Holiday Inn Express & Suites San Diego - Mission Valley by IHG

Very close to the freeway so it was quick to get to all the places I wanted to see. It was very clean and well maintained.

Only one strange thing I didn’t like, the jacuzzi wasn’t hot. The pool was heated and felt great but when I went to soak in the hot tub the water was about 15 degrees colder than the pool. That was a little disappointing.

I loved the breakfast selection and set up. It had a nice variety and switched it up everyday. It was very clean, staff was very nice. The pool was super fun for the kids and the room had a very nice set up! I also liked the extra security needing to use the room key for the elevator and doors. The rooms were also very updated, lots of room.

The only issue with the hotel itself was that 1 of our 2 tv’s kept shutting off every hour or so for 10-30 seconds at a time and turning back on. I also didn’t like that Netflix, Disney or any tv app wasn’t available to sign into on the tv. Another “complaint” I had but I don’t think is the hotels fault necessarily, is that maps wasn’t finding the exact spot. We had to pull into multiple hotels before we found our hotel since it was behind another hotel.

Good location, ample breakfast, 24-hour coffee machine.

We booked a room on our own for the first two days, then stayed for 3 more days with a tour group that was paying for the room. We made a (seemingly) simple request not to need to change rooms. This was VERY confusing to the staff and took a long time to sort out how they could do that. Daily housekeeping was hit or miss. One day they took our used towels and didn't replace them. We had to ask for more towels. The room didn't have adequate places for two people to put their suitcases due to a lack of furniture, though there was plenty of room for another chair or two. We asked for a second luggage rack. They did eventually find one after telling us that there were no extras. (Luggage racks are a pet peeve of mine. Too many hotels provide one luggage rack and no place else to put suitcases, which doesn't work for two people. A second luggage rack would be an extremely simple amenity!)

It was close to Mission beach which we loved and is the best beach in San Diego. Complementary coffee and tea, hot chocolate, water always available. The beds were good, just hard enough. Employees tried to make our stay comfortable.

Area around hotel was populated by other cheap motels, homeless people walking around, police force investigations going on at neighbors building. During breakfast the staff was struggling quite a bit, as plenty people rushed in, was after 4th July, but still, tables were dirty, no-one was cleaning them, frankly the whole situation didn’t feel inviting. I really wish they would have had Plant based milk available for coffee and cereals 😒 as other Holiday Inns have it available. The most disturbing was the smell in our room, no matter AC, or leaving door open, there was old/musty smell which really bothered me. It was not coming from AC, was just there all the time in floor, ceiling.. Unfortunately I wouldn’t book this hotel again.