone is using the bathroom, the door will open a bit and slam into their legs but not big enough to get in! The toilets are also the quality and type of a public restroom. It’s strange for a hotel… If you get a room with two beds, get ready to sleep up against the wall, not literally haha. But the rooms are NOT made for two beds… there is literally a foot between the all and the bed, you can’t even walk there!
They didn’t clean our room one of the days we were here and then told us to come down to get anything we needed instead of compensating and sending what we needed up to the room.
Also we found a can of coke under the bed… we didn’t bring it. Goes to show how much they actually clean the room before you get there…
UPDATE: just for the room bill — they charged us nearly 4x the normal price for the last two days for comic con going on and we were only here for vacation! I repeat! If you are vacationing here, DONT STAY HERE during comic con, it’s a rip off paying nearly 400 $ a night for the crappy quality of the hotel! That’s the price of a room on Hotel del Coronado Reasort!!!

Great location rates are good. Walking distance from any club or bar in downtown. Front desk is cool they have breakfast buffet computers etc. rooms are very clean view isn’t all that great. Lost one star for parking I hate parking confusion. Overall recommended I would stay again no problem.

Spent 3 nights here on a Family getaway. First off must Warn you of the tight garage parking especially for large vehicles, I almost suffered an MI trying to exit once I got into the parking garage. After complaining we were allowed to park at an adjacent parking garage without the crampiness of the first garage. The drive way leading up to the registration parking is also small and unfortunately I bashed up my husband’s truck with an evil post on the right that I misjudged. The décor and carpets are dated, otherwise the rooms are clean and staff friendly, especially the Lovely Renee. Renee was our continental breakfast greeter during our stay and very kind. The breakfast served is generous and they are continuously restocking so go ahead and sleep in as long as you arrive before the time they stop serving there will be plenty to eat. We asked for connecting rooms and they accommodated us, making for a very happy Mom. All rooms have refrigerators and free Wi-​Fi, a big plus in my opinion. Overall I would stay here again and enjoy the warm cookies they place out every evening.

This was our second time staying here and we had a pleasant stay. I love the location. It’s downtown and close to all the must-​see locations. The staff is very friendly an accommodating. The rooms are clean and their free breakfast is great.
We also happened to get there on a Thursday so we were there for the complimentary happy hour. Great customer service. We had a little one and they were very understanding. We were able to check out at a later time and the staff was very friendly. The bathroom is a little tight, but I did not mind it at all. The price is very reasonable. I do recommend that you stay on an upper level because the first time we stayed on the first level and the outside noise was loud.
They do charge for parking, but seeing how difficult parking is to find in that area, we did not mind paying at all. I definitely recommend it.

I had a quite an interesting experience at the Holiday Inn Express. Not horrible, but not wonderful either. The lobby was modern and updated, so I was surprised at the dim hallways and dingy carpets upstairs on the way to our room. The room was clean, but a little stuffy and the bathroom was extremely small, however, it served its purpose just for the weekend.
On the first night around 4:00am we were awakened by a knock on the door, then another knock, then loud banging! I was scared out of my mind, but when I looked through the peephole, I saw a shirtless male. We yelled to go away, and then 10 minutes later he came back banging on our door! I was livid, but was not about to open the door to a possible killer. We yelled again for him to go away and finally he got the point and left. I called the hotel operator and got no answer even though they are supposed to be there 24 hours.
I was happy with the daily breakfast because they had a variety of foods, including a cool pancake maker.
The hotel was trying to conserve water, which I understand, but the housekeeper took our washcloths and did not give us clean ones. Again, I called the front desk, but was told that all the house keepers were gone and also that there were no more wash cloths, so they brought us the medium sized face towels. I’ve never had this happen before in any hotel. No wash cloths? Umm okay.
I gave the hotel 2 stars because the front desk staff was very friendly and all the front desk attendants were pleasant. Also, the hotel shuttle was great. We got dropped off at the harbor and Balboa Park, which saved us gas and parking money. It was an okay stay, but I don’t know think I will stay at this Holiday Inn Express again anytime soon.

I got absurdly lucky.
I’m from San Diego and go back to visit often, and I get hotel rooms for $ 60-​$ 70 using Priceline & Hotwire. That’s a good deal for downtown San Diego. So imagine my surprise when on a Saturday night, I saw I could book a room in downtown for $ 28 + tax/​fees. I jumped at the chance, and ended up getting this Holiday Inn Express.
The hotel is nothing amazing, but when I checked in I found out they have a little happy hour. Free beer, soda, and snacks from 5 – 7 or something like that. I was less impressed at the snacks than some other hotels as their best offering was peanut butter filled pretzels, but who can complain about something for free? And the beer was a decent brand, too.
Metered parking right outside the hotel, which is free on Sunday. At the end of the day I parked it in a lot 2 blocks away for $ 8 for 12 hours because I didn’t want to wake up early to feed the meter on Monday morning.
No real complaints other than it’s not a luxury hotel. For $ 30/​night I’d book this every time.

Overall a decent hotel.
Room was okay. Bathroom was kind of cramped. We were in a corner room and had no view.
Free breakfast was amazing. I expected cheap cafeteria food, but it was actually very good.
No restaurants on site, but there is an Italian bistro across the street that was good.
Streets in this area are one-​way so getting to the hotel was fun… there’s check in parking off of 7^th St. and then you drive around the block to park under the hotel. Parking structure is cramped but manageable. $ 16 a night to park.
Located within reasonable driving or walking distance of just about every attraction. We picked it because it was 10 minutes away from the zoo.
If you plan on staying in San Diego for a few days, I would not recommend this hotel just because it’s more basic and limited in the amenities. If you’re traveling for a night or two or visiting on business, it will work just fine.

My wife and I really liked this hotel. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. They had a good hot breakfast and my wife really liked the free hot cookies they put out for free every night. They also always had free coffee tea and lemonade. I liked the sun-​thus happy hour with free wine. It’s also within walking distance of Balboa park, the zoo, the gas lamp district and more

The staff is very friendly and helpful. The rooms are are of decent size, especially for a downtown location. The free wifi is pretty fast for hotel standards. Their free breakfast is the same as what you will find at any other Holiday Inn Express: bacon, eggs with cheese, cereal, fruit, and pancakes.
If you are visiting San Diego to see a Padres baseball game, Petco Park is only 15 – 20 minutes away on foot. I would recommend staying here so that you don’t have to deal with parking hassles at the stadium!
The parking lot for this hotel is VERY cramped, so be advised that large cars will have a hard time parking here.

Right in the middle of proper downtown San Diego, this hotel is located at a pretty awesome location and not far from the freeway at all. Balboa park is literally a two minute drive away. And they offer free breakfast, which is a bonus, if you feel you don’t want to get ready and go out of your hotel for breakfast.
The staff is very accommodating. I checked in at 2 AM and still got pretty quick service. There is even Ash Street for those who want to go up and down steep streets. Being from the Bay Area, I felt right at home. Most folks visiting from the Midwest were in total awe of the steepness of the street. It’s nice to see people venture out and explore the world around them.
The balcony/​terrace area right across from the front lobby has a pretty awesome view of downtown and Hotel El Cortez, which is almost a landmark in this part of San Diego. At night, you can even see the lights of the Marina not too far off in the distance. The air is dry and it does feel good to be out on the terrace.
The room that I booked had that whole built in the 70s feel, but it was fully updated. The balcony sliding doors were huge and the whole room was practically a floor to ceiling window, except for the wall near the bed’s headboard. I love light and I love windows, so this was totally perfect. And when the sun came up the next day, the whole room was filled with direct sunlight. Which illuminated the room tremendously! There were two TV sets in the room, and a separate living room area with a small sofa. There were two balconies and two huge sliding doors to allow access to both balconies. One from the living room area, and one from the bedroom area.
The breakfast room was neatly arranged with your standard hotel breakfast items, though I noticed that they didn’t have a waffle machine. I always get waffles with some honey for my breakfast. I settled for some pancakes and granola cereal with raisins and walnuts. Their fruits were fresh as well with Oranges, Bananas and Apples as your choices.
Next time I’m in San Diego, I’ll most likely pick a higher floor or the top floor. But being that it was a late check-​in, I didn’t have a choice of rooms to choose from.