My wife and I stayed at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina while I was participating in a…read moreconference, and we very much enjoyed our stay.
The rooms are beautiful and comfortable, and ours offered a wonderful view of the bay and even the ocean beyond, with a clear view of Point Loma. Down below was Roy's Restaurant and the pool area. While our bay view king room did not have a balcony, the window did have the ability to slightly open if we wanted to hear the sounds or get some fresh air. With the window closed, the room was very quiet, so we had no noise issues. We also didn't hear noise from any neighbors, with the exception of the occasional person talking the hall or letting a room door close.
Though the beds were not the most comfortable we've ever had, they were comfortable enough for both of us, though the pillows weren't my favorite because they were the kind of feather pillows you need to bunch up so they aren't too thin. They aren't very soft or spongy. Nonetheless, I was able to sleep on them sufficiently well. We can be a little picky about beds and getting good sleep, and we slept fine.
Unfortunately, like many hotels, the sink, toilet, and shower/tub are all in one room, making it less convenient for two people to be doing things at the same time, especially since there is only one sink. There was a decent amount of lighting and space for toiletry items.
We had no major complaints about the room, but we did have a broken toilet paper fixture in the bathroom on the wall next to the toilet that resulted in the toilet paper falling on the floor several times.
Service was super friendly, but it was difficult to reach the front desk at times without a very long wait on the phone. When I called down to request a luggage rack for the room, I was told someone would bring one up, but it never came. I had to walk to the front desk to ask for one, which was later delivered. They do have an automated attendant that lets you request a limited number of items, and I was able to request a robe for my wife that way.
While we were there, the elevators were a problem for a lot of people. For part of the time we were there, some in our tower were not working, causing relatively long waits for the remaining elevators and sometimes multiple stops on the way down or up at peak use times. The hotel said they were working on it, and things did seem to improve a little by the time we checked out.
The property itself is beautiful and laid out well for its limited space in this part of town. Once inside, and even outside when walking the grounds near the pool, you are in a bit of a protected oasis that doesn't make you feel like you are sandwiched between the bay and the street out front. We ate outside every day with the conference, and the area we were in was super pleasant.
There are a number of restaurants on property, but since we were usually eating with the conference, we didn't have time to try any except for the Marketplace. It was very expensive for most items, but the quality was really good, and we never had much of a wait. They serve Starbucks coffee here, but you can probably save a bit of money if you get that (or mobile order) from the on-site Starbucks, which is in a different part of the building. The food served at the conference was of good quality. If you go to many conferences, you'll find it to be competitive with any of the better resorts, though, in my opinion and as one might expect, it doesn't outshine the Ritz-Carlton or certain J.W. Marriott facilities. The food service staff for the conference were excellent, helpful, and fast.
The hotel is in a very convenient area downtown on the bay next to the San Diego Convention Center. Traffic in the short distance between here and the freeway can be bad depending on time of day or events happening at either the convention center, downtown, or at Petco Park, where the Padres play, but the distance is short enough for it not to be much of a headache in most cases. I doubt you'll find very many cities with access this easy from the hotel to the airport and all of the local attractions, including, in this case, the Gaslamp District, Little Italy, Coronado, the bayside attractions, Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, and more. Hotel parking is expensive, of course, so if you don't really need a car, I highly recommend using Uber or Lyft or walking to get around to the nearest things.
Overall, I would certainly stay here again, and I do highly recommend this hotel if you are attending a conference or vacationing in this part of the city and can afford the price point.
