Stayed at the Pearl this last weekend for a one night getaway with my boyfriend. Paid $200 for The Jewel thru cheaprooms.com and am sad to say it wasn’t worth it. From the outside the Pearl looks like a 1970’s small apt complex or motel. Valet came out right away to greet us and direct us to the front desk. Will praise the staff – extremely nice and helpful. Check in was easy – would imagine it would be since its just a gal behind an office desk with a laptop. The pool area is small but looked really inviting – chilled water with lemon and fresh towels are already out by the pool. Made me wish I brought that polka dot bikini. Room was nice but a bit on the small side.

PROs: Friendly-courteous staff, brand new – can smell a hint of fresh paint, bed was very comfortable, nice linens and comforter, flat screen tv, and loved our pet fish “Ace”. 10 minute drive to Old Town, Downtown/Gaslamp district. Close to the harbor.

CONs: There was only one mirror (in the bathroom) would imagine that a floor length mirror would be somewhere in the room especially if the hotel is trying to appeal to a young adult scene. Hairdryers are provided but don’t really provide hot air and are quite heavy. And lastly, 3 bugs! LOL We were lying on the bed when a quite large, fat spider crawled across the headboard. I’m not one to freak out; spiders tend to be everywhere. We squashed it – no worries. A couple hours later I went into the rest room and saw what we initially thought was a 2 ½” long, black crack near the bathtub. Imagine our surprise when it started moving and we realized it was a caterpillar or another crawly like creature, which we laughed and disposed off ourselves. Later on I was blow-drying my hair when a cockroach ran behind the toilet and sink. Boyfriend took a picture of it with his cell phone and at this was pretty grossed out. We’ve stayed in various hotels together, ranging from an America’s Best Value Inn ( wouldn’t even give it half a star) to the W, Hyatt, or Marriott chain. Have never, ever seen a bug – let alone a cockroach. He called the front desk and the young lady was extremely apologetic and offered to move us – but we were already running late for our dinner reservation and told her we’ll have to stick it out. We didn’t encounter anymore creepy crawleys and mentioned the complaint again at check out. Front desk was unable to comp us on our room since it was already paid thru cheaprooms.com but comp’d us our valet ($15 value). At best I would consider the hotel a step up from a good Motel 6. For $200 it doesn’t have the in room amenities it should, bathroom also had chips in the floor tile, a long crack on the bathroom wall, and the bathtub drained really slowly.

Wouldn’t stay at the hotel again unless rooms were at a $75-80 rate and managed to take care of their insect situation.

Highly recommend Humphrey's By the Bay - a little pricey but food was wonderful, wished we would have considered a room at Humphrey's Inn.