Comic-Con 2009 Hotel Thread

[Government Man]

Government Man's Guide to San Diego Hotels

Part II: About the Listings

The Comic Con website will announce discounted prices in January and a time frame to sign up for them starting in February. I can list which hotels participated in the program and list the prices used last year, but these are subject to change.

For the most part I consulted Expedia for hotel availability and prices for the period of Tuesday, July 21st to Sunday, July 26th.

The name of each hotel below is followed by the distance to the Convention Center. Unfortunately, these are distances "as the crow flies", not how far it would be in San Diego's one-way streets.

Next, each hotel is given a rating of one to five stars (including "half stars"). Here's what they mean to Expedia:

    * Economy: no guarantee of in-room phone or bathroom, 
       limited hours, no on-site dining
   ** Value: private bathroom, phone, TV; Continental breakfast
  *** Quality: pool and a restaurant
 **** Superior: room service, valet parking
***** Exceptional: DSL internet & DVD players in every room, 
       spa and golf course in the back, solid gold mint on your pillow

The U S Grant (#15) is the only five-star hotel in downtown San Diego. Probably the best one-star hotel is 500 West (#16); book it now before it's gone.

When a hotel was rated by AAA, I give the number of "diamonds" from them (1D, 2D, 3D, 4D or 5D). The meaning of the diamonds are pretty close to what the stars mean; if a hotel isn't AAA rated, it's either a new hotel or it's in trouble. If Expedia didn't have a listing for a hotel but AAA did, then I listed the AAA listing.

Following the rating is the lowest price per night for a two-bed, two-person room (a single room is $5 to $10 less). If Expedia doesn't list a price, it either means that the hotel is not accepting reservations this far in advance, or all rooms are sold out. Unfortunately, there's no way for me to tell which of these is the case.

When neither Expedia nor AAA had a price, I turned to Fodor's San Diego online travel guide. They rate hotel prices as follows:

   c = under $90
   $ = $90 to $120
  $$ = $121 to $175
 $$$ = $175 to $250
$$$$ = over $250

(That "c" is supposed to be a cent sign.)

Finally, I'll include what Fodor's had to say about each hotel that's on their site (a note at the beginning of the listings in Fodor's says, "You can assume that all rooms have private baths, phones, TVs and air-conditioning unless otherwise noted. Downtown hotels cater primarily to business travelers, while those at Mission Bay, in coastal locations such as Carlsbad and Encinitas, and at inland resorts offer golf and other sport facilities, spa services, children's activities, and more. As far as meals included with rent, San Diego hotels operate on the European Plan (meaning without meals), unless we specify that they use the Continental Plan (with a Continental breakfast), Breakfast Plan (with a full breakfast) or Modified American Plan (with breakfast and dinner) or are all-inclusive (including all meals and most activities). We always list facilities but not whether you'll be charged an extra fee to use them, so when pricing accommodations, find out what's included.")

You may notice that I skip some numbers in my listings. Those were hotels that are currently unavailable and didn't arrange rooms through Comic Con last year.