I booked a seven night stay at £100 per night through British Airways holidays and from the pictures expected this hotel to be decent. What a disappointment! Before reading this please note that I don't have excessive expectations about hotels and have never written a negative review before but this was my experience.
When we first arrived we thought it looked nice enough with flamed torches lighting up the entrance to the hotel which was in a nice quiet part of San Diego. The pleasantries ended there! I asked the receptionist if she would give us a room which didn't overlook the carpark (as I had read in previous reviews). She audiably sighed and reluctantly gave us an "upgrade" to a room by the pool. No one offered to help us with our luggage. We made our way to our poolside room (#127) and were in for a shock! Firstly, there was no light by the door so we had to stumble around looking for a light switch in the dark. The air conditioning was on full blast and it was freezing cold. We found that there were no ceiling lights, just lamps. The room stank, was dirty and damp. To top it all off our "upgrade" was a view of the pool toilets bang outside our room, no view of the pool at all and very dark. Not pleasant. The room was of motel standard, nothing nice to say about it at all. The old sheets were limp from damp, everything was so worn and dirty. The showerhead was brown with dirt, there were cobwebs in the bathroom and the dirty carpet was damp when walked on with bare feet. I felt conned and incredibly disappointed, it was a long way from the luxurious pictures they advertised.
I returned to the reception and asked if there was any other room at all available, but was told by the very rude receptionist that there wasn't (which I later found out wasn't the case at all) and that we couldn't have a refund as we had booked through British Airways. As I had a small child with me I decided to just put up with it for one night but the next morning I headed down to reception again to see what could be done and was greeted by a different receptionist (Danielle) who was so much more helpful. She showed me another room on the upper floor which was better, although still dirty and old. Then a junior suite (#100) which was much better. It was fresh smelling, airy, not damp, clean and there was a king size bed, pull out sofa bed, two TVs, sink, microwave and fridge. It was still old looking though but much better than the previous rooms we had seen. The balcony overlooked the parking lot and over to the bay of San Diego. We decided to go for the suite as we were unable to leave the hotel and could not possibly stay in the room we were given - the smell was so bad. Danielle kindly said that we would not have to pay the extra $60 per night or the suite due to the situation.
The heated pool was nice, but so crowded we couldn't get a sunbed. I can't say it was relaxing either as there were some drunk people being loud by the pool which was off putting when you have children and the bands practicing sound checks all afternoon before their concerts ,were right next door. The view of the stage and harbour was stunning. There is a useful laundry room too.
Adjacent to the hotel (but not part of it) there is a little beach from which we saw pelicans and a sealion. You cannot swim in the sea here as it is declared as unsafe due to contamination, but it is a nice little spot none the less.
There were a few concerts and events at the hotel during our stay, which disrupted parking, was noisy for putting children to sleep, meant you couldn't use the laundry, had to walk round the outside of the hotel to get to the pool and they put the guest toilets to the side of our balcony! It was also difficult to get a restaurant reservation. In the mornings they emptied the toilets whilst we were sitting outside having coffee and the smell was unbearable. We decided to check out two nights early and just accept that we had made a mistake with this hotel, lose the £200 we had paid for those two nights and pay to stay somewhere better.
I had read good reviews about this place and it does have good points but we had such a poor experience here we would never return.

Okay...first of all I would like to say that as a visitor on this site whenever I see a lot of good reviews and a few bad ones I tend to view the bad reviews as people that are just, "difficult". As much as I agree with a lot of the opinions about this hotel, I would still have to rate my experience at Humphrey's as bad (I don't see myself as being a difficult person but you be the judge).
I booked the room through the hotels website months in advance. We arrived on a Tuesday night (week before Mem. Day weekend) and recieved a room which basically overlooked the parking lot and a marina across the street. I asked if they had something upstairs or a different building (you'll see why later)and they said they were booked but they would get back with us later. Basically, by the time they got back to us the next day we felt we just wanted to stay in the room we were in because we had already unpacked (4 people for 5 days = a lot of clothes!). The room was very nice (Jr. Deluxe Suite) and very clean...great cleaning people! Everything was fine until the first night of concerts (Thurs. night). I was aware that they held concerts there but when you look at the website pics it seems as though the concerts are held away from the rooms...not the case! The stage and concert were held right behind our building! This wasn't even bad...I figured it would end at 11pm. Thursday and Friday night went by and it was a bit annoying but I wasn't going to let it ruin my vacation. After all we were the ones that decided to stay in that particular room. They had offered us a room on the second floor but in the same building - so it wouldn't have made much of a difference. (HINT: If someone from Humphrey's is reading this..if a guest stays in these buildings during three nights of concerts, it would probably be a good idea to at least comp. them free tickets to at least one of the three events - you would recieve less complaints - kind of a "if you can't beat them, join them" philosophy) Well by Saturday night we decided to stay away for the majority of the concert and come back late in the evening to avoid the mess. We got back at 10:30pm (concert started at 7pm). The concert was still going on but we expected it to wrap up soon based on past experience. Here is how the rest of our night went:

11:00pm - concert wrapped up

12:00am - Drunk people out in the hallway yelling.

12:30am - Drunk people still yelling - called front desk. Security came and people left.

1:00am - Wake up to hear the sound off dripping water - our sink was mysteriously overflowing with water (we did not have the water on!) It was overflowing onto the carpet - called front desk. Maintenence guy came and fixed problem.

1:30am - Drunk people back again.

2:30am - Drunk people back again.

We were told that these people were part of the band from the concert. The next mornign we complained to the front desk and after some discussion they eventually comp'd us our room rate for our last night stay.

This is a very nice hotel and I would have enjoyed it if it weren't for the building (concerts) we were in. I felt for the amount we paid (250/night) we shouldn't have to put up with it if we weren't there to see the concert(s).

Great Hotel if you want go specifically for these concerts though!

After reading some on the reviews about Humphreys my friends and I decided to book this hotel, even though there were a couple of a negative reviews. Every hotel will have some kind of negative right? So we decided to take our chances and were amazed by what we got for the price. We booked a trip deal and got a really good deal on this hotel. The hotel is on the bay on Shelter Island, so it was about 10 minutes from the airport. Didnt bother us at all. We didnt have to deal with all of the downtown hustle and bustle all day. The hotel grounds were beautiful and peaceful and the staff was very friendly. We had a bay view and were able to sleep with our windows open at night. One previous review stated the pillows were flat, we didnt have that experience, but it did look like the hotel had been updated recently. The rooms were smaller than normal, but very quaint and comfy. The concert venue that the hotel has is great too. Even though we didnt buy tickets to the concerts, we did listen to the concerts from the hotel pool and hot tub in the evenings. Very entertaining. I could go on about the hotel, but I wont. I would definitely recommend Humphreys for someone who is looking for a nice hotel on the bay for a reasonable price.

Stayed for 4 nights in early May 2007 and had no complaints. The room style is basic and, as a previous reviewer said, they are not suites but were very comfortable and well provided. I also agree the lighting in the rooms was a little poor. We found the staff helpful and efficient and the pool area very peaceful and relaxing and virtually deserted when we used it about 6pm after a day's sightseeing. We found about three other restaurants within easy walking distance but only tried one - the Bali Hai at the left hand end of shelter island as you drive on to it. Most of the meal was excellent although I did have to send my main course back. However I think this was an isolated problem, I just got an undercooked one and they dealt with it without any qualms or arguments. For most people I suspect the clincher for or against the Humphreys Half Moon is their series of summer concerts on their open air stage. This year's schedule includes the Beach Boys, Huey Lewis and the News, UB40, Steve Winwood through to kd Lang, Lyle Lovett and Queen Latifah plus numerous others. It's worth checking out their web site to see who's playing during your stay. Tickets prices look quite reasonable - particularly with the current exchange rate against the £ - but you can probably hear them for free from the pool.