El Cordova Hotel — Hotel in Coronado

THE BEST SMALL WEDDING HOTEL IN ALL OF SAN DIEGO!!! If you are looking to keep your guests together in one ultra charming space, in the most beautiful location in Coronado, this is it!!! This historic hotel has been recently remodeled throughout and the immaculate rooms are absolutely delightful, and surround a wonderful Spanish courtyard. Having stayed in the El Cordova several times, we knew it would make a great choice as our destination wedding hotel, as it is also reasonably priced, and we could not have been happier. We booked about 25 rooms (in 2019) for the summer of 2020, but had to change the date multiple times because of the Covid pandemic. We were finally able to celebrate our daughter and son-in-law's wedding in November of 2021. Over the course of 2 years, the hotel worked with our changing dates, and were patient, friendly, and encouraging throughout. A big shout out to the manager, Tim, and his staff, Benny and Ivy, who all worked with us to accommodate the many details and kept us all organized for 2 full years! They were all such a pleasure to work with, along with the rest of the El Cordova staff. We received many, many compliments from our guests, who came from all over the country, and very much appreciated our hotel choice. They especially enjoyed the close knit feel of the small hotel, where they could easily gather, eat in the restaurant, and meet up in the beautiful courtyard. For our celebration, we also booked the stunning Casa Grande Suite (with a full kitchen) and the guest rooms in a private section. This was the best idea ever as it became the Wedding Hospitality Room, where we had the rehearsal dinner, welcome reception, and day after brunch. The space was also used for all the girls to get ready in! The Casa Grande Suite served as the perfect gathering place where we all spent many hours together getting ready, and celebrating life and love with the bride & groom. It is a great entertaining space and we also appreciated using the television for our photo slide show. Having the Casa Grande Suite and private section made our choice to book the El Cordova just perfect! So now we have just the memories, but they will last a lifetime and we thank everyone at the El Cordova Hotel for being such a special part of our wedding weekend! From the Sanchez & Keneally Family, we thank you from the bottom of...

I really enjoyed our stay at El Cordova. The staff was friendly and helpful without being smothering, and the location is hard to beat. We appreciated having the kitchenette so we could eat some meals at the hotel, and there are plenty of dishes and cooking implements there as well. I was surprised there was not a full-sized fridge (based on pictures) but we worked around that. I would absolutely stay here again. If you are looking for corporate polish, this is not the place for you, but it is clean and I thought it was charming.

You do need to be aware that you will have to find your own parking. We pulled up in front of the hotel and unloaded most of our things there (some help from the hotel staff would have been welcome at this point). I then parked about 6 blocks away, which isn't awful since we didn't need the car during our stay, but is a little disconcerting when you don't know the area.

That being said, I have some suggestions to improve the experience for future guests:

Provide some sort of non-carbohydrate breakfast option. I was told I could go to the crepe place for eggs, but the hostess at the crepe place told me I could not have eggs only (not the hotel's fault, I know). I do not understand why since they fill the crepes with eggs, but she told me no. This meant I didn't have any options for breakfast at the hotel. Hard boiled eggs are easy and would meet this need nicely (or talk to the crepe people, because seriously, I do not understand why they refused to help me).

Have an outdoor shower or at least a foot wash so your guests don't have to track sand into their rooms. Since most guests are spending some time at the beach, this would help keep your rooms and the pool/hot tub clean.

Turn the heat down on the spa a bit. It was seriously scorching!

A retractable clothesline in the bathroom would make drying bathing suits much easier.

Make use of the linen closet for storing extra pillows and blankets. I shouldn't need to call to request these, especially when there are 4 people expected and we will obviously need to use the pullout bed. That closet is the perfect place to keep those (and we could have used some additional extra pillows because the pillows weren't as fluffy...

We recently stayed at El Cordova, Room 75. First impressions weren’t great, but the place did grow on us over time.

The Not-So-Good

Room Assignment Confusion: We had called ahead to confirm a deluxe 2-bedroom with three beds, but upon arrival, we discovered only one bed in each bedroom. After hauling our luggage down one set of stairs and up another, we were shown a “deluxe” option with three beds (Room 71), but its living and dining space was much smaller, and the place felt dark and dingy. It seems that rooms in the same category can vary widely, and it may be hard to know what you’ll get until you arrive. In the end, we returned to Room 75 and added a rollaway in the living room.

Condition of Rooms: Clean but definitely well-worn.

Bathrooms: Both were very small, outdated, and located at the back of each bedroom—making them inconvenient for the person sleeping in the living room.

Appliances & Maintenance: The kitchen was missing a toaster and blender at check-in, though replacements were brought quickly. Unfortunately, the blender leaked, and the toaster didn’t work. I left a voicemail with the front desk, but no one returned my call—even though the flashing message light was visible when I later stopped by in person.

Noise: Street-facing areas picked up some noise, while the courtyard side was much quieter.

Housekeeping: We requested light housekeeping during a four-hour window on our second full day, but nothing was done while we were out.

The Good

Location: Unbeatable—directly across from the Hotel Del Coronado and surrounded by shops and restaurants. It felt like we were right in the center of everything.

Spaciousness: Room 75 is a two-bedroom suite featuring a large living room, a spacious dining room, and a small kitchen. Each bedroom had a large walk-in closet, which was great for luggage and organization.

Dining: The attached Mexican restaurant, Miguel’s, is excellent and worth a visit.

Robes: Not luxurious, but convenient to have on hand.

Overall

El Cordova has a lot going for it—especially in terms of location and space (in certain rooms). Would I stay here again? Possibly, though I’d carefully weigh it against...