From the "way beyond" expected helpful, friendly, friendly front desk staff of Meg and Rachel to the awesome historical tour of the historical bank building by Nicolas, this hotel more than exceeded our expectations. Courteous staff went out of their way to help us. The historical building with hand-painted ceiling, marble, and rich history set it apart from regular hotels. Located in the downtown Gas Lamp corridor near Horton Plaza , it is an ideal home base for enjoying and touring San Diego.

The Courtyard by Marriott used to be a bank. The teller windows now are the front desk. The vault can hold small meetings of 12 people. The bank architect has not lost it's charm on the Courtyard. The hotel is centrally located. The hotel room was spacious and comfortable. The location is 2 blocks from the trolley. This trolley can take you to the boarder of Mexico to the northern part of San Diego. The bus to the airport is just around the corner. Restaurants and nite time entertainment are a casual stroll down Broadway.

I got a good rate($139) for a midweek king room in January, but the sticker shock of the $33 valet parking fee, with no self park option, was a bad start to our experience. The hotel is in a newly gentrirfied part of town(6th and Broadway), a few blocks north of the gaslamp area, but there are still plenty of bums and panhandlers on the block. The rooms in general are dark, with a pretty horrendous taupe carpet with a dizzying pattern of dark brown curlicues. We first got assigned to 301, a mini-suite with the bedroom sharing a wall with the elevator shaft, and the living room a few feet above the noisy A/C units in the dark air shaft. We went back to the front desk, and got put in a room on the 10th floor. When we walked in, the lampshade from the lamp on the desk was sitting on the far side of the desk, as opposed to on the lamp. Doesn't housekeeping check a room before it is assigned to make sure it is all together? When I walked into the bathroom, it smelled like it had recently been used --- not pleasant, but by that time it was after midnight and we just wanted to sleep. The room was big but the old wooden furniture and the old wooden door were all a tad depressing. There is an eight-step starcase from the check-in desk to the room elevator, so not so good if you do not want to climb and descend stars with yourr luggage. We bailed before the $15 buffet breakfast,figuring that San Diego is such a beautiful, light and airy city, why stay longer in a dark place.

Earlier in the week, I was staying at another hotel for work for about three times what I paid a night at this gem of a hotel. Staff were nice and helpful, location great and room was a good size. We did not order room service or eat at the hotel, but the free morning coffee was good and appreciated! Back to price and location- you are a block away from one of the trolley lines, a 15 minute walk to the harbor/promenade area; a block or two from the center of the Gaslamp area and an easy few blocks to the other trolley line. The bus stop right outside the hotel takes you directly to Balboa Park and all the wonderful things there.
The room was a good size- we had two double beds and plenty of room to walk around, bathroom clean, towels good. Unlike others we didn't hear any noise once we were in our room. We'd definitely stay here again.