La Valencia # 1

I have stayed in some nice hotels including the Del Coronado in San Diego, Stanford, Fairmont and St. Francis in San Francisco, the Four Seasons in Chicago and Halakulani in Hawaii. None have matched the ambience and service of La Valencia. From the promptness and courtesy of the concierge and the front desk, this is a hotel that excels. Room and service were exceptional. We made our reservation far in advance for an ocean front room and it was superb. The bar and the view from the lobby are exceptional. This is 1 and the Del Coronado is 1 (a). I would go back in a "New York minute."

Incredible experience, Exciting, AWESOME

The La Valencia Hotel was the most wonderful experience my wife and I has ever had. The staff was wonderful. The rustic historial presentation the hotel offered was spectactular. This is a must stay while in the San Diego area. This hotel deserves a five star rating!

Bad way to start our honeymoon :-(

My husband and I stayed here the night after our wedding before leaving for our honeymoon and I have to say it was a disappointment. Walking into the lobby - I in my wedding dress and my husband in his tux - and checking in, there was not so much as a 'congratulations' from the staff or at check in. Prior to our arrival, my husband had arranged to have his sister deliver a special bottle of champange we had brought home from France (where we were engaged), some crystal flutes, and decorate the room with rose petals. His sister dropped these off earlier in the day and spread hte rose petals around the room. My husband had talked to the hotel and asked that the champange be chilled along and delivered along with some strawberries at a pre-arranged time prior to our arrival. He also asked that a particular CD be playing in the room. We arrived to find none of this arranged and had to call to have our champange delivered - still in the bag with the CD that his sister had brought it in. We had to call back and ask for a chiller, etc. After our 7:00 arrival, we were next dismayed to receive a call from the hotel staff to see if we were liking our room. We were disappointed - despite my husbands prior phone calls, his sister dropping off the champange, and we arriving in wedding attire, that they had not been informed we were starting our HONEYMOON and would not want a phone call two hours after our arrival. Finally, at around 10:30 we called for room service. When it was delivered, instead of maybe a 'congratulations,' the sour hotel staff person advised us that we had better get the rose petals cleaned up or they would stain the carpet and we would be charged. She repeated this several times! What a bummer! On the positive side, this hotel in general is beautiful, romantic in appearance, historical, well-located and charming.

What a disappointment

Before visiting La Valencia, I had read the review above of the guests who were moved to the noisy, "oceanfront" room, so I specifically reserved a room on the top floor to avoid this situation. However, when I got there, they tried to pawn the same room off on me. I was led down a few flights of stairs to what I'm sure was the same oceanfront (streetfront) villa where the guest I had read about complained of a truck unloading early in the morning. You could hear the traffic easily, as this was the lowest room in the hotel. When I refused to stay here and insisted that I had reserved a room high above the street, they moved us to a suite above the pool, which was nice.

However, when our bags arrived, the red wine bottle I had packed and wrapped up in my towels had shattered in my bag due to all the room switching. The bellman was so nice and helpful sending my clothes down to launder and dry clean, but when I got my bill the next day, they had charged me over $50 for these services. La Valencia was overpriced and most of the employees always seemed too busy attending to something else to help us with anything. I will never stay there again.

Musty and noisy

The internet special got us a room on the street that seemed like the last guest was Greta Garbo. The room was large enough but was so musty and noisy that we couldn't get any sleep. All this for $300 a night. If you must stay at the La Valencia, you might try one of their really overpriced rooms down by the pool that promises an ocean view. Better yet, try somewhere else.

Price/value ratio is a joke

We just returned from a night at the La Valencia where we had reserved one of their Ocean villa rooms for $720/night. If you read the La Valencia web site these units are very close to the water, spacious, quite and up to date. NONE of this was true. It was a standard sized hotel room, albiet with a very nice bathroom, that had a street view and was next to the pool so plenty of games of Marco Polo could be heard. When I complained to the manangement that I was expecting vastly more after staying two nights at the Montage in Laguna, where an incredible room could be had for $550/night, they offered to move me to a suite for $920/night. We stayed in the suite, which was worth about $450/night and will nver go back. Unless you like old, small, tacky, noisy and over paying; avoid this place

Not What I Expected

This is not what I expected for $350+ a night. TINY ugly room. The closet had no room for clothes (all the space was taken up by a fridge and safe). One of our two windows wouldn't open because the latch was broken. Electrical outlet loose, which looked like a fire hazard. We told the front desk about these two items on day 1 of our 3 day stay and they said they'd have them fixed, but never did.

Since our room was so small we went down one evening to have a drink and spend time in the lobby only to find it was closed for a private function. Considering the high room prices they charge, shutting paying guests off from parts of the hotel is not nice.

It was very noisy trying to sleep because parties down below were so loud. We had to keep our one remaining working window open or the room felt very stuffy, but that let in all the noise. A no-win situation.

Breakfast food was superb. Pool area is spacious and uncrowded. Staff was pleasant.

Overall though I would not stay here again due to the shockingly tiny and ugly rooms.

Very disappointed... hotel is resting on its laurels

Very disappointed with our stay at La Valencia. First they persuaded us to take a village view room as these are larger. Specifically asked about noise but assured not too bad...well a delivery truck parked outside our bedroom at 6am on Saturday morning and proceeded to unload for 45 minutes...so much for a good night's sleep. The this morning we had to wait 40 minutes before we got our breakfast; the staff looked preoccupied with preparing for Sunday brunch.

Looks like the hotel is resting on its laurels.

Simply superb!

My husband and I spent a weekend here during a recent trip to San Diego and fell in love with La Valencia. The location is ideal for leisurely strolls, window shopping and gallery hopping. All the hotel service from the parking attendants to our personal butler was friendly, helpful, and unpretentious. We stayed in one of their ocean villa suites... the marble bath included a great steam shower and jacuzzi tub. Our two balconies provided picture perfect views overlooking the park and Pacific Ocean -- a perfect backdrop for breakfast every morning. We requested in-room massages which were among the best of any we've ever experienced. We didn't want to leave! Overall, a fabulous weekend getaway for couples -- we can't wait to go back again.

Don't let them spill wine on you!

We actually stayed at the Grande Colonial Hotel...which was a delightful experience. However before going out to a nice dinner on one of our eveings in La Jolla this past January we decided to have a cocktail in the lounge area of the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla overlooking the ocean. After waiting about 15-minutes for the bartender/cocktail waitress to get to us to take our order we ordered drinks: Specifically red wine. The bartender/waitress returned with a small tray full of, not only our drinks, but apparently several other tables worth too. We were seated on a sofa and as the waitress bent over to hand us our drinks she tipped the entire tray, containing many drinks, onto us. We were literally showered in RED wine! This bartender/waitress didn't even apologize. She made us feel that if we hadn't been in the hotel ordering drinks this event never would have happened! She was much more concerned with getting the other patron's drink orders processed than helping us clean up her mess! The wine stained my white shirt, blazer, slacks, socks, my partners wool outfit and scarf. We, after being treated quite rudely demanded to see the manager on duty. To make a long story a little shorter, let's just say WE had to suggest they PAY for the dry cleaning. And of course that is what they did. However the wine stains were not able to be completely removed. Which meant another trip, the next day of our vacation, to meet with yet another hotel manager. In the end they kept my clothing but ended up reimbursing me for my shirt and slacks: About $155. However we never received a letter of apology, discounted dinner offer let alone drinks on the house (unbeknownst to us the friend we were with paid for the bar tab...the same bartender/waitress actually took his money!). Needless to say we will NEVER, EVER return to the La Valencia Hotel...FOR ANY REASON.