I negotiated a special rate (similar to seniors, more discounted than AAA) because we were staying 6 nights. Upon checking in they first tried to put us in a dim, windowless corner room (because I requested quiet location-- or the negotiated discount?). This corner room had a queen bed rather than the king reserved, and we knew for a 6 day stay we definitely wanted a window onto the cute, heavily gardened exterior hallways. They did then change us to a true king room with window upon request. This took minor negotiating/insistence, but they were very courteous in the end if a bit formal.

The room itself was spacious enough, but a little hard to navigate because of the large pieces of furniture. The tiled shower (no bath) was spacious, but the rest of the bathroom was a very tight squeeze with minimal counter space. It was great to have a mini-fridge for leftovers, and complimentary breakfast was WAY above average, including hot hash brown patties, real eggs, sausage plus the more typical cold cereals, toast, and packaged danishes.

The best things about this hotel are the incredibly central location and the value for what you get. Nice furniture and bathroom tile, free internet with cables in every room in case the wifi signal is too weak, and in-room safes that fit a 15" laptop. As for the location, it's only two blocks for buses to Balboa Park and the Zoo, and four blocks to two other, larger transit centers, with both bus and trolley stops. The Gaslamp restaurant district begins about 7 blocks away, or you can take the nearby orange trolley if going to the far end and don't want to walk. Although not terribly far from the flightpaths we had no noise even outside the room, whereas a competitor we almost booked in Little Italy had comments about both airplane noise and late-night train horns.

If you like hanging out at the hotel itself, a market next door sells beer and wine plus essential toiletries, and there is a cute, gardened terrace available to all guests.

Don't miss Indigo Grill/Kemo Sabe, stolling Little Italy, authentic Italian food either in Little Italy or Panovino on 4th Ave. Panovino had all Italian speaking staff and about half Italian speaking diners.

The Cabrillo was convenient to the Mingei Museum in Balboa Park, the objective of our one night visit. Well, it's just an "ol' timey" motel, but it is a small oasis amongst the high rises of this downtown San Diego neighborhood. Our room #107 was tucked away at the back of the property and was as quiet as could be. The AC worked, the linens were decent and the staff was courteous. Other than this, I would not describe it as "impressive". It was suitable for our purposes; couldn't have asked for more.

We recently booked two nights' stay at the Best Western Cabrillo Inn for a friend's wedding. We got in late Saturday night and, being from the east coast, we were exhausted. First impressions were that the place was adorable...really great landscaping outside and on the terraces. We went to bed and...at 4:30am San Diego time...the Fijian rugby team came home to the room next door and began singing at the top of their lungs (little had we known there was an international rugby tournament in San Diego that weekend). We called in a noise complaint and it was promptly dealt with...the man at the front desk even called us back to make sure it was better!

The next day, due to work schedules, we realized we had to get out of California earlier than planned (I had to work at 7am Tuesday morning - 5 12-hour shifts in a row - and we weren't due to get into Logan until 11p Monday night). After some surfing on the FREE wireless internet while eating the great, FREE breakfast we discovered it was cheaper to rent a car, drive to L.A., get a hotel there, and book a new flight than it was to reschedule with American Airlines (jerks...and by the way, Virgin America rocks. fly them!). We explained this to the front desk - along with being very clear we'd stay another night except for needing to get home earlier than planned - and found the front desk staff to be incredibly understanding...so much so they only charged us for one night despite the fact that we'd already paid for the two nights. I can't say enough how appreciative we were of this given the rest of our travel extravaganza.

In summary, this was a wonderful hotel...I don't fault them a bit for the fact they had some rowdy patrons the night we were there. I think they handled the whole thing wonderfully and professionally, and I would not only recommend it but I would stay there again in a heartbeat simply because of the wonderful service, great free breakfast, and general adorable atmosphere (and free wireless). Overall a great value in the middle of Downtown San Diego.

My wife and I traveled to San Diego with two friends to hear a concert at nearby (2 blocks) Copley Hall. We had stayed here on an earlier visit and were delighted to see that nothing had changed.
There is a beautiful garden patio on the roof of this charming little property where we spent a pleasant hour or two munching on pizza and chatting.
The Cabrillo Inn reminded each of us of the "Old" California. It is meticulously maintained, the staff are friendly and helpful, and one simply can't beat the value, given that typical rooms in nearby high-rise hotels cost much more. Parking is easy and inexpensive (although somewhat cramped). To paraphrase a previous rater's comment: "believe the positive reviews".