Travelling to San Diego for the first time and need a place to stay that is relatively in expensive and near the Hotel Circle area.

July 7, 2006 3:37 PM

I am traveling from VA to San Diego for the first time in August. I have never been further west than Leawood, KS. The purpose of my trip is to attend a continuing education event being held at the Town and Country Resort, which is located at 500 Hotel Circle North (San Diego, CA 92108).

Logding at this place costs more than the event and airfare combined (like 165 a night). Can anyone recommend a place to stay that is (1) cheaper and (2) safe?

To be cheaper, it would have to either be walking distance from the Town and Country or so cheap that renting a car would not make the whole thing more expensive than the afore mentioned $165 a night.

As always, thanks for your help.

posted by 4ster to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

travel.yahoo.com has vicinity based reservations.
posted by kcm at 3:46 PM on July 7, 2006

Hotel Circle holds a host of hotels. (Goodness, what consonance.) Typing it into Google will bring up most of them.

You're not likely to find anything for under $100 in that area, particularly at this time of year. I've personally found Extended Stay (on Hotel Circle South) to have cheaper rates, but only by a small margin. There's a hefty tax that applies, too.

There is a Hotel Circle North and a Hotel Circle South. They are bisected by a freeway, so keep that in mind when planning. I'm not sure how walkable it is, or what your definition of "walking distance" is.
posted by moira at 4:29 PM on July 7, 2006

I attended LISA '05 in San Diego and stayed at that same hotel. You'll probably be massively disappointed in your room, considering the cost, but, depending on the event, the proximity might be worth it. I heard the rooms in the tower are better than the little cottages, but didn't see one first hand. It takes quite a while just to trek across the grounds of the hotel itself, and I remember that getting to events and classes on time was not always an easy thing. The other hotels on the circle are farther away than they seem on the map.

As much as I agree that the hotel is overpriced and overrated, I would not have wanted to be located even further away. Also, if you're going for a people-oriented event, there are several bars and restaurants that they'll tend to gather in before, after, and between events, and if you want to be a part of that, it might be a big pain in the ass to always have to go to another hotel to change clothes or grab a shower or whatever.

If you do stay at the Town & Country and find that you have a creepy painting of a ghostly-looking French toddler bolted to the who that watches your every naked move, you can cover it up with a few towels. I did not sleep well at the Town & Country the first few nights, and only got used to it gradually, even under the towels. : ) I guess I'm a ninny.
posted by littlegreenlights at 4:46 PM on July 7, 2006

Q: Bolted to the who?
A: Bolted to the wall.
posted by littlegreenlights at 4:48 PM on July 7, 2006

Here's a picture from someone's flickr for scale. That's only a small portion of the hotel grounds, believe it or not.
posted by littlegreenlights at 4:56 PM on July 7, 2006

speaking of conferences (presented at LISA '04! hey! talk about wacky hotel architecture.), it's certainly a good point that paying $10-20/night more for easy access to the facilities makes a huge difference in terms of waking times, night time activitities and socialization, etc. Looking quickly at those prices, I think you're best off just taking the event lodging.
posted by kcm at 5:14 PM on July 7, 2006

The Town & Country is very close to the Fashion Valley trolley stop. If you can find cheaper lodging near another trolley stop, you could take the train to and from the convention. This could expand your definition of "walking distance".
posted by baho at 7:11 PM on July 7, 2006

I stayed at the Super 8 on Hotel Circle South in May for about $50/night. Clean enough, but the rooms are tiny and run down - it just feels squalid. It's walkable to Hotel Circle North since there's an underpass under the freeway, but it might be rather far to the Town & Country.
posted by ilyanassa at 12:33 AM on July 8, 2006

If you want to do *anything* else while you're in San Diego, you're going to need to rent a car (or a bike and some determination). San Diego is probably the most pedestrian-unfriendly city in the world. Staying in hotel circle, you will be close to more hotels and a mall and that is all.

If you look at this map you'll noitice a whole lot of nothing around where you're staying. That's accurate. The blank area on the south side of the freeway there is a large steep hill that leads up to Hillcrest, the nearest area where there are any reasonable restaurants or things to do. You can, but won't want to, and shouldn't walk up that. Get a car.
posted by beerbajay at 5:45 AM on July 8, 2006

Thanks for your help everyone. :)
posted by 4ster at 8:19 PM on July 17, 2006