Hotel La Jolla

Nice, updated hotel in a good location for both the beach and the town of la Jolla. We were there for a wedding and they treated us very nice. TIP: ask for maid service; they don’t ever seem to catch up unless you tell them specifically that you want it completed by a certain time.

I booked a room here for Father’s Day weekend to spend with my husband. We arrived while the sun was setting and valet insisted that before checking in we should rush to the 11^th floor to see the view from the «Cusp» restaurant/​bar.
We went up to the 11^th floor and sat at the bar to watch the sunset. The view was nice but the dirty windows in the restaurant took away from the whole experience. Anyway after watching the sunset we decided to order some drinks. The bartenders weren’t very welcoming and the drinks were horrible. Not to mention their alcohol selection was very limited.
After finishing our drinks we decided to go back down to the lobby to check into our room. We get to the desk telling them that we were checking in and they tell us that there aren’t any more rooms left!
They gave us the option to cancel the reservation or stay at a low budget hotel near by. So we cancelled because it ruined our whole trip. Why would they let us pay for a room that isn’t even available?!
I called today asking about my refund and got transferred around to different people who were no help to me. This has been by far the worst experience I have ever had at hotel that I didn’t even get to stay at. The employees have no idea what is going on and lack customer service skills.
This place is not the cleanest and is super un-​organized. I expected so much more just because it is in La Jolla. I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to anyone.

Overall, fairly ho hum.
Slow service. — annoying when u want to get to the beach
Food cooked in canola oil :/​why?!
Oil-​drenched potatoes were served cold.
Soggy overdone poached eggs.
Overdone cheap cut bacon.
The granola was nice.
Coffee was good.
The restaurant has everything they need for ensuring that customers have an exceptional end to end experience, but there’s a few critical places they seem to come up short.
If this was my restaurant, I’d have some choice words with the chef about better ingredients and taking oil out, and putting some pride back into the cooking, and to the head of front of house to work out a way to ensure a snappier, more fluid service.
Our experience was improved by our nice waitress who waived some items from our bill on account of the potatoes, and worked with the kitchen to have my wife’s omelet cooked in butter rather than canola oil.

Overall I had a great experience at Hotel La Jolla. I do not have anything negative really to say about the hotel. It is beautiful, it is in a great location, the staff was very helpful and attentive. The room was amazing. Great view of the ocean because of the balcony. One note: I read one Unilocalers review that said she felt exposed to the entire room because the shower does in fact have a glass exposing you to the room… in order for this not to be you just click the button next to the light switch in the bathroom to enable the shutter to come down.
A few tips for those looking to stay at this hotel, book through priceline. They’ll give you a better rate than the actual hotel would. When me and my spouse arrived they tried to charge us for a higher rate, stating that they didn’t have a confirmation from priceline… luckily I had my confirmation number… The front receptionist was great and she was able to get in contact with priceline and verify our payment. Just be wary of what you are getting charged for!
Also, the hotel offers wifi but it isn’t included. What year is this? That was a minor knock on the hotel. The biggest was that they charge for valet at $ 30 a night. Luckily i read reviews about this before booking and a fellow Unilocaler suggested that you park your car on the side street, which is neighborhood parking. I did so and we were not towed. In fact, many visitors did the same and we all stayed for multiple nights… just keep an eye out for street sweeping hours!

I loved the room and the view from the room but aside from that everything else was too pricey. 30 dollars for valet and you have to get it, no self parking. We had issues getting our room and there was only one lady working at the front desk! It took her over an hour just to help us. But when we finally got into the room it was beautiful. Nice and clean, great ocean view and the shower looking towards the ocean was amazing! Giving it three stars only just because of the front desk and the parking!

Knew there would be $ 35 parking fee, so I took Über. The hotel still put $ 35 on my bill without telling me. Called, and was told they have a valet ticket on my room number. Be sure to check the charges when check out.

Decided last minute to do a last minute family trip to SD with some friends of ours and our 2 kids. My friend made is very clear that she wanted a suite so they could put their 1 year old down in a separate space. She called and booked her reservation over the phone last night while I did mine online. We left LA this morning and around 2 pm shortly before we got to La Jolla my friend had already called to see if our rooms would be ready (check in isn’t until 4 pm but we thought we’d see if they were) turns out our regular room was ready to go but her suite wasn’t. While I was checking into the hotel the representative remembered our reservations and last names and even put notes into my friends reservation about preferring higher floor after she had asked once more if any suites were ready yet. She received an explanation from the hotel staff about a long term guest who keeps extending her stay and that they just had to «switch some things around.» At this point no big deal, we went to downtown San Diego, hung out and ate for a few hours. Our friends headed back to the hotel around 6 to get settled in only to find out they had just booked the last suite to somebody else. They offered a regular room and apologized but said there is nothing they could do. What the? So 4 hours ago they were working on getting her one of the suites cleaned and ready but then just gave it away after we even tried to check in early? This is why I took away 1 star now for the other reason, room isn’t very clean, dusty, stains and dried coffee on the side of the nightstand. For paying almost $ 300 a night I would expect a little better. Sorry Hotel La Jolla but I don’t think we will be staying here anymore :/​
PS I will say aside from the issues above, our view from our room is amazing. 8^th floor with an ocean view. They have a great product but definitely need to work on a few things.

Cute hotel. Took my kids on vacation for spring break and had a great time. The hotel is nice, clean and the staff are very friendly. It is on a busy street, and downtown La Jolla is close by.
The pool is heated to perfect warm temperature so the kids were able to swim even though it was only 64*. They have a small gym, and there a restaurant on the top floor with a beautiful view.
The only complaint is the obligated parking fee of $ 35 daily, which I thought was kind of steep for guest who are staying there.
Overall, we enjoyed it!

Beautiful and fantastic customer service! The staff, everyone from the valet attendants to the room service servers are above and beyond. The hotel décor is beachy-​chic and beautiful. We stayed for 2 nights with our 2 children in a beautiful 8^th floor room with an incredible ocean view, ate at the upstairs restaurant, ordered room service, played in the pool, and even made s’mores with all the necessities provided by the front desk — all to our upmost satisfaction. Our only complaint was that we had to leave… Thank you to the staff for a fabulous get away!

My biggest complaint was the terrible customer service in regards to answering the phone. Took my 3 phone calls and 20 minutes on hold to confirm our reservation, and when I called to have them pick us up from the village, no one answered for 30 minutes, not even the operator. I had to call the hotel restaurant to get the message delivered to valet to come get us.
Pretty hotel, nice view. We got a king size ocean view room but the room itself is a little cramped. The pool is small but very warm. Pool bar/​lounge was deserted in march but maybe it’s more popular in the summer. Valet parking is $ 30 PARK ON THE NEXT STREET OVER FOR FREE. Just read the street sweeping signs. They do have a complimentary shuttle to the beach and the village and complimentary beach cruisers.

Was very disappointed within the first 5 minutes of our stay at Hotel La Jolla, and unfortunately, nothing improved during our stay.
Our first two interactions with staff were both poor. Valet (only option for parking) came to get us out of the car upon our arrival, but didn’t offer or assist in unloading any of our 6 pieces of luggage. Next stop was front desk check-​in. One attendant was assisting another guest, which ended up taking about 15 minutes. We were never greeted, smiled at, or even acknowledged until their interaction was done, at which point WE were the ones to say «Hey, how are you?» Front desk girl was super annoyed and not friendly and responded «(deep sigh)…I’m ok.» Needless to say, not a good first impression.
We got to our room, which was very clean, but teeny tiny. Not sure if this had anything to do with the fact we were using a groupon, but beware.
Other issues:
–location of our room was practically on the freeway, so we could hear cars speeding by all night
–sheets are really scratchy and noisy
–it’s almost impossible to turn left out of the hotel, which is the way to go for everything
–gas station with car wash is next door, and we could hear the dryer turning on and off all the time
–the toilet hardly flushes
–bed is practically in the bathroom (at least in our room)
Each time we left and returned the hotel, we were not acknowledged by anyone until the last night when we had a very friendly valet guy.
Sadly, Hotel La Jolla did not «wow» us in anyway and we will not be returning.

Ok, so here’s the deal: $ 30 for valet parking. Really no other option.
We got into our room and saw that our shower was visible to the entire room. I never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I had no idea how to or if there was a shade. I stumbled upon it after I showered and tried to turn off the lights (hitting every switch available).
There were no listings of amenities in the hotel or on their website. The dust in the room was crazy thick. The walls were pretty thin, I could hear people all around me. The lady at the front desk didn’t have the best customer service.
The beds were comfortable, the patio was nice and roomy. The décor was contemporary.
Would I stay here again? Probably not, I would look at my other options.

Good Evening Mr. Fonteno,
I just received your feedback and all I can say is ouch! We clearly let you down and I wanted to reach out to personally apologize to you. I will definitely follow up with my engineering and housekeeping team about all these issues, they definitely should not happen. While I’m glad that we can deal with it I am sorry that it impacted your stay in such a negative manner. If you ever have an issue (especially one that affects an allergy like dust), in our hotel or any other Kimpton for that matter, please reach out to the front desk so we can see about fixing that as soon as possible. When your travels bring you back to San Diego I’d love the chance to win back your trust in our hotel and people since I know we can do so much better. Please reach out to me if I can be of any assistance the next time you’re in town!
Sincerely,
Lauren Beito | Front Office Assistant Manager
Hotel La Jolla A Kimpton Hotel
7955 La Jolla Shores Drive La Jolla, CA 92 037
[d] 858.551.3626 [f] 858.551.3668 [e]
Check us out on Facebook and Instagram — @HotelLaJolla #HotelLaJolla
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Hotel La Jolla is a great call if you want to be walking distance to the beach in the La Jolla + the La Jolla shores area. It’s also super conveniently located off the main entrance into La Jolla. This hotel is not for you if you’re expecting major resort-​like amenities or walking proximity to the main Village of La Jolla. The hotel is also in transition, from a Kimpton property to a Hilton and so it will be important to track what changes (good or bad) are coming. For example, I know they are no longer pet friendly nor will have the standard Kimpton happy hour.
The good:
– Helpful, friendly service (although some desk agents were new and lacked info)
– Nice bar/​lounge outside with yummy drinks (try the Kamikaze shot with fresh juice!)
– Clean, decent-​sized rooms with nice views
– Good coffee in the lobby
– Free bikes
– Pool (though small)
– Great location walking distance from the beach (and main surfing beach in La Jolla)
– Next door to a Starbucks and mini mart
The bad:
– Keys never seemed to work?
– $ 30/​day valet parking only
– Restaurant not open very late (closed at 9pm when we flew in on a Thursday)
– Tiny fridges in the rooms
– No hot tub in pool area
– Small balconies in the rooms
But overall, the hotel was nice with a great vibe and location and I would definitely return!

We give even the worst local establishments a chance to redeem themselves after a poor experience so we gave this place a fourth chance in two years. They failed again. After standing in the lobby of cusp, the bar and restaurant at this Kimpton hotel for five minutes and being absolutely and completely ignored we started to leave before deciding to stay to see how long we would be ignored. The blonde receptionist behind the rostrum was clearly as blind as she was blonde. The three arrogant bartenders were equally blind as dirty dishes and silverware leftover from previous guests piled up on the bar surface, creating a disgustingly filthy foreground to the gorgeous sunset outside.
The bartender briefly held a bar menu but not for long enough to see the appetizer list or the specialty cocktails. Even when we asked to see one the best the arrogant bartender could do was briefly recite the menu items, sans description or prices. The single printed bar menu was securely kept hidden from patrons.
Cusp is a strange and surreal place and after four visits — we were guests of the hotel for this recent visit — we are not giving them another chance. Cusp is a disgrace to the Kimpton brand we used to admire but will now actively avoid.
If you’re in the hospitality business you should appreciate guests and not pretend they are invisible. Kimpton’s Cusp bar is a disgrace and perhaps a sign Kimpton no longer cares, at all, about customer service.
Please, if you’re with Cusp or Kimpton please don’t offer shallow promises for vouchers you will never send anyway. You ruined a special weekend with your inappropriately arrogant, inattentive service so we won’t return even if you paid us. If you refund the money we wasted paying for heinous service I will add an addendum to this review. Otherwise the best I can do is caution readers that the good reviews are written by faithful regulars and do not accurately reflect the negative experiences endured by most patrons.
Readers be warned: The one and two star reviews are indeed the accurate ones. Kimpton has lost its way and cusp is an embarrassing example of what happens when a chain business rests on its laurels and decides arrogance prevails over customer service. The view is fabulous and worth the visit, just be prepared that you will neither be welcomed nor receive anything approaching decent service. The only reason we eventually got waited on is that a «manager» saw I had activated the timer on my iphone and the display showed a wait time of more than 10 minutes.

Thanks to
! I had an enjoyable weekend getaway to the San Diego area.
One Saturday morning — decided to jump in the car and head south to get away, not knowing where I’d eat, or more importantly, where I’d lay my head for the night. But, pulled up Hotel La Jolla on the mobile app and booked it mere minutes before arriving at the location.
Valet parking only. $ 30 a night too. Not a bad racket considering there’s tons of parking and all the valets did was park and pull my car around to the front. No service or offer to wash my car after the road trip from LA.
Front desk was friendly but not as efficient as they could be. Two attendants to service the guests, but they both worked on one guest at a time. With one guest in front of me, it took about twenty minutes before I was opening the door to my room.
Room wasn’t too bad. Comfortable and dark. Keep that in mind if you need a lot of light. At least that was the case in my room. I didn’t mind the dark as I was there to sleep and shower again.
All the room amenities were modern and clean. Bed was comfortable and the mattress was more on the firmer side, which suits me fine. I never turned the TV nor even looked to see if there was a refrigerator there.
There’s a goodie tray with all sorts of things for sale — at hotel prices though. I heard there was a shuttle to take you downtown but I don’t know what their schedule was like.
If you join the Kimpton rewards club, you’ll have access to WIFI. It wasn’t very fast though. I didn’t even care to do a speed check like I normally do.
This hotel is okay in my book.

An overall good hotel, but a bit overpriced for what you are getting. It’s located in a busy intersection that is not immediately next to anything. The hotel is a 5-​minute bike ride to the beach and a cheap Über ride away from the La Jolla Shores area.
The hotel building itself had a retro 70s feel similar to a Hawaiian hotel, but the rooms had a nice modern décor similar to a Vegas hotel.
The room was nice, clean, and comfortable with a view of La Jolla that is unbeatable.
Front desk and lobby area is very inviting with drinks and snacks for guests all day long.
I like the free bike rentals with the beach only being a few blocks away. We had a few problems with the Wifi. Supposedly it was free, but we were charged. then when we had it, it was slow.
Parking is expensive, $ 30 per night! We just found neighborhood parking each night that was a 5-​minute walk.
They have beer and wine tasting every evening so take advantage of that!
Great employees! Everyone was very friendly, helpful, and tolerant of our semi-​loud group. They even let us have a small party late at night in the patio area without any hassle.
I gave it 3-​stars but it’s more like 3.5 to me.

Here again as this is my place when I am in this town. They have a free shuttle to and around the la jolla area. This makes it good. Surprised though how busy on a Tuesday they are as this room cost me $ 265 with triple A discount and before taxes. The crazy thing the gummy bears in the room are $ 7. I’m glad I don’t have a craving for any right now but if it was beef jerky I would definitely devour it.
Noise from outside and we could t sleep not like before when I stayed here. Also came at 2:45pm on Tuesday and checks out Wednesday at 11am. When I saw my bill that was emailed I got charged $ 30 bucks for parking! Whoa.

This hotel confuses me. In one sense, they have cool amenities like a really lovely patio, free coffee and tea, free bike rentals. On the other hand, the hotel is suffering from a lack of attention to detail when it comes to cleanliness. The hotel elevators have very dirty floors, when I went to grab a complimentary agua fresca there were gnats flying around the containers, and the rooms are dirty and worn.
When we were assigned our room on the 8^th floor (room 801) I was excited about the ocean view; it was astounding. However, an entire wall of our room was covered in dust. The wall looked furry. There was dust everywhere. The toiletries in the bathroom that I got locked in because of the strange doors and locks had dust, the table tops were covered in it, along with the mini bar items. I called the front desk and we were given another room.
The second room was directly in front of the elevator (possibly a sign of aggression since I could hear it whining and opening all night long). This room (605) was larger but had the same cleanliness issues. We had to make it to a ball game so I didn’t request a third room. There were hanging lights that were, you guessed it, furry with dust bunnies and had lots of lovely dead bugs in them. There was also a mysterious mark on the wall which appeared to be a smashed bug. The cabinets had red splashes that were also on the carpet. Lastly, I stepped on a yellow gummy bear that I’m guessing was there from the last guest.
When I woke up on the lumpy mattress, I noticed my phone was covered in the relentless dust, as was my iPad and all the black dresser tops of the room. They need to seriously have the vents cleaned.
The hotel is very pet friendly and the staff were lovely. Dustin in valet was awesome. But I would never stay here again. I’ve been in two star Best Westerns that were cleaner than Hotel La Jolla.

I have waited a while to write this review because I wanted to be sure I was really disappointed or just in shock at the rudeness of some employees. I have been a Kimpton fan for years and have never been so let down by one of their properties as this one.
To begin with the valets were beyond snarky. From the insistence that they could park non-​handicapped vehicles in handicapped parking, to blocking handicapped parking with other vehicles, to recklessly driving cars through the parking lot. I will say the manager tried to make up for the horrid behavior, but he has no control over his employees because we were continually harassed by the valet staff.
On to the room, we booked the Ocean View Luxury Suite, it was anything but. It was a doubled regular room with the same furnishings as the other rooms. No my socks are not knocked off by an extra lamp and a couch. The balconies offered nice views, but no more than the other regular rooms on the same floor. You expect amenities with something labeled luxury, not a typical shower with a $ 5 shower head, a long useless bar in the entrance with a sink that served no purpose, and the worst no tub, not even a regular tub. I get that maybe the style of the hotel limited redecorating opportunities, but you could add electronic curtains better furnishings or something AND DEFINITELY tell people up front there is no tub! Calling this room luxury is a joke.
The rest of the property was up to Kimpton standards, the pool was lovely and the restaurant was great. Avoid the hotel, stay somewhere else in La Jolla, but do visit the restaurant, it is the only thing that saves this property.
Stayed May 2015