What hotel(s) have you stayed in for CCI? (Hotel Review/Feedback Thread)

[MegaDoug]

  It's opposite a 24 hours Dennys and a strip club, so maybe not for families. 

heck, if the strippers worked at Dennys, that would save me a BUNCH of time...
 

[Daniel H]

I think it was just luck, honestly.  I was on the website at one point and checked randomly, and they had a room available, but I had just used a bunch of points and didn't have enough.  When I did have enough again, I checked and there weren't any points rooms available any more.  After that, I checked every day for about 2-3 weeks until it popped back up and snagged it.    I thought it was a fluke and checked my reservation several times but it's still there!  I booked it sometime in March, I think?

Either way that's awesome! Anytime you can use your points is a huge help...especially during the Con...it's expensive!

[Andrew Costa Mesa]

Last year I stayed at a friend's house way up in the northernmost part of San Diego, just barely within city limits and not close to any trolley stop.  This year I will be staying at the Four Points by Sheraton (formerly Holiday Inn) San Diego Downtown.

[sajcfan]

Staying at Crowne Plaza. Unfortunately, I read that they charge you A LOT for Parking and WiFi use. So that's about $90 out the window for the 4 night stay 

[Mario_c]

I got to the Hard Rock today and it is a lot better than I've been making it out to be. We got a room that opens up right to the Woodstock Lawn where th major parties are held. It is a little pricey but I am basically in the party at this point, we have a full set of outdoor furniture in a private patio that can comfortably fit eight people, and the pool is a short walk across the grass.

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[Transmute Jun]

Mario, that looks awesome!

[Andrew Costa Mesa]

Staying at Crowne Plaza. Unfortunately, I read that they charge you A LOT for Parking and WiFi use. So that's about $90 out the window for the 4 night stay 

I know what you mean.  The hotel I'm staying at (the Four Points by Sheraton) charges $17 a night.  I'm here for six nights, that's $100 right there.  For $40, I opted for round-trip Amtrak and left the car at home.  Someone on another thread also raised the possibility that some hotels might run out of parking space.

[shuhbonkboo]

Guess we might as well start adding to the thread again!  Anyway, my gf and I stayed at The Bristol.  It's clean, well-kept, and quiet.  We're used to staying in boutique hotels so we didn't mind the rooms being smaller than average.  The number of outlets wasn't an issue for us.  Then again all we needed to charge were our 2 Phones (which we could've just used the 2 iHome docks if we ran out of outlets), 2 tablets, and camera batteries.

We walked to and from the Con each day.  It only takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the Hall C entrance.  The biggest pro of the stay was that there is a 24 hour Ralph's on the way so grabbing snacks and lunch for the day was convenient.

[Transmute Jun]

I'm wondering if anyone has stayed at the Hyatt? Seeing as a bunch of us might stay there next year....

[luna13darke]

My friend and I stayed at the Indigo. It was the most excellent stay in a hotel that I've ever had. The hotel and restaurant staff went above and beyond the call of duty. I felt like family. There were big hugs from everyone when I left. I will definitely be staying there again.

[Transmute Jun]

I just reread my original entry and thought I would post my more recent experience staying at the Marriott Marquis.

I've stayed at the Hilton Bayfront for quite a few years, so it was weird moving to a new hotel. There were both pluses and minuses.

We stayed in the north tower, so we had balconies (which honestly, we didn't use much) and the rooms were recently renovated. Even though they told me on the phone that the rooms weren't connecting and they had no fridges, both of these turned out to be wrong. My friends and I had two connecting rooms with 2 double beds in each room. The rooms were very big, so much so that we were able to get a rollaway bed and put it in the corner and it didn't cause any problems at all, even though there were already two beds in the room. The minifridge in each room was very nice to have cold drinks!

We walked by the Nintendo Gaming Lounge entrance to get to our elevators and so it became an easy evening meeting point for our group, because it was convenient for people going up to the room and people who just came back and wanted to go straight out for dinner. Dinner was always at Seaport Village, which was a very easy walk out the back of the hotel. Another bonus: the back of the hotel led out to the waterside walkway, which was a fast way to get to/from the early morning Hall H line.

The walk to and from the Convention Center was a little longer than we were used to at the Hilton, partly because they make you walk down half the length of the building before they'll let you in. But I also recognize that we're really only talking about a couple of extra minutes.

The pool area is really nice and we met great Con people in the hot tub each night.

Unfortunately there was very little in the way of celebrity spotting. There was one guy staying on our floor with whom I shared an elevator twice. I didn't recognize him, but he had all of the signs of 'afraid of being recognized' and the second time I saw him he pulled on a face-covering mask to wear with his street clothes. The first time I saw him he had an 'entourage'. I checked for his badge but he always had it turned backward and inside his sports coat. Would have been cooler seeing him if I could have figured out who he was.

Overall, I think I like the location of the Hilton Bayfront better, but the Marriott Marquis has lots to recommend it and I would definitely stay there again!

[Patman]

I stayed at the Holiday Inn on the Bay, and when I got into my room, it was not cleaned up, still had one unmade bed, and some of the towels had been used.  But I just called the front desk, and they dispatched someone to get the room tidy (I didn't want to move my stuff to another room at that time).

It was a no-frills hotel room, no fridge.  Small-ish room.  There was a balcony, but I never went outside to check it out.  It was an average hotel, but I'm not all that fussy when it comes to hotels.

[Devorah]

I'm wondering if anyone has stayed at the Hyatt? Seeing as a bunch of us might stay there next year....

I second this question.  Has anyone stayed at the Hyatt during the Con?  How did you like it?  How far of a walk is it from the hotel exit to the convention center?  Anything else I'm not thinking of? 

[teriqueen]

I stayed at the Hyatt in 2011. The Travel Planners price there was higher than the $229 we got for 2013 (thank you, thank you, Friends of CCI!). The rooms were fine, though a little smaller and a little older than the Marriott rooms. The staff was great. We sometimes saw celebs at Sally's, the rather expensive seafood restaurant outside the Hyatt and right next to the water (Pee Wee Herman and someone else whose name I no longer remember). But the Hyatt totally won my allegiance on Thursday evening when my roommate and I went to Concierge desk and ran into Matt Smith, all alone, ordering a taxi. The hotel is a short walk to the convention center, but from that evening on I pretty much just floated there. :-)

[Devorah]

I stayed at the Hyatt in 2011. The Travel Planners price there was higher than the $229 we got for 2013 (thank you, thank you, Friends of CCI!). The rooms were fine, though a little smaller and a little older than the Marriott rooms. The staff was great. We sometimes saw celebs at Sally's, the rather expensive seafood restaurant outside the Hyatt and right next to the water (Pee Wee Herman and someone else whose name I no longer remember). But the Hyatt totally won my allegiance on Thursday evening when my roommate and I went to Concierge desk and ran into Matt Smith, all alone, ordering a taxi. The hotel is a short walk to the convention center, but from that evening on I pretty much just floated there. :-)

Thanks Teri!