San Diego - need a hotel!!! Ideas anyone?

[Torontogal]

Hi all.
Can someone please tell us how to get cheap family lodging in the San Diego area. Everything we are looking at is over $300 a night! Help!

We have 4 adults and 2 kids. Would like something with a kitchen or fridge/microwave in a safe part of town.

I am starting to panic and thinking we might have to sleep in our vehicle!
So please help! Ha! Ha!

 

[c&m]

What are your dates? And have you tried Priceline or Hotwire?

We're going end of July. Got a room at the Hyatt La Jolla for $165/night. It doesn't have a kitchen/fridge/microwave but it's in a great part of town and it didn't cost us too much.

 

[we3disneygo]

we stayed at Holiday in on the Bay, but no fridge or microwave in room. hope this helps. have a great time!!

 

[VegasMike21]

Stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott in Rancho Bernardo which is still San Diego but it's in the northern part of San Diego. It had a fridge and microwave. We payed $116 for a Friday night two weeks ago. Nice hotel, very nice neighborhood especially for the price. Check 'em out.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sanbo-courtyard-san-diego-rancho-bernardo/

 

[DisneyCrocsRUS]

There is a *HUGE* convention in SD the last week of July, (apparently one of the largest that SD has ever hosted) and if you are searching for hotels only (not packages, incl air/car/etc), than you are likely to find that a ton of rooms are booked & hotels are sold out.

We have a wedding we are attending in SD on 7/28 & on Expedia, if I search only for hotels (3 star or +) it only gives me about 5 hotels avail & all are close to or over $300. But if I do a package search including airfare, tons more options pop up in the $150+ range.

We travel to SD a lot & the last 2 trips we made (April & June) we stayed at the Dana Resort on Mission Bay (very nice, I would stay there again) & also the Marriott Courtyard in Old Town (just so-so, I prob would not stay there again).

Because of the convention, try alternate methods for searching for hotels. Instead of doing internet searches (which seem to be returning very little options), try calling hotels directly w/their local phone #s, or go to a hotel's website directly (instead of using a large travel site). I was able to find a Marriott room available for $10 less w/a breakfast package & free parking directly from the Marriott website, but on Expedia it showed up as unavailable that weekend.

HTH & good luck on the search!

 

[tinkryansmom]

Last spring break we stayed at the Catamaran Resort on Mission Bay. I think we paid $160/night maybe but two queen beds and a sofa bed with a full kitchen.

Might be a bit more for summer but worth a check. I booked through Expedia.

 

[WDWLinda]

Last spring break we stayed at the Catamaran Resort on Mission Bay. I think we paid $160/night maybe but two queen beds and a sofa bed with a full kitchen.

Might be a bit more for summer but worth a check. I booked through Expedia.

We stayed there last week. Not sure of the price since it was included in a package deal. Nice hotel, beautiful grounds, but there were A LOT of teens and 20-somethings, and it had quite the party atmosphere. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were all there for July 4th. The Pacific Beach area definitely has a younger crowd. Every 20 min.s you heard either an ambulance, fire truck, etc. go by or a helicopter overhead. We joked that it was like a war zone. Again, maybe all due to July 4th. But our room was nice and had a full kitchen with 2 Q beds. It was in the tower (they also have 2 story buildings. The tower is about 12 floors). Ask for a Mission Bay view, its beautiful. I'd try them again, in spite of the party vibe.

~Linda

 

[pigeonmom]

Rancho Bernardo has several nice hotels and is in "North County" area. My brother has lived there for over 20 years so I am alittle biased.

One tip I will pass along to you is to avoid rush hour on Interstate 5 if you are not used to rush hour traffic. It gets congested in this area.

The advantage of Rancho Bernardo is you are very close to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I have always preferred this to the San Diego Zoo. Both the Wild Animal Park and the zoo are run by the zoological society which can be confusing at first.

Have you tried using the website called sidestep? It's a search engine that searchs the major travel sites for you. I've had good luck using them for lodging and airfare both.

I too believe in calling the hotel directly to check for room avalibility and rates...Can you tell I like to pre-plan??