Del Mar Beach & Marina — Hotel in Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

Our experience from JUST ONE NIGHT.... We were gifted a stay here as a late honeymoon trip. Full transparency, our party had our days wrong and we fully take ownership of that mistake. We had a 2 night stay that we showed up a day late for. However, when we checked in, the receptionist did not acknowledge the dates or any other details of our stay, so we did not personally find out until we were past check out that we needed to leave.

We checked in before going to dinner and came back to the room after 11pm. We could not see the cottage numbers and entered the wrong section. We quickly realized we were in the wrong section and drove to the right cottage. Once parked, security came up to us and treated us as if we were trespassing - even after showing them our parking pass that had our room number and departure date on it, they still were hesitant to believe us. The next morning, we wanted to do a fire in the fire pit. We were advised by the rental store that we needed to go to guest services to get fire wood. We went to guest services and talked to Jeanie (older woman with short light red hair) we asked how the fire pits worked and she told us that they were only for guests. We told her we were and throughout our whole interaction, she questioned us several times about being guests there (although she never once asked our name or room number). Once she took our payment for the bundle of fire wood, she sent us to the back patio to get it ourselves (with a stroller) and didn't tell us there wasn't an exit - all because she was too lazy to get the bundle herself. Right after 11, house keeping came to clean and this is when we found out about the mix up with the reservation. The house keeping attendant was very nice and called the front desk about extending the stay and came back and told us that we just needed to call to have it extended. We went to the front desk and talked to the manager, Richard, and he was extremely arrogant and stand off-ish from the very start of our conversation. We tried to explain our experience with the staff to him and he found it all to be "normal" and told us several times that the staff was not allowed to discuss the reservation or talk with us because we were not the names on the reservation. Not one time did a SINGLE staff member ask for our name OR room number... he still insisted that we didn't have a bad experience. When I told the manager that his tone was not good, he was appalled and tried to deny his attitude problem. His demeanor also lessened once our sponsor arrived - he was still rude, but not as bad as when our sponsor was not present. This was a horrible experience and the staff is not on the same page about anything and apparently they aren't trained on proper procedures.

Also, as we were dealing with checkout, another employee walked up to my husband and tried to hold our 9 month old baby... even after we both said no, she still tried to hold him... that's just weird to try to hold someone else's baby that...

Went with long time friends and family. ||Positives: |-great location right on the beach|-no carpet through out. ||Cons: |-beds are horrible! like 5in coil mattress that leans when your laying in it |-1970s rollaway bed do not have a mattress cover!?! Like what? That’s disgusting (body oil, pee, sweat, beach water etc…) my child had an accident on the bed and i was like “O let’s just call for new sheets and bed cover” nope! no bed cover and they wanted to charge me for a whole new mattress because they didn’t do their due diligence and protect a mattress that 100s of not thousands of people sleep on. Their excuse… “we are on a budget”. Their bed also has a tan pattern on it so who knows what else has happened on that “bed” (3in foam topper actually) |-refused to do a cleaning even though their website states they will do a “light cleaning” on the third day. i called in the late afternoon on the 3rd day and was told that it does not include the day we arrive and would be pointless to clean tomorrow since we will be leaving tomorrow. Mind you, this is a kids cottage with kids tracking sand in and out of the cottage with 5 people residing there. And no offering of fresh towels the whole time we were there until i called in and couldn’t get enough for everyone in the cottage until next day. |-Cottage is allowed 5 people to stay there but they only give you 4 towels, and 4 plates … |-Black mold on window shades and kitchen sink caulking|-“window shades” let allll the light in at first dawn so definitely no sleeping in past dawn or taking a good mid day nap|-i don’t know when the place has received a cleaning other then light surface cleaning (grime on door jam, unknown dripping substance on backsplash, caked grime on stove, fans were visibly dirty etc…) |-Definitely needs maintenance! Everything is rusted!! like i get it, it’s on the beach.. but the sprinkler system is too far gone to be considered safe, amongst many other things. Fridge is missing drawers, window shades don’t cooperate due to rust, faucet is missing a button, door is LOUUUDDDD in the morning and wakes the whole house up due to not being hung correctly, etc…|-NO AC - it is hot! and not enjoyable unless you were to bring your own ac unit, but who wants to do that on a relaxing vacation? |-also just because you book two cottages don’t expect to be put side by side. My friends have kids so they purchased two cottages and they put the kids in a cottage down the way… uhhh that’s not going to work….||basically if you decide you want to stay here and be somewhat comfortable, make sure you pack like your moving in: |-portable ac unit|-mattress topper|-if you have kids a twin mattress protector unless you want to potentially want to be charged $110|-your own cleaning supplies|-extra plates |-your own coffee, tea |-your own kitchen soap if staying there longer then a...

Our experience from JUST ONE NIGHT....|We were gifted a stay here as a late honeymoon trip. Full transparency, our party had our days wrong and we fully take ownership of that mistake. We had a 2 night stay that we showed up a day late for. However, when we checked in, the receptionist did not acknowledge the dates or any other details of our stay, so we did not personally find out until we were past check out that we needed to leave. ||We checked in before going to dinner and came back to the room after 11pm. We could not see the cottage numbers and entered the wrong section. We quickly realized we were in the wrong section and drove to the right cottage. Once parked, security came up to us and treated us as if we were trespassing - even after showing them our parking pass that had our room number and departure date on it, they still were hesitant to believe us. |The next morning, we wanted to do a fire in the fire pit. We were advised by the rental store that we needed to go to guest services to get fire wood. We went to guest services and talked to Jeanie (older woman with short light red hair) we asked how the fire pits worked and she told us that they were only for guests. We told her we were and throughout our whole interaction, she questioned us several times about being guests there (although she never once asked our name or room number). Once she took our payment for the bundle of fire wood, she sent us to the back patio to get it ourselves (with a stroller) and didn't tell us there wasn't an exit - all because she was too lazy to get the bundle herself. |Right after 11, house keeping came to clean and this is when we found out about the mix up with the reservation. The house keeping attendant was very nice and called the front desk about extending the stay and came back and told us that we just needed to call to have it extended. We went to the front desk and talked to the manager, Richard, and he was extremely arrogant and stand off-ish from the very start of our conversation. We tried to explain our experience with the staff to him and he found it all to be "normal" and told us several times that the staff was not allowed to discuss the reservation or talk with us because we were not the names on the reservation. Not one time did a SINGLE staff member ask for our name OR room number... he still insisted that we didn't have a bad experience. When I told the manager that his tone was not good, he was appalled and tried to deny his attitude problem. His demeanor also lessened once our sponsor arrived - he was still rude, but not as bad as when our sponsor was not present. |This was a horrible experience and the staff is not on the same page about anything and apparently they aren't trained on...