Remember your college studio?
Written: Apr 24 '08 (Updated Apr 24 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Proximity to better places. Comparatively inexpensive. Bus line nearby. Free parking. Nice kitchenette w/oven.
Cons: Uninspired location. Rubbery breakfasts. Constant sound of cars. Far from real sightseeing.
The Bottom Line: Neither the best nor the worst in the area. The garden apartments do offer more privacy, but you'll feel the trucks rumble by. Less expensive than other area hotels.
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| salme's Full Review: Residence Inn by Marriott La Jolla |
Nestled between a highway and another highway, this little barker will meet all of your most basic human needs. And little else.
The last time I stayed there they were redecorating, which must have made an improvement no matter what they did. The decor was ratty at the time. But I was a newlywed, and happy to be along that I barely noticed the conspicuous lack of green space.
Snuggled between the 4-lane Gilman Road and the 6-lane La Jolla Village Drive, the Residence Inn is located in what used to be a canyon but is now an intersection. It's all parking lots, a parking garage, some highway bridges, a few offices, and lots for restaurants and bars nearby. Just acres of asphalt. The Marriott site boasts of "25 quality restaurants and 2 movie theaters" nearby. They also have free parking, so at least you benefit from all that asphalt.
The rooms are set up like garden apartments on this blacktop playground, in sets of 8. I remember having trouble finding the room in the garden apartments. The main hotel also sports many rooms, but I did not spend much time there.
The room we received included a full kitchen with range, oven, apartment-sized (5-foot-tall) fridge, microwave, and coffee maker, as well as counter-side seating.
A small sitting area included a desk, chair, small couch (a pull-out bed), and the only TV in the room. At the back of the studio, sat the bed. No wall, no half-wall, certainly no door. A small closet and vanity with sink took up the rest of the open space, and a small room with a toilet and tub finished off this studio.
They also claim to offer several styles of rooms. The studio is the base model, and I'm confident most of the rooms are studios. The Penthouse suites have fireplaces, and French doors between the room's "separate living and sleeping areas"; these are clear glass, however, so I don't know how much extra privacy you'd get. When closed, the French doors appear to become the foot-board of the bed (judging from the photo online, it's a pretty tight squeeze). The loft rooms -- with a sleeping area upstairs -- probably offer the highest degree of privacy from anyone who might be sleeping on your couch-bed, but again, there is not a full measure of privacy in the half-wall separation.
I recall the rooms being clean, but it's got to be hell on the staff to lug things up and down those stairs. There are no elevators in the garden studios. I think the second-floor ones were more ignored by housekeeping than you might be able to tell.
The hotel boasts several basic amenities, including a heated outdoor pool and Volleyball sand court. According to the hotel's website, "all 288 rooms are smoke free." They offer complimentary Internet access (wired in the rooms, WiFi only in the public areas), complimentary full breakfast [don't eat the eggs, they bounce], and a daily USA Today.
Though the hotel promises availability of the hotel-owned shuttle, you'd better plan on taking the nearby bus lines into San Diego proper. We were told about the shuttle, but when I requested it, the manager said it was only for airport runs.
The Residence Inn La Jolla is a 3.5-mile drive from La Jolla Cove, where you can see the sea life and take a swim, and go to restaurants that are beyond the "quality" ones surrounding the Residence Inn, such as George's on the Cove, or Piatti. Balboa Park in downtown San Diego is a 15-mile drive, which takes a while by bus let me tell you.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
salme
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Location: University Park, MD
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
Professional editor and freelance writer.
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