Hotel Iris — Hotel in San Diego

Worst experience ever. . . I booked this room on AirBNB for those of you who don't know about this system. AirBNB stands for Air Bed and Breakfast it's an app you can download that finds you real nice rentals all over the world. The convenience of this location is stellar its walking distance from a decent restaurant (Bunz) and its in the heart of San Diego.

Hotel Iris is located on Hotel Circle N and as the name reflects there are tons of hotels on this loop on both sides of a major highway. I chose this hotel on AirBNB because they have great photos on the App. The unfortunate truth is that when I checked in, I got a tiny room with a kitchenette that looked nothing like the photos and it wasn't fully clean.

The white linen on the bed was either soiled or dirty and covered in stains; If you are in the hospitality business this is one thing that can NEVER be overlooked. In addition to the soiled linen; it didn't have the appearance of a clean fresh look; and I should know as I run an AirBNB out of my home.

I casually mentioned it to the front desk clerk whom was very nice about everything and asked if upon my return I would like to change rooms. I responded in the affirmative as I departed to the Crowne Plaza to pick up my sisters for dinner.

No shuttle services to and from the airport. No shuttle services period. Ironically enough most hotels on Hotel Circle offer their customers shuttle services to shopping mall at Fashion Valley, Old town San Diego, MCRD (Marine Corp Recruit Depot) San Diego, Balboa Park, in addition to pickup and drop offs at airport which is less than 4 miles away and countless others. The mass transit system travels in a loop and connects all the communities I just listed above. It's not always on time, so try this mode at your own risk.

One reason I started to AirBNB is to get away from hotel motel franchises that refuse to use fabric softer on their towels; Hotel Iris is no different. The towel I was using could of been sandpaper it was so rough. This makes for an awful start anytime.

The second room I was offered was much bigger, no kitchenette, but a small fridge and microwave, Kingsize bed which was not the most comfortable; I must of tossed and turned all night. It must of been one of the most inexpensive and cheaply made mattresses on the market, you could actually feel the springs on some parts of the bed.

The décor in this room was much nicer than the previous room; but the décor, large 39 inch television on a swivel mount and spaciousness could not make up for the uncomfortable bed, oh almost forgot there was what looked like a cigarette burn/rub on the sheet that was there for the entirety of my trip which tells me that they didn't change the sheets once while I stayed there. Upon close inspection these sheets too were stained they were a light color. I would have just changed the sheets and go with darker colors.

So when I tried to leave a review on the App. The hotel owners would not review me so that my review could be seen by the masses. I'm hoping others will learn from my mistakes and remember that old saying; you get what...

My stay consisted of loud construction work being done during the day which was a bit annoying. There were stains on the carpet. The bathroom vent didn't work well so a lot of moisture stayed in the room unless you kept the fan on for a while and kept the front door open to help the air flow. In addition, due to the lack of a powerful bathroom fan, when taking a hot shower, the moisture started to accumulate easily in the bathroom which the biggest issue was the toilet paper can easily become very damp. The hot water in the sink took forever to get warm. If you get back to the inn late at night, there was no parking available. The TV is very old with only composite connectors which is annoying. The mattress is low quality therefore if you share a bed, you can feel the other person's movements very easily which can wake both people up at night. Pillows weren't very fluffy - probably reason is it is old/used a lot.

So all that negative being said, most people would easily not want to stay here. However, first and foremost, after shopping around on the web, I found a great deal at this location which was better than all other hotels/motels in the area. I checked every single one on Hotel Circle S as well as many throughout the City of San Diego because I'm obsessive compulsive like that. It is right by the freeway so getting to other parts of the city was a breeze. A 5 minute drive east on local roads will take you places like Target and the mall where you can get a lot of essentials for a low price rather than paying a premium at the local market that is walking distance. The internet is quick. I averaged 15Mbps down and 9Mbps up which was great for when I had to do some work. So much better than the local Starbucks. If you are okay with waffles (which I love) breakfast is served daily with eggs and orange juice and or coffee. The fact that it's included is a huge plus for me. If service was needed, they are generally very quick to get things done. I almost gave this review a 4 star because of all the great things that were included especially for the price that I stayed at (and all the surrounding hotels were double the price for slightly better quality that may or may not include the same amenities. I think the biggest reason I decided for 3 stars is because I had to air out the room after a hot shower and the bed wasn't the greatest for sharing but I would honestly consider coming here again and if I am with another person, get a double bed. The money you save, you can use to get yourself a nice...

This place is disgusting, or at least my room was (#249). My girlfriend and I checked in Saturday evening for our Labor Day weekend stay/visit to SD. While we were sleeping, I was awoken at 1:30AM by a bedbug crawling on my neck! And it wasn’t just one BEDBUG, the entire area by the headboard (pillows and bedsheets) was infested with the critters crawling around (see pics below. It’s too bad I can’t upload a video to serve my complaint some justice).

I walked to the hotel lobby and explained the situation to the desk worker. After a few minutes of him checking for another vacancy and calling their sister-properties, he said there were no openings, so he called his manager. Their conversation was brief, and the desk worker returned to only say “my manager said the only thing we can do at this point is to process a full refund”.

At this point, I’m not only tired and frustrated at the situation, but the lack of customer service was appalling. There was no other effort on their part to call around downtown, etc to help us look for a room. It’s now 2:30AM, and my options are: do nothing and sleep in the bug infested room, or check out and spot call hotels to find a room.

My girlfriend and I spent the next hour calling and driving to neighboring hotels and luckily we found a place in Little Italy for the night, for $340! ...Three times the cost of Hotel Iris per night. I guess I should’ve taken heed of others’ reviews on here about their cleanliness. But hey, it’s 4AM now and we at least have a roof over our heads and a bug-free bed to sleep on. Anywho, I fired off a brief email to Hotel Iris and their management company and went to bed.

The after effects carried over into the next day. We woke up tired, checked out, and wasted vacation time looking for another room that wasn’t $340 a night (most places were booked due to the holiday weekend). In short, we ended up at LaQuinta Inn for a decent price and we were more than satisfied with our stay there.

Several days later, I still haven’t received a courtesy follow-up call or a response to my email. Overall, theres not much I can do, but I feel like others need to have a heads up of what they’re potentially getting themselves into if they’re considering this place: lackluster smelly rooms with potential bedbugs, squeaky springy beds, and poor customer service from management. There are so many other...