Both the common areas and the rooms are quite modern and the layout is fun and unique. The staff was top notch and very helpful. Was in San Diego for business and the location was perfect for the area I needed to be in. The only drawbacks - - at night the street front is quite loud as there are a few bars/clubs in the building, and drunken conversations are abundant. Luckily I was so tired each day it didn't really matter. The only other thing was while showering the first night (in the super cool modern shower), there was a corner where there were some black markings that were different that the rest of the stone so i touched it and they were hairs. That kind of grossed me out. I did a little experiment and left it there to see if the cleaner would notice it - to see how thoroughly they clean the showers - and it was there the next night too when I returned. Not a huge deal, but makes me wonder. All in all, I liked the place and if I go back I will stay there again, no question. I just have to make sure to shoot down the shower beforehand ;-)

Great welcome from Nicole when we arrived, she couldn't have been more helpful. Room was lovely. Great location in the gaslamp quater, very central for everything. All staff we dealt with were extremely helpful. Would highly recommend this hotel for service, cleanliness & comfort.

We stayed there for Friday night with two children. The noise was loud and, like other reviewers have mentioned, it's probably bad in all rooms as our high-floor internal room got a lot of noise too, mostly from the roof top party. Fortunately the kids were too tired to be bothered. We also run into quite a few people in the lobby that dressed for night club.

Apparently I made a bad choice in picking the hotel for the family stay, but I can't fault the hotel for that. The hotel is overall great and deserves a 4 star -- it's clean, has great service, good breakfast, and great location. The roof-top and pool are really nice although we didn't get to use the pool. We did use and appreciate the free escalade car service, which can take you to anywhere in 2 mile radius.

I would recommend it to anybody who is not traveling with kids.

My husband was on business travel and I joined him at this hotel. In summary, there were far more positives to staying here than negatives, for us. Yes, as some other reviewers said, it was quite loud on our 5th floor room that faced F(?) street.. we woke up at 2am on Friday night from street noise BUT we discovered that the window in the room was slightly open so we closed it and got over the muffled noise we still heard and were able to sleep..(for me, the fact that the window opened was a huge plus because i enjoy fresh air especially in hotel rooms)... however, before noticing that the window was cracked, I called the front desk asking for a room change in the AM.. James was VERY friendly even at 2 in the morning!! He said he was happy to accommodate the request at that time or in the morning. He actually said, "you're in our house, we want you to be comfortable" .. to me that shows that he takes PRIDE in either his job, the establishment, or both, which i highly appreciate in a world full of apathy in customer service. (side note- Matt was also very friendly and gave us a complimentary wine tasting when we walked in after dinner one night.. dont mind if we do!)
So.. we didn't feel like moving all our stuff so we took our chances the next night and discovered that we didnt need to change rooms because it was significantly quieter Saturday night (with window completely shut). either way, if you're very noise sensitive, just ask for a room towards the back and on a higher floor from the start.
Some other reviewers complained that the valet was slow.. we didnt experience this, in fact there were 3 young guys on average standing there at all times that we requested the car and one of them would literally RUN to get the car and return promptly each time ..and when we called in advance, it was always waiting for us at the curb by the time we got down the elevator. One blonde haired valet (had a facial piercing i think?) was particularly helpful, offering bottled water, directions to our destinations, etc. Again, I appreciate that there are staff members here who dont just do the minimum requirement of their position and then act like they did you a favor. Lastly, this hotel is located in a great spot.. it is within 2-5 blocks of several great cafes, the mall, urban outfitters, pubs, coffee, ..we even walked approx one mile to little italy on saturday to an AMAZING farmers market that spanned across three blocks. the gas lamp location is central to downtown, great for nightlife but also felt safe.
Yes, the room was not HUGE (we had a standard king room i think) .. but who cares youre not living there, its a hotel.. yes, the shower is in the center of the room and is completely transparent and the toilet area is just adjacent to that (near the small common area) so if you are traveling with a new buddy you just met, you may want to arrange schedules for showering privacy or get two rooms.. and yes there are pricey items in the mini bar -again its a hotel, dont all hotels charge $15 for the convenience of having oreos and rum on hand at all times? this hotel actually offered granola bars and OJ and a few bottles of water for free .. and again, i can appreciate the little things so this was just fine for me. I guess the bottom line is, i would completely overlook the very minor "drawbacks" of this place for the myriad of positives that we experienced during our stay. it's not the ritz but it's not the budget inn either.. its a clean, nice hotel with good staff. we will be back again soon. thanks!