Porto Vista Hotel — Hotel in San Diego

Customer Service: 2/5 Staff is obviously not trained in their jobs, how the hotel operates or how to talk to customers. I had the sassiest front desk lady when I would call in for simple questions/concerns. Simple questions were answered differently by 3 different staff members. Upon check out, they would've charged the valet to my personal card had I not taken the initiative of confirming source of payment. The front desk lady had no idea that it was already prearranged to charge valet to the company card that was also paying for rooming for myself and 5 other rooms for the past week. They almost had me pay over 100$ for parking before I had to wake my boss up with a phone call asking him to verify details that he had already communicated to the hotel.

Communication: 2/5 I called in for a TV remote for my TV since my room did not have one. The receptionist was very rude and obviously hated her job but she said she would send someone up with a new remote soon. 45 minutes later I get a knock on my door from I assume the hotel's maintenance guy asking to come in and check on my TV. Not properly dressed and craning my neck around a cracked door I remind him that all I need is a new remote. The guy responds that he was told my TV wasn't working. I reaffirm all I need is a new remote and he leaves and comes back 10 minutes later with a new remote. The service was appreciated but all of that could've been avoided with better communication on the hotels end.

Rooms: 4/5 Rooms are nice and spacious for the price. I heard a customer complain his shower was full of mildew and leave right after checking into his room. My bathroom was fine. Rooms have not enough and outdated electric outlets and no USB ports. I immediately unplug the iPod home alarm clock from 2004 so that I can plug my phone in to charge at night.

Breakfast 2/5: Breakfast is super hit or miss. One morning it's okay, the next morning the eggs are soggy and cold. I asked if I could take a plate to my room and the hostess just said "NO" and offered no solutions. I'm walking out of the breakfast bar with a breakfast burrito clutched in a napkin and another staff member runs up nervously laughing and holding a styrofoam to go box as an apology. Why was that so hard? They give breakfast vouchers if you book rooms through the hotel per day but it's honestly a slightly fancier continental breakfast. I'd rather eat out for breakfast.

Noise: This place is NOISY. 2 of the nights I'm staying there the hotel is hosting summer parties on the roof top and the music is LOUD. If you're down to party that's awesome but I was there on business and was assuming a clean/quiet/courteous hotel for professionals. Instead, between the hours of 2PM-9PM your room will be filled with "club next door" bass that you cannot escape unless by LEAVING the premises.

Valet: This location is difficult for overnight parking if you're not going to valet and valet starts at 25/day for a regular size sedan. They offered street parking options but I never saw any overnight street parking solutions that looked safe. The neighborhood seems okay but there's a lot of homeless people in the area so I slept better letting my job pay the valet fee. If I was on a personal vacation on a budget I'd look somewhere else for a safe parking solution.

Elevator: The elevator is SO SLOW and there's only ONE for a 5 floor hotel with hundreds of rooms and guests! Every time you take it expect to wait a good 5 minutes before it comes to you. Numerous times when I'd call it, it would arrive full, which doesn't work if you have a party of 3-4 or a cart you need to fit in there. Taking the stairs is honestly way faster if you can.

Overall, I don't plan on returning unless I had no better choice. I think there are better experiences out there for a similar price. This hotel has the appearance of a higher class hotel in a nice part of town but once you start noticing all the cracks you realize it's just another sub par hotel with poor...

• AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS *

To preface, we called the hotel in advance to booking, to ask about available rooms and locations, because we needed specific arrangements.

We needed a suite with a separate living room area, and an additional room close by so we could put the kiddos to bed, and still be able to hang out while being next to where they were all sleeping. Prior to booking they advised that there was one queen suite left, and a king room with a balcony, that would be only a couple doors away from each other, exactly what we needed. So we booked our rooms through priceline.

Upon arrival and check-in, we were shocked to see that valet parking was $45 per night (a bit ridiculous) and contradictory to the $30 described on their own website. After valet, during the check-in process, they advised that even though our room was shown to be prepaid on their end, it in fact was not. The lady at the desk was confused on the situation, and defaulted to just taking payment from me anyway. I agreed and we went about the process and completed check-in.

When we arrived to the rooms we were shocked. As stated by other reviewers, their photographer is a wizard with a wide angle, as the room photos are blatantly deceptive to say the least. The queen suite, room #500 ($395 for one night) was very small, very dirty, and had many issues. Hair all over the bathroom and living room, broken curtains that could not be opened, door to patio had moisture expansion and was a PITA to open and close, sliding window in bedroom had a screen that was hanging on by a thread and could have easily been knocked off, exposing a 5 story drop to the street. Messy cables hanging down from each TV, shower drain clogged, bed was hard as a rock, an absolute joke of a room for the price. But we were already checked in and figured it was an expensive lesson learned.

Moving onto the next room...

We left the queen suite to go check out the King room with a balcony, room #504 ($335 for one night) to find it in very similar sanitary conditions. Off smell, hair every where, very hot and humid. This room is what started the ordeal. The AC unit in this room was not functioning, it had zero power to the unit. Being that the room was already very warm and humid, we went to the front desk to ask them to send up maintenance to check it out. The gentlemen from maintenance showed up very quickly (within 10 minutes) and informed us that this unit has a bad PCB, and has been an issue for a while. He was almost shocked that they sold us this room, knowing that this has been an ongoing issue. So back to the front desk we went, to see what accommodations could be made since the room was defective, and definitely did not command a $300+ stay. Their solution was, we can upgrade you to another room for an additional $90. They told us it was supposed to be a $110 upgrade, so for the inconvenience they would take $20 off (LOL) The issue with that room, is that it was located on the other end of the hotel, completely defeating the purpose of why we booked this hotel in the first place.

So we decided this hotel was not going to work, we packed up the kids and went down to the front desk to request a refund for the rooms, as we were going to have to find another place more accommodating to our needs. The front desk advised us that since we booked through priceline, we would have to handle the refund through them, EVEN THOUGH the hotel charged me directly, outside of priceline.

We left the property and contacted priceline. They let us know that they could not approve a full refund without first contacting the property. So they called the property to no avail, and resorted to sending an email. I have not been able to get a hold of management to try and settle this direct.

I have now resorted to involving priceline again, who has launched a formal investigation into this property due to negative reviews.

Next step will be initiating a chargeback through...

Update and upgrade thanks to excellent service from Michael who took care of the issues I had regarding my complaints. At first glance the hotel looks nice. However, the first night we were put in a room down a long dark walkway parallel to the parking garage where our room door opened directly into a dark parking lot that was sketchy. The next morning we requested to be moved. We were charged $80 additional to move to a room with more suitable placement that was safe and private. But, Michael despite being super busy went above and beyond to accommodate and provide amazing service, so we didn’t mind the charge plus the view, the patio and the art from the 5th floor are actually amazing. He and another young lady at the front desk were very friendly and helpful. The second room we had looked nice but was not at all well maintained. The AC sounded like a helicopter was hovering over the room all night long. One night it actually stopped working well and the room was very muggy. As you walk through the hotel every one of the AC units is leaking and there is stagnant water. The second room was not cleaned when we relocated with chips, beer bottle caps and hair glue on the floor. Despite the do not disturb sign our privacy was violated and we returned to find our room door open. The bathroom sink did not drain at all. The TV did not work in our room at all. All of which we would have been able to overlook because we enjoyed the experience and hospitality Michael and Julian who had been so pleasant and helpful. In fact all the valet staff is was excellent despite being super busy they were really friendly and hospitable. However, when I attempted to let the front desk know the issues we were having, I was met with pure hostility by Ariana. Who was excessively rude and immediately bit my head off. But tried to brush it off as miscommunication. I waited 6 hours for a call from the manager whom I requested to speak with but I never received the call. Again the same very nasty staff member said she thought I was going to meet the manager there to discuss in the lobby despite specifically being told she would call me. Again Ariana rudely claimed miscommunication when I’m certain she never passed the message. This hotel has pretty pictures and flashing lights and a great location but the rooms are dirty, run down and not maintained at all. Everything from leaking faucets and AC units to trash left all over the room when you check in and housekeeping that doesn’t clean but ignores your right to privacy, opening your door anyway and leaving it open till you return. I can overlook a lot but the behavior and attitude of one employee can definitely the entire experience! The morning after my initial review I spoke again with Michael who went above and Beyond to correct my complaints abs concerns from the day before. Being honest, one bad Apple can ruin the bunch. But the other staff especially Michael and Julian made us feel like welcomed and valued guests. We also really the friendly service of Heather and Vivian. I’m a people person so friendly staff is always a plus! That’s really important for me. I would visit again because of them in spite of some much needed room maintenance and improved housekeeping for me, it’s about people. And the valet staff especially Julian and the hospitality of Michael made for a great stay! Despite one bad Apple we left in a great note and for the staff we met and loved we will...