W San Diego

Hahah how awkward! We stayed her THE DAY the switched everything over and man they did it fast!
I have a few complaints but seeing everything is changing let this be a great memorial to the w. While at our hotel we ran into the w taking its last glow, seeing it come down the day before, and a discovery that you should always bring some sanitizing wipes to a hotel. Check out the pics for more.
So w you are beautiful. An icon. Don’t change, because it’s too expensive. Even though you were bought by someone else. Live on. We won’t be staying with you again btw. But your memory was to great not add just five more starts.

We stayed here for New Years Eve 2015 only to find out that this hotel changed names from the W to the Renaissance Hotel. The New Year’s Eve party was massively disorganized and they didn’t even offer any sort of discount to guests staying at the hotel.
The hotel needs some massive upgrades. I’ve definitely stayed at way better places than this. Also the walls are super thin and you can heard people talking and whatever else you could imagine hearing. It’s no wonder hotels are losing business to Airbnb.
Getting a drink on at the roof top bar? Expect to pay $ 17 per drink! I kid you not! Lol. Congrats, you pretty much just paid for the entire bottle of alcohol! Next time BYOB!
I’m hoping these are new ownership growing pains. Next time don’t let your customers feel these amateur mistakes.

Nice, modern hotel in a decent location. The service was ok, could use better communication.
Booked this place for 1 night for a quick work/​leisure trip. The check in process was pretty easy. I did ask the front desk folks about the hours for the fitness center and the pool and they did not at all mention that the pool was closed which I found out later after I had put on my swimsuit and walked down to the pool area!
The room was comfortable and clean. The bathroom could use an upgrade. The fitness center was very nice and I enjoyed working out in there. The complimentary wifi was a bit slow.
Vale parking is ~$ 40/​day. Self parking can be found in the lots in the area for ~$ 25/​day. Street parking is available overnights but you have to move the car at 8am.

What happened to the W? If anyone is looking for a cheap night and lower than motel 8 type of customer service, you definitely are in the right place. I use to love the W’s because of the Starwood programs but this W in SD is just a damn shame, Great Location but subpar room service– I showed up on a Friday night and the bed linens had blood or whatever bodily functions the previous person was wearing all over the sheets. They said that things happen (they do and I’m cool with things) but sense of urgency wasn’t there, an additional night went by for them to change the sheets. I wish someone would at least reach out to me to help or anything quite frankly.
If you are wanting to stay at a hotel and you want to stay at cut rate $$$ and don’t care what comes with it– the W San Diego is your place!

This place is awful. It used to be the W, which was an exemplary hotel. Now, they have switched staff and changed their mentality. They do not cater to their customers at all. They don’t do anything that even resembles decent accommodations. A few examples: I needed ice, no ice bucket in the room… I called down, received the ice about an hour later, after I had forgotten I even asked for it. I took a cab home from a night out, ran inside to get change for a $ 20 bill, they couldn’t do it. I stayed on the 16^th floor, and it smelled like people had stepped in animal feces and dragged their feet across the carpet. The people that work here don’t know up from down… every employee seems to be in training. It’s pathetic. Do not stay here unless your only other option is to sleep in a sewage tank.
I am not exaggerating, this place is awful. For the money, you can literally stay anywhere else and it would be better. Hope this review helps you make the right decision.
Just to reiterate… this is not a review on the W… this is a review on the building and company that now occupy where to W used to be. It is now a renaissance hotel, and it is a toilet. They took a perfectly fine location, perfectly fine building, and they have turned it into a place I wouldn’t even take shelter in if there was a zombie apocalypse. I mean it, only stay here if you have the patience of a nun.

I was abused and assaulted by security here. To make matters worse, manager Michael O’Donohue failed to make it right within several days after being aware of it. Instead of taking quick and decisive action, he delayed for days and made up a false implication to try to shift the blame from the security guard to me! I saw his B.S. and called him out on it and then he back-​pedaled.
I was just sitting in our expensive VIP area ($ 900 for two bottles of vodka), when the security guard (a black rent-​a-​cop just for the party from CSC security) suddenly ripped off my wristband! He asked me to come outside, so I did, then he asked me to leave! He claimed I was sleeping, but I was wearing a Halloween costume with a hood and clearly I was awake since I could hear and follow his request. Thus I refused to leave because there was no good reason, and that’s when he put his hands on me and forced me to leave, pushed me up the stairs, then threw me forcefully face-​first to the ground, and twisted my arms to handcuff me! My right shoulder is STILL sore and right wrist STILL hasn’t fully regained feeling yet from this abuse.
He then talked to a cop to transfer me from security’s handcuffs to the cop’s handcuffs. The cop, Sam Cote, to have «just cause» to take me away from the security guard and scene, «came up with a reason» with his partner cop, Michael Rea, decided to «book and release me». He used made up allegations while smirking and looking at me saying «my eyes are bloodshoot and speech is slurred» to make it justifiable to take me in to the drunk tank, in which I sat in a jail cell for 10 hours! Yet I wear contacts, and my speech clearly retorted several times «give me a test!» to prove I was fine to take care of myself, to which he refused! He claimed his (biased) judgement was enough.
If W Hotel would only make this right by me, this wouldn’t have continued to escalate into a negative review and legal action.
My advice: if you want to have a good night, avoid this place and these abusive people like the plague. Marriott just bought them, so they’ll probably start downgrading the appeal, staff and value anyway. There are plenty of other nice venues downtown San Diego anyway. Just search on Unilocal for better rated venues.

This hotel is NOT located in the Gaslamp. On the Starwoods website, it says this hotel is in Gaslamp. It is NOT. I feel tricked :(We ended up having to Über to Gaslamp which was about a mile away.
Overall, it’s still a nice hotel but the location isn’t centralized, and, honestly, I just felt tricked that it’s listed as being in Gaslamp on the website.

Nice hotel but bad location. It’s located right next to the prison. That big building with all those tiny little windows? Yep, prison.

My husband and I went to San Diego recently to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We decided to stay at the W Hotel since we have stayed at the one in Hollywood before and loved it.
Well…they are very different!
This Hotel is old… and it shows. Yeah they tried to update it as much as they could, but you can see the age of the Hotel from the moment you walk into the rooms.
The bed was really comfortable which at the end of the day, is what matters…
I personally love their toiletries so that was a major plus.
We ate dinner at the Hotel restaurant one day and it was really awkward. We were the only ones there! Nobody showed up the entire time we were there. It kind of reminded me of those shows in the food network of failing restaurants that end up serving spoiled food because nobody comes in to eat it.
We also went up to the roof top bar and again, this place was dead!!! What is going on!!! W in Hollywood is THE SPOT to go to!!!
Oh well… it wasn’t too bad.

Thank you Emelie! You made our stay and Anniversary very special. The suite was amazing as well as the restaurant recommendation and surprise waiting for us, thank you so much.
Room was impeccable, comfy, and the hotel always has the best lobby. Plenty of street parking as well if you’re willing to wake at 8am to feed the meter, just be sure of the street sweeping times at 3am so you don’t get a ticket!

Staying here again for the 3^rd time in 2 months.
Always a great experience.
As a Starwood Member I’ve stayed at all the Westin hotels in the area, and always come back to this one. Although farther from Gaslamp, it’s so close to Little Italy which has all the good spots for foodies anyway.
Staff is always very friendly regardless of how slammed they are. Kudos to the Management for putting experience at the top of their priorities.

This hotel is nice, but the severe lack of parking is a major issue.
You have the option to pay $ 16 to valet park, but that adds up quickly.
Another issue is that the first floor (Guest Services area, lounge, bar area) and parts of the second floor became very hot and humid in the daytime. I am not sure if the building’s cooling systems was not working properly or if this was the norm.
The ambiance of the W is good, they put serious effort into the interior design of the facility. Their downstairs lounge is the kind of place that that I could chill at all night.
There is a nice lounge area on the first floor with an area for a DJ to play music for the guests.
Th rooftop patio area is actually on the second floor, not the roof the the large hotel itself. Apparently the W acquired the two story building next door and put a rooftop patio area on top of it.

When I walked in I was certainly impressed by the lobby. Has a unique feel neat decorations very warm and inviting. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the hotel. The room looked nice but the bed was hard, and the bathroom door is super annoying! The pool area was embarrassing! Smallest hotel pool I have ever seen and it’s in a box surrounded by mirrors. I will say the bar rooftop area was nice and I really liked the burning chairs and the array of seating. The hotel is just not consistent, some over the top areas and then the other areas were overlooked. I sadly would not want to stay here again.

Spent my birthday weekend here with my gf and I must say I was pretty impressed by the atmosphere of the hotel. The lobby was constantly buzzing with a good looking crowd and the rooftop bar/​lounge was a perfect place to start or end the night. I had a standard room and it was fine but nothing mind blowing for the price that was paid. The staff was super friendly (especially Emelie) and the W insider named «Dive» was kind enough to send champagne, chocolate cake, and even a customized birthday card to my room which was SO thoughtful!
Overall, we had a very enjoyable experience. The hottest bars and clubs in gaslamp are only a 5 – 7 $ Über ride away so the location isn’t as bad as it sounds in the prior reviews. The place is a bit pricey but if you are an SPG member you can get some solid deals. I would say this place is great if you are looking to be social and in a trendy environment… as is usually the case with the W hotels :)

Okay the goods first– the staff here is incredible– so so nice and accommodating and upbeat which I love! They even sent a bottle of champagne with treats to our room because my hubby just graduated from grad school (couldn’t be more impressed at such a thoughtful surprise!).
Aside from the awesome staff the location is a huge plus– walking distance to gas lamp
And little Italy and around the corner from a trolley stop. We had dessert at Kelvin and that was super yummy so would recommend the restaurant for sure.
The room was the letdown for us– it was just ok– definitely needs a refresh — beds were not the usually awesome W beds (almost like this used to be another chain?). Beds were crazy sunken and uncomfortable– we all had a terrible nights sleep :(. Fixtures in the room (esp bath) were rusted and outdated and the shower tiles were dirty (need a bleaching I think). The walls are very thin and we shared a wall with the elevators which were crazy loud all night.

I stayed here a few years ago and it was great! Great scene, nice experience, modern and the club in the lobby at night was so much fun.
Fast forward to my recent stay, and I was severely underwhelmed. The hotel has a «tired» feel to it now. It was the weekend and it looked like a ghost town in there. And what happened to the club?! I was looking forward to the DJ and dancing, it was the weekend for crying out loud.
Then there’s the beautiful view from our top-​story room… of the multi-​story construction site! That was really «pleasant.» And there’s more… the walls are paper-​thin so we could hear the group of girls next door cackling all night. Then in the morning we got the pleasure of hearing one puking her previous night’s vodka shots into the toilet.
I’ve stayed at many different Starwood hotels, and this was the most expensive. We’re Starwood Gold members so it was 16k points to book for one night. I chose the W Hotel because I was expecting the same experience as last time. Looking back I would have booked at the U.S. Grant so we’d be closer to Gaslamp District, it was a bit of a trek in heels. Staying here for the «ambiance» I remembered was not worth it, this is not the same hotel anymore.
And beware, there is no self-​parking. If you don’t want to hunt for a public paid parking place you must pay the $ 42 per night valet charge. And they proceed to park your car for you across the street in a public lot. I wrongly thought that at least for $ 42 my car would be safer and out of the elements. WRONG.
At other Starwood Hotels such as Westin and Sheraton they offer us extra Starwood points upon check-​in, or the option of free drink vouchers for the hotel lobby. This is the first time we haven’t been offered anything. It’s not expected but it was just surprising due to the «upscale» amount of points we used.
I’d rather stay at any other Starwood hotel brand after our experience here.

I like the view from the room and the bed was comfortable. But the pool is a bit on the smaller side. Rooftop bar is gorgeous. There’s no «spa» in this hotel so that was a bit disheartening. We still ordered massages where the masseuse comes into the convenience of your room. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I liked the bartenders in the hotel, but the hotel itself seemed a bit outdated. Good, central location.

My friend rented a cabana on the rooftop of the w for her 30 th birthday. It was on a Wednesday their movie night. There were a few people with their children watching the movie but for the most part we were the only party up there. The music was horrible but the food, ambience, and service was excellent. We had the wings, French fries, and sliders. The sliders were dry but the wings and French fries were very delicious. They allowed us to bring our won bottles. I think we paid $ 15 for every bottle we popped. The bartender kept sending us free shots which we enjoyed. They took really good care of us at valet and at the bar. I can’t wait to go back and actually watch a movie.

We stayed here with friends for a weekend away. We were definitely underwhelmed with the quality of the place. It’s definitely clean and the towels/​complimentary toiletries are amazing. The beds are a little too firm. The walls are paper thin (you can even hear your neighbors flush) and there is a bunch of construction near the hotel, so that woke me up. The shower was also not great – either scalding or freezing and the water pressure kind of sucked.
The most disappointing part was the room service. We ordered tater totchos – supposedly tater tots covered in melted cheese, jalapeños, sour cream, tomatoes, etc. We got tater tots with some spicy dipping sauce. Something you’d buy in the freezer section of target. Yuck.
My husband was bothered that they did not give us a summary of charges, either, as they do at other hotels. I guess we’d come back if we absolutely needed to, but wouldn’t recommend it.

It’s a W so you kind of know what you’re getting into. Good location downtown. Valet was pretty efficient but took longer than I was expecting at times even on what appeared to be a slow Wednesday night. Big, spacious room with a great shower. WiFi was pretty reliable and I was able to get a bunch of work done.
There was some construction outside that went until about 1am. I asked to switch rooms but they were fully booked and could only provide ear plugs. Not their fault, and they comped my parking and we’re apologetic.
Bummed I didn’t get to check out the rooftop bar. I’ll have to come back and give it a try.

I had a great time here. I’ve stayed twice — once about a decade ago and then again last weekend.
It’s centrally located — close to Balboa Park and gaslamp. Wheels is a great valet service where you pay $ 39 per day for valet but you get in and out privileges and you just text them and your car is ready when you come down!
Our room with 2 double beds was spacious and nice. The bartenders were friendly and quick at the rooftop bar and the décor throughout the hotel is lovely. LIke all W hotels, they had Bliss products which is a nice perk.
I’d recommend this place.

Für ein W Hotel eher unterdurchschnittlich. Etwas abgewohnt und das Personal war sehr oberflächlich oder ich habe diese Art von Coolness nicht verstanden. In anderen W Häusern hat es das Personal mehr drauf. Die Preise sind gemessen an anderen W Hotels auch eher günstig, was die Performance nicht entschuldigen soll. Auf meine Bewertung hat die Hotelmanagerin verwundert reagiert und sich permanent entschuldigt und hat mir ein langes Mail geschrieben. Sie wollte dauernd konkrete Beispiele, wund wie das Hotel abgewohnt wirkt. Diese Literneu zu beantworten war mir dann doch zu blöd, denn wenn man gewisse Sachen nicht sieht (oder sehen will) dann ist die Gute falsch am Platz.
Lage: gleich bei Little Italy und nach mehr als 2 Wochen Ami-​Food war das echt eine Wohltat.
Bar: die war witzig und es war sehr viel los. Auch alles sehr Hippe, coole Leute. Cocktails wirklich gut.
Fazit: ich würde das ächzte Mal wo anders wohnen.