Residence Inn by Marriott San Diego Sorrento Mesa/Sorrento Valley — Hotel in San Diego

My wife and I are retirees living in Seattle and spent 2 weeks here in Feb. 2022. This was perhaps our tenth stay with Marriot over 20 years. Of all our Marriot stays, his had the most nearby open space and was the most peaceful. Overall it was our best Marriot stay. It was good value compared with prices in the area.

Pros: -------------------------------

Staff had excellent PR skills. Good hot breakfast, for both carnivores (my wife) and vegetarians (me). Indoor and outdoor seating, the latter with optional gas fireplace. The breakfast was better than average. I am a lacto-vegetarian and enjoyed the oatmeal and delicious healthy toppings such as nuts, pumpkin seeds, cranberries and raisins. The fresh fruit and various fruit juices were a nice plus. (Often fresh fruit is lacking at hotels). My wife liked the wraps, the croissants with meat or egg, and the sweet pastries. The yogurt and 2% milk were appreciated.

Peaceful, comfortable Queen Studio B251, N-facing. Good internet and (2) large flat screen TVs. Lots of channels. Well equipped kitchen with sharp cutting knives. Full-size refrig. Dishwasher. Plates etc. for 4 persons. Very comfortable Q master bed; OK sleeper bed. Excellent hot shower, with quiet exhaust fan.

Tasty 24 h drip coffee & teas in lobby. No decaf at first but this appeared during our stay after my request. Coffee maker in room, with reg & decaf packets. Attractive cactus garden out front of lobby. Lots of parking (extra $15/day). Elevator in both blocks. Pleasant heated pool and jacuzzi.

Lots of nearby open space, including huge Peñasquitos Canyon 0.5 mi away. Safe and enjoyable bike routes to Torrey Pines State Beach (7 mi OW, easy) and La Jolla Beach (7 mi OW, moderate). Hotel is roughly midway between San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, both accessible via mostly multi-lane hiways.

Grocery stores nearby: Vons ( good selection but expensive and with a confusing shopping App). 99Cent Only Store (fair produce selection at good prices e.g. 5oz fresh organic salad greens for $1, six tasty small avocados for $2.25).

Cons: -------------------------------

B- block S facing rooms look out onto busy Mira Mesa Blvd. OK only if windows closed. (We prefer fresh air to A/C). Kitchen was designed for dishwasher use (not our preference), and lacked a dish drain rack, sponge and dish-soap bottle. Later we obtained sponge and soap from a housekeeper. (One needs to...

4 minutes ago

Good: staff was nice, room was spacious, overall comfy.

All of this was outweighed by my car getting broken into during my 10 hour stay.

Check in was quick and efficient, and as I had a room in the back area of the hotel, it was recommended that I park near the doorway there.  I was also notified that there was a 12$ parking fee, and I thought NBD, assuming that this sounds fine for secure parking.  After a unassuming and comfortable night in my room, I woke up for breakfast and walked to move my car to find broken glass and minor scratches/dents on my rear passenger door.

I'm fortunate that the thieves didn't take anything irreplaceable or even that expensive (i had an empty duffel bag that apparently they thought would be cool to have despite it being unzipped and open to see).

Reporting to the front desk, they confessed that another car had been broken into a few weeks previously in the same area.  They filled out an incident report and the receptionist believed they would file the police report for me. As i had to be at my event, i didn't pursue too much with her and left info for the manager to contact me and deal with later.

What really happened is I do not get any sort of compensation,as, per quoting the official Marriott corporate office,

"The parking fee is paying for the real estate you use.  We do our best to prevent any of these occurrences, and send people to patrol regularly.  Just as you would not be able to hold the city accountable if you parked on the street, our parking passes clearly state Marriott is not responsible for any loss or damage."

In addition, the hotel did NOT file a police report, did not cover any repair costs or insurance premiums, and, worst of all, STILL CHARGED MY CARD FOR PARKING.

Tl;Dr-- nice hotel, but...

A marriott rewards member - have stayed at Marriotts during all of my business and leisure trips for the past two years. The stay in itself was not that bad barring one incident at the breakfast when the staff had not comprehended the large turnout - and resulted in running out of food for breakfast and causing quiet a ruckus early morning. The main issue with the stay was the services received after checking out - We were charged a $250 smoking fee. I called to inquire about the incident and a representative said she would have a manager call me back - after awaiting 2 days, i called back to have the representative tell me that the manager was again busy but they had collected photos as evidence. I gave her my number and email address to have the "evidence" emailed to me. She said a manager would get back to me - 3 days later I had to call back myself a third time to talk to Nick (representative) , who was utterly rude and said that there was no way a manager would call me back and no way possible this fees is waived as the operational manager (controller) is very strict and my only way to get a hold of her would be to do it by calling them and hoping she is there.

Never in my life have I ever received such service from Marriott properties . Not only did this dampen my stay at the marriott but made me rethink where I would be conducting my business going forward. If they treat their reward members in such a way, I could only imagine how normal retail would be treated.

My stay was from July 3rd to July 4th at Room 246 at the Residence Inn at Soretogo Valley in San diego. I would also be sharing this experience at Travel Advisor and few other websites to help other travelers be prepared for a stay at...