Handlery Hotel San Diego

Ghetto people with their ghetto kids running around making high amounts of noise. People outside smoking, the area is horrible. The lobby looks inviting, but the hotel area is trash. Rooms are just ok, overall do not recommend!!!

The hotel is not so bad. It’s pretty much what you’d expect for something this old. What I wasn’t expecting is a hot room. There is no AC in our room. The fan alone is not sufficient. We’re located on the first floor so we can’t leave a window open.

This was my second time staying here and overall I love the place. The only compliant I have is that the girls working the parking lot can be more friendly with the customers vs just sitting there and staring as people struggle to leave the parking lot. One girl just took the ticket from my husband’s hand and inserted it for him with no hello or goodbye. FYI that’s the last person representing the hotel when guests are leaving or coming in. Smile atleast!

[+] EXCELLENT VALUE for the money. Booked on TravelZoo. Breakfast was included. Far less than bigger competitors in the area.
[+] Room was clean, well kept, and staff was very friendly. Room attendants always took good care of the room. Wait staff for room service and in restaurant were very kind. Great customer service all around.
[+] Breakfast buffet was very good! Wouldn’t normally expect much with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, country potatoes and a fruit table with some muffins /​pastries. But everything was REALLY GOOD. This is coming from a foodie family that enjoys quite a bit of dining out.
[-] PAPER THIN WALLS! Expect to hear conversations and music of your neighbors CLEARLY, especially if you have a connected room (with a door). Terrible sound insulation and poor placement of guests to distribute the noise transfer.
[-] No elevator on premises. Not a huge flight, but if you’ve packed for a family of three (including a toddler), it is a little cumbersome to lug everything up and down the stairs.
[-] This is minor, but poor TV service. Basic cable reception with no guide. Modern conveniences, yes. But it would seem standard for most hotels — especially with pay-​per-​view, etc.

I chose this hotel for my destination wedding room block, and reception based on ratings from wedding wire that I now see were misleading. First off, all of my guests were spread out throughout the hotel instead of within the same section. Secondly, after a five hour drive my check in (as the bride) was a headache. The hotel didn’t mark my pet for the stay (which I had discussed with the sales manager via email as proof) I was then told that my deal of a lower pet deposit was not going to be honored, because that was not the agreed price. In other words telling me, the consumer that I was wrong. Furthermore, one of my guests were told that she was kind of part of the room block, but not really. Wait, what? How does that even make sense? We were told that for booking our reception at the hotel that we would receive a complimentary room upgrade. That was a joke, the size of the room was no different from my other guests. The only thing different was a view of the pool. That’s an upgrade? All in all, I was very disappointed with my stay, and there were problems with the reception as well. I felt like since I didn’t have a HUGE wedding that I was deemed less important. The Hotel definitely has some improvements to make. I say this as working in the retail/​consumer market for years, and as a customer experience manager. Lots of work to do Handlery Hotel!

My stay at this hotel was horrendous. The reception was very unhelpful. They couldn’t answer any of my questions unless they spoke to someone else about it. The staff were highly incompetent and ill-​equipped to answer any of my questions or even address my concerns. Their response rates and run-​around reasons made our stay more than inhospitable.
We had prepaid for all our rooms for the weekend, and they gave away one of our rooms without warning. It left some of us without a place to stay for the night. They told us to cram in another room or find somewhere else to stay for the night and return in the morning to speak with reception again. When returning the next morning the lady, Vanessa, was very unhelpful and couldn’t even do anything to help us. She said the only one who could help us get some sort or refund or compensation wouldn’t be back till Monday.
Also, the walls were very thin at this hotel. We couldn’t even have a normal conversation without security coming to bang on our door threatening to evict us.

Ok so let’s start by clarifying I didn’t pick this hotel. Last minute some friends were going to San Diego and asked if I wanted to join. I decided to go and have a quick wild weekend.
The pros: hotel is right off the freeway at hotel circle. Quick and easy drive to the gaslamp district.
The cons: the hotel is old and looks and feels like it hasn’t been updated in quite some time.
Overall if you’re looking for quick and easy and affordable and appearance doesn’t matter, stay here.

courteous staff! establishment is really clean but a bit dated. The rooms are small and beds are super comfy! we had 4 nice semi firm pillows– I was I heaven!!! the weekend I stayed was over casted, so I couldn’t take advantage of the pool, but it was also clean and big. For the hotel to be so close to the freeway, I did not hear the noise.

We had our wedding at the Handlery Hotel. From the initial contact over a year before our wedding, to the goodbye hug at the end of our wedding night, Ann Marie (Catering Sales Manager) was absolutely perfect the entire way through. She was extremely responsive anytime we reached out to her, whether it was through call, text or email. She made sure that she kept us informed and up to date the entire time, which made us feel very comfortable and in good hands. Our wedding exceeded our expectations down to every single tiny detail. It was absolutely gorgeous and the most fun we’ve ever had. We genuinely never had to worry about a thing. We cannot say enough good things about Ann Marie and the Handlery Hotel. Ann Marie, we owe it all to you and we cannot thank you enough.

All I can say is Gnomeville… I’m 5’6″ and the top of the bed was below my knees… the toilet was made for kids! They say free wifi– that’s if it reaches your room. Website said free parking. then we got stabbed with a parking fee we had a second story room and no elevator. didn’t like hauling our luggage. No continental breakfast. Never again!

Where do the elderly go to jam to sweet jazz tunes from 5:30 to 7:30 on Friday nights? You might say they don’t but not true! The 950 Lounge at the Handerly Hotel is full of geriatric hipcats every Friday night. I can’t speak to the hotel but the lounge and jazz are awesome. If you are looking for a super cool place full of hipsters with mustaches and dirty sweaters this is not going to be your place. If you are looking for early bird jazz with AARP members ready to get down, come check it out. Hey who knows, maybe you’ll meet that special person who will put you in their will right before they move on to that hip jazz club in the sky.

My wife and I stayed here for three nights during our vacation. I have to give credit to Marty for giving us the best check-​in experience we’ve ever had. It was past midnight when we checked in and Marty was just incredible. He really took time to explain everything we needed to know in a timely manner and even got up from his desk to show us where to park for the quickest route to our room.
We had a complimentary upgrade to a king sized patio room which was nice. Room was clean and housekeeping was timely. The hotel is conveniently located right by several freeways for easy access. We had breakfast at the Postcards restaurant every morning; food was superb and costs about $ 10 – 15 per person. The pool area is definitely the highlight of this hotel. Very spacious, lots of lawn chairs and great scenery. Unfortunately the pool wasn’t heated as advertised.
On to some negatives:
–They need to have gated access at their pool area for hotel guests only. We conversed with several high school students who apparently just show up to use the pool at their leisure
–The bathroom is tiny and poorly designed. Hardly any counter space available
–Room access was inconvenient. Our room had an electronic lock where you hold the key card in front of the lock. Our keys were unresponsive and took several attempts to get into our room
Overall, we had a pleasant stay at the hotel. My wife and I were able to score a good deal at Travelzoo for our stay. It came with free parking ($ 14 per night) and free breakfast vouchers which you can redeem at the Postcards restaurant.

This hotel is not what it thinks it is! We purchased a package of nights on line because their description was“much nicer than the Town and Country”. First off, not true, we stay at T&C a lot and it is clean and safe. The Handlery is neither. The first night we had typical drunk screaming and bottle throwing outside our room on the ground floor. They moved us up one floor like that would make a difference. The only difference that made was We were further away from our car so the employees could steel our bikes locked on the back of our car. The only reason I say employees is because according to the manager they have cameras every where and security patrolling non stop day and night. Our stuff was stolen and guess what! No cameras or security. Then to make things worse they said their insurance company would take care of it for us… well weeks later and a bunch of head ache they said, oh we would never do that because we are not responsible for the criminals that work here.
Stay away from this old run down hotel.

Overall, the stay was okay. The room was decent size, a bit older, but the bed was comfortable for me and husband while still enough room on the side to lay down blankets for the toddler. Not bad for a one night stay. The lobby and hotel staff are nice and inviting. Unfortunately, the walls are paper thin which made for a tough night’s sleep, but that’s really the clientele… The folks next door had an infant that was having a rough night, no fault to anyone, that’s what kids do… But the folks upstairs decided to have some sort of hopscotch tournament until 3:30am! From 11pm to 2am I let the noise go, but when I finally heard them talking, clearly, with very colorful language through the air vent in the bathroom I finally called the front desk who said they’d go handle it, which they did. Also, we visited the pool which was nice, chilly for a «heated» pool but still ok, though I found it annoying that there were folks in there with outfits on, not bathing suits but actual pants and tops and kids with diapers… But again, that’s not really the hotel but the clientele…
So overall, the room was ok and the hotel staff did their best but our stay was tainted by other guests and a somewhat older establishment. We also ate at their restaurant (Postcards) and I’ll put my review there.

The hotel is decent for what we paid ($ 102+14 parking). We checked in at about 10pm with easy. We booked the cheaper rate for two beds. We asked Heather at the front desk if it was possible to get a king at the same rate. She took the time to look and got us a king. People like Heather make a hotel like this.

Pool pool pool. Hot tub. Daiquiris. MMMM, that’s about all I can comment on. And the club sandwich. I love their clubs. So much turkey bacon and avocado, it’s enough to feed 2 or 3 people if you order it with fries. This place is one of my summertime hangouts and I love their poolside service. They have free wi-​fi and plenty of lounge chairs in the shade for a break from the sun. The entire pool area is always very clean and so is the pool. The shallow end is rather large which is great for children who can’t swim. The environment is very low key and quiet which is so relaxing. I’ve also attended conferences here and the catering is delicious. Again great food and drinks. I can’t remember everything I tasted but there was some sort of mushroom/​cheese dip/​spread that was incredible, great grilled veggies and a large variety of desserts to make anyone happy.

It’s really hard to impress me with hotel rooms since I travel a lot for work. But this place was clean the bed was comfortable and the room was pretty soundproof so I was pretty happy with my stay. I would definitely stay there again.

Four star because the walls were paper thin– we could hear everyone in the rooms all around us and in the parking lot. Mad it tough to sleep.
The staff at this hotel was more than 5 star. Absolutely everyone I encountered from the front desk to the maids, wait staff– everyone was so helpful and friendly. They really have their act together in terms of costumer service.
I also loved the old world charm of the hotel. I loved that it wasn’t your average new Marriott tower– it felt like the 70’s– but everything was in great shape. So much character.

It’s a 3 star hotel so I didn’t expect much. $ 14 for hotel guest parking. The important parts are clean so that’s good. Favorite part is their pool. Really nice pool area with restaurant and bar. Closes at 10pm
Rooms are in any one of 4 buildings so you may have to do some walking.

Conference room area review only. I thought this place remodeled?
Old, dank rooms, dirty carpets. Unwelcoming lobby area…
Very unimpressed considering competition in the area for conference rooms.
Dinner was just ok.