DoubleTree by Hilton San Diego Bayside — Hotel in San Diego

I had the misfortune of staying at this place for a week for a conference. What I look for in a hotel is a clean and quiet room where I feel safe. I got none of the three:||Unsafe location: many of their rooms are in small concrete blocks that look like cheap highway motel 6, and they are exactly that. My room was on a street (picture 1 - yes these are the rooms behind the bamboo), directly accessible by anyone who would want to break in. No sign indicating 'guest only', no surveillance camera, the perfect conditions for someone with a crowbar. The area was unsafe enough, as you can see on picture 2, showing the neighboring building door with its metallic grid to protect the main door. That's the neighbor, but anyone has direct access, unmonitored, to your room door at the Doubletree. I heard multiple times people knocking at my door, who were mysteriously gone when I opened the door after answering. Not sure if there are just a lot of people who like pranks, or if these were reconnaissance knocks, to find rooms ready for a break in. The hotel is probably aware of how unsafe this setup and area are, because the room doors have metal corners (picture 3), and there is a sign in the room that says in essence "don't open, ever, when someone knocks, and please don't leave ANYTHING of value in the room when you are not there". ||Cleanliness: my room was dirty, with off-putting stench coming from the carpet and from the sink. After complaining to the staff, who responded with a polite "sorry to hear that, do you want a free bottle of water?" (Not sure if they were expecting me to use the water to clean the carpet, or if they simply did not care), I bought a disinfectant/deodorant spray for the carpet and a drain cleaner from a nearby grocery store. Needless to say, they helped a bit but didn't do much. After 3 days of complaining daily, the staff finally sent someone to clean the drain, but this did not fix the carpet, that would have needed deep cleaning. The rest of the room was in the same sorry state, you can see the piles of dust and spider web on the A/C output (take a deep breath if you dare), and the many stains all over the worn-out furniture, on the bed sheets, etc. ||Noisy: opening the windows might have helped for the smell in this place, but the block is directly on a street where bikes, cars and trucks pass all day and all night long. In one of the nights, I measured 84 decibels in the room as a group of bikers was having a roaring contest outside (I had not much to do, so I found that there are apps to measure the noise from your smartphone). Needless to say that I did not get much sleep in this place.|I of course complained to the staff throughout my stay, and got nothing but empty replies in the style "sorry to hear that, do you want a free cookie?" (no, I want a clean and quiet room).||In the end, on day 3, I found a Sheraton nearby who offered me a great room for the same price (and immediate status on their brand). I still had to pay the full 5 days of my stay at the Hilton Double Tree, because in addition to practicing price gouging (the price of my room was double the price of the previous or the following week, because there was a conference in town that week), they also have a "48 h policy", which means that they charge you 2 additional nights if you leave early. This is not surprising, as I suppose that many people, seeing the shocking state of the rooms they give, decide to go elsewhere. |My advice: go to the Sheraton down the street, or to another place, but don't play with your luck. You 'may' get a good room (as I see good reviews), but chances are that you will get a dump "cheap highway motel" style, but 8 times more expensive, and a staff that does not care beyond the short term profit.|Note: from the other reviews I see, it is likely that the hotel will reply to this review "oh we are sorry, please contact us", but this is just fake public relation, I contacted them, and they made clear that they know the issue, but just don't care once they have your...

I am writing this review, but did not even stay at the hotel. |This problem did not begin with this property, but it will end with them |Story time!||In May 2025, I was searching for hotels for a room block for my guests to remove hassle of hotel searches to enjoy their weekend in Sunny San Diego as they also celebrated my wife and I tying the knot. I was actually offered a stay at Hilton HomeWood Suites, but somehow when we attempted to reserve rooms, we were denied and told that our rooms were no longer available. Fast forward the Hilton representative was very aggressive and pushed for us to just book a few rooms at this hotel. I was hesitant, but eventually agreed to just book this room as back up in case we could not find anything else in the area to serve as a room block for the wedding guests. The representative ensured me that it is basically a complimentary block and if the rooms go unused, AND there is no cancellation by early June, not to worry, the rooms reservation will just be cancelled. She was very adamant that I would NOT be charged. Rookie mistake for me in this moment. I was asked to provide my CC information as formality. Well it was never my intention to let time escape me, but understandably I became extremely busy with last minute preparations for the BIG DAY. I did not cancel the hotel rooms reservation, but thinking of the promise of the Hilton Hotel representative, I felt there was nothing to worry about. Well fast forward again to mid June were I see 3 separate charges on my CC statement. I contact the hotel and was told that I was charged a late cancellation fee, which 1) Is odd because I never cancelled........|I asked to speak to management regarding the matter, but was given the run around and told I will hear back from management within the next few days. Almost a week had passed and I called back to follow up. Unfortunately for me, I ran into the same outcome. I was apologized to and told that management would contact me within the next few days......... As you probably guessed, the management team NEVER returned the calls despite their representatives saying that they would reach out to me. I ended up contacting Hilton Guest Assistance to give my side of the story. They refused to check in with voice recordings to confirm the statement I had heard regarding not having to cancel, but that did agree to open a case and told me that the GM of this Hotel should reach out to me to discuss the details of this experience and help come to a solution. Again, I don't know why I even considered they would actually contact me. 7 days passed, and no correspondence. I called the Hilton Guest Assistance to let them know that the GM had not contacted me. They were able to check "the notes" on the case and found that "I had a full month to cancel, he is not to receive any funds back." This did not end in my favor. I sure was charged quite a bit of money for not utilizing the amenities of this hotel and it just seems unfair. I was ensured that I would not be charged but in the end I was. The customer service at this specific hotel is completely incompetent and unfortunate for me again not receiving the justice I feel I was owed. I would not go this far if I just forgot and didn't care to cancel. Fact is I was told that I don't have to worry about a charge. I hope after many seeing this review would steer far away from this Hotel. ||Lesson learned and will never step foot in a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. This was by far my worst hotel reservation experience and left a terrible...

I am writing this review, but did not even stay at the hotel. This problem did not begin with this property, but it will end with them Story time!

In May 2025, I was searching for hotels for a room block for my guests to remove hassle of hotel searches to enjoy their weekend in Sunny San Diego as they also celebrated my wife and I tying the knot. I was actually offered a stay at Hilton HomeWood Suites, but somehow when we attempted to reserve rooms, we were denied and told that our rooms were no longer available. Fast forward the Hilton representative was very aggressive and pushed for us to just book a few rooms at this hotel. I was hesitant, but eventually agreed to just book this room as back up in case we could not find anything else in the area to serve as a room block for the wedding guests. The representative ensured me that it is basically a complimentary block and if the rooms go unused, AND there is no cancellation by early June, not to worry, the rooms reservation will just be cancelled. She was very adamant that I would NOT be charged. Rookie mistake for me in this moment. I was asked to provide my CC information as formality. Well it was never my intention to let time escape me, but understandably I became extremely busy with last minute preparations for the BIG DAY. I did not cancel the hotel rooms reservation, but thinking of the promise of the Hilton Hotel representative, I felt there was nothing to worry about. Well fast forward again to mid June were I see 3 separate charges on my CC statement. I contact the hotel and was told that I was charged a late cancellation fee, which 1) Is odd because I never cancelled........ I asked to speak to management regarding the matter, but was given the run around and told I will hear back from management within the next few days. Almost a week had passed and I called back to follow up. Unfortunately for me, I ran into the same outcome. I was apologized to and told that management would contact me within the next few days......... As you probably guessed, the management team NEVER returned the calls despite their representatives saying that they would reach out to me. I ended up contacting Hilton Guest Assistance to give my side of the story. They refused to check in with voice recordings to confirm the statement I had heard regarding not having to cancel, but that did agree to open a case and told me that the GM of this Hotel should reach out to me to discuss the details of this experience and help come to a solution. Again, I don't know why I even considered they would actually contact me. 7 days passed, and no correspondence. I called the Hilton Guest Assistance to let them know that the GM had not contacted me. They were able to check "the notes" on the case and found that "I had a full month to cancel, he is not to receive any funds back." This did not end in my favor. I sure was charged quite a bit of money for not utilizing the amenities of this hotel and it just seems unfair. I was ensured that I would not be charged but in the end I was. The customer service at this specific hotel is completely incompetent and unfortunate for me again not receiving the justice I feel I was owed. I would not go this far if I just forgot and didn't care to cancel. Fact is I was told that I don't have to worry about a charge. I hope after many seeing this review would steer far away from this Hotel.

Lesson learned and will never step foot in a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. This was by far my worst hotel reservation experience and left a terrible...