The Pearl Hotel — Restaurant in San Diego

The pearl makes you wish you had read more of the negative reviews and not got enticed by the gorgeous pictures on google.

I decided to give the pearl a try because the pictures looked quite well and thinking to try something new that might be great If you prefer standards that you get from a best western, Hilton, Marriott and such, don’t think that you will get it with the pearl. First off, the pearl only has five parking spots allocated to guests, the rest of the parking is “free parking “ per hotel description but is actually random chance city street parking in the nearby residential neighborhood that is already crowded with parked cars. (Prior reviewers said same thing, I could have saved myself a surprise.) My experience was having to park 3 blocks away and lug travel bags thru a gauntlet of cars driving thru non stop intersections that could not see me, and walking in the street where some construction was occurring. Think wearing out your roller wheels. Half or most of the rooms are on 2nd floor, so lugging you roller luggage up the stairs will be the last mandatory weight lift price to stay at the pearl. Rooms are located next to the central activity court. You’ll be getting the full volume of crowd vocal activities as it goes on. The ~ 250 sq ft Jewel Room seems clean, upkept, organized and styled to the theme of the ocean with shells, blue decor and a fish bowl with a solo live fish hanging on the wall. I feel for the poor fish who has to live a life of hotel room decor. TV comes with 2 remotes so you’ll have to go thru a trial and test period about what does what but that may not be enough as one of the remotes stopped working and the channel remained stuck. Luxury bed seems to be overstating it. AC unit appears to be an old regular window unit you’d find in a house but installed in the wall. You’ll need to use your phone flashlight to read the controls. Expect the AC to drown out the bar noise, expect it to sound like a busy restaurant in your room when AC stops. Vintage bedside lamp was not working. No room for stuff in bathroom. Shower curtain setup makes it hard to close it on ends plus no weights in curtain (pic). Floor grout is basically black (pic) If you don’t trust soap, shampoo, body wash pump dispenser bottles which could have been opened and given an added deposit by a prior guest in a swanky hotel then bring you own soaps & shampoo. Bathroom fan sounds like it’s drilling a hole in your head and see the layered cake dust on vent in pic. After 5 minutes with the fan on while taking shower you‘ll feel it is punishing. Water pressure at the tub faucet is over abundant but at the shower head it is low. Not sure how that happens. “High speed” wireless internet is .3 mbps download, .18 mbps upload. Only 1 open wall socket outside of the bathroom and it looks like it’s been around since the time electricity was invented, chargers fall out easily. Sleep to the sounds of traffic on Rosecrans, and several mechanical vibrations things going on in building. Room door has gap underneath it, allows sounds & bugs to come in. The pearl is swanky, retro, off the beaten path, non-corporate processed hotel. More of a groovy” club spot than a hotel. A old hotel that extensively exploited modern marketing methods to lure you in to a hotel stay that misses the mark on several hotel comforts. Looking for a groovy club space, it works out, looking for a decent place to stay, it’s more like an old apartment, you have to like those characteristics. I would say, not for everyone but would great for a trist or fling. Pros: does not smell like deodorants. Lots of brand name hotels these days over apply the industrial deos. Location in Point Loma area. I swear the bed sheets smelled a little like salt water, which matched the theme of the room. It was the most pleasant part...

Stayed at this hotel and had a great experience, however, after the fact I purchased the bath soap, shampoo and conditioner through the Pearl Hotel Online Casetta shop and had a miserable experience. I thought that since the Pearl Hotel endorses this brand on their website (And there is no way to review the Casetta shop outside of through the Pearl Hotel), it would be a more trusted experience, but it was not. My items were never shipped and I had to call multiple times to even have someone from the hotel or Cassetta shop follow back up with me. The cassette shop still would then only follow back up via email, never called me back. I was told multiple times "my item had shipped" and USPS must have lost it, but was never provided with a tracking number. Even the Operations Project Manager told me they don't keep the tracking numbers and couldn't provide one to me (Which makes no sense because you have to purchase or download the label, the tracking number is permanently in your shops system) .... But okay. They told me this twice, after supposedly two packages were "lost" by USPS. By the way she communicated with me over email she made me feel like I was a burden telling her my package never was received and thus requested a tracking number. She even had the nerve to ask me If I wanted her to send a new package.... Well duh! If my package wasn't received and you cannot provide a tracking number, at the least shouldn't you send the package to ensure I get it since I am a paying customer....? I never received my package until after I called the Pearl Hotel multiple times to speak with the general manager. Once the general manager finally called me back, he apologized for the situation and ensured the package would be sent out with an additional gift for all my troubles. Luckily, the package finally arrived, but no gift arrived. For all my troubles and for what seems like being lied to by the Casetta shop, I received no refund and no additional gift as promised. I feel very unsupported as a customer of this hotel who endorses this brand. I have yet to be reached out to from the Casetta shop or the Owner checking in if my package or "gift" was received. I hope that through my experiences with them, they update their online system to include a tracking number to their customers with the email stating their package has shipped to avoid these issues and problems...

A lovely hotel that was modern and had a relaxed Boho vibe to the decor. Staff are freindly and welcoming on arrival. The restaurant for dinner is amazing and took us by surprise, the portions are huge but top marks to the chef! There is much an environmentally friendly ethos to the hotel, with them adopting many measures to be greener. I really appreciated these and shows how easy it can be. As part of this, your room is not serviced unless you actually ask for it.

The rooms were clean and tidy, but there was an overriding damp smell (not mould, just like you had had a shower just before you walked in and the condensation and humidity had nowhere to go). We didn't manage to get rid of this despite us having the window open the whole time we were in the room. However, it wasn't super unpleasant and it didn't put us off the room. The cleaners do a very thorough job cleaning the communal areas, even beating the sofas and cushions to remove dust!

The breakfast was simple but well presented, which you were able to help yourseld to. It would have been nice if some of the options for breakfast rotated throughout the week. 5 mornings of the same things being offered every day was boring by the 3rd day and actually meant we got breakfast elsewhere.

Parking is expensive, you can park on the roads close to the hotel for free.

Location is good, being close to the airport and around 20mins taxi ride from most of the hotspots, but you are still walking distance to coffee shops, restaurants take aways and of course the harbour.

Staff were friendly but there seemed to be some issues in communication when it came to asking for a sofa bed to be made up and our room to be serviced.

They do offer a movie night around the pool. We didn't think this was done too well as most people weren't there to watch the film but instead have dinner. The film which was played on the screen above the pool with very little sound, so with other guests just there to socialise and enjoy a meal, it was very difficult to follow the film at all. Subtitles and increased volume would have been so much better. It's a great concept and we still enjoyed ourselves but it wasn't as much of a "movie night" as we expected.

Make sure you eat at the restaurant!! That's all that needs to be said on that!

Overall I would recommend this hotel and would be happy to stay...