California Dreamin’ (A Tale of Going West): Trip Planning
Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class SIN-SFO / SFO-SIN
Parc 55 San Francisco – A Hilton Hotel
Big Trees Lodge, Yosemite National Park
The Majestic Yosemite Hotel, Yosemite National Park
Hampton Inn & Suites Merced, also any other U.S. Hampton
Hilton San Diego Airport Harbor Island Hotel
The Comic-Con Experience
Virgin Airlines A319 First Class SAN-SFO
San Diego accommodation during Comic-Con
If you ever intend to visit San Diego in the month of July, you should probably keep in mind that the (central) city of San Diego as most people know it effectively ceases to exist during the weekend of Comic-Con.
Instead, it morphs into world where giant banners for fantastic worlds are displayed prominently everywhere…
Where the Walking Dead roam…
Where crowds spontaneously form to catch random T-shirts being thrown out of office buildings…
And where even the police get in on the cosplay action.
And in this alternate version of San Diego, accommodation becomes a truly scarce commodity. Hotels typically lock up the bulk of their inventory, put it on the market at exorbitant rates, or do a mix of both.
The official way to get accommodation for Comic-Con is to source for the blocked inventory via the official Comic-Con webpage and look for what’s available. Prices aren’t great, cancellation restrictions may apply, and the inventory is released in different batches – it’s all rather complicated (you can search online for guides on how to do all this), and is really annoying if you’re the type who likes to have everything planned out well in advance.
Without hoping for too much, I decided to try my luck searching on the Hilton MVP website (a year in advance) and found the Hilton San Diego Airport Harbor Island Hotel had rooms available at a rather low price (I’d paid less than US$700 for 4 nights, including taxes). This availability disappeared within days, so I suspect that I had managed to catch it before they had got round to blocking inventory.
Given that this was a cancellable rate (low risk) and would alleviate a lot of uncertainty from trip planning, I proceeded to lock it in as quickly as I could. I would have loved to combine this with a Prestige 4th night free booking, but availability had disappeared by the time I got round to attempting it.
Property
The hotel is conveniently located near the airport and a mere 15-minute drive (with minimal traffic) to the San Diego Convention Center. It’s not that conveniently located for walking around to explore the city, but in a place where Uber is plentiful and rather affordable, I’d say it’s pretty well-located.
During Comic-Con, it also benefited from a free shuttle bus serving three hotels (including two Marriott properties) on the Harbor Island stretch. Since the route didn’t serve that many hotels, it got us to our destinations relatively quickly.
Harbor Island is pretty much a long strip of reclaimed land, so the hotel is technically a seaside one.
The property is full of quirky designs – for instance, the building itself has a rather unique trefoil shape, although the way the rooms are designed, you don’t notice the weird curves that much when you’re inside.
The property operates a shuttle bus to and from the airport, though during peak Comic-Con periods you’ll need to request a pickup instead of relying on the schedule. When you finally get to the hotel, you proceed to check in at yet another example of their quirky design – three individual check-in booths.
(Image from Hilton San Diego Airport website)
We were upgraded to a harbor view room, though from what I understand it’s pretty much the same as the basic room, just with a better view.
The Room
It’s a rather unexciting thing to say, but I rather enjoy staying at chain hotels due to their predictability. Though there are (many) exceptions, I find comfort in knowing there will be a certain level of cleanliness and comfort that may not be present in a (though probably cheaper) Airbnb booking, for instance.
I am happy to report, then, that this was not an exception – the bedding was indeed predictably clean and comfortable. More examples of the quirky design aesthetic in the bedside lamps.
There’s the standard arm chair, work desk, flatscreen TV (just off the picture to the left). The room’s not huge, but there’s plenty of space to walk around.
The working desk is a little on the small side, but should suffice for most purposes (happily, not much work was done during my stay).
A rather standard coffee machine, with non-complimentary water. (Really? $4 for bottled water?)
Just a single sink in the bathroom, but with plenty of counter space around the Peter Thomas Roth amenities provided.
There’s a bathtub, but it’s rather shallow and so it didn’t really seem all that great an experience to soak in it.
I rather enjoyed the fact that the rooms come with a little balcony to sit at.
The view wasn’t fantastic, but it was good enough.
Breakfast
As a Hilton Gold/Diamond member, you get access to complimentary continental breakfast here, with the option to upgrade to hot food for an extra charge. I found the continental spread to be more than adequate, with a good range of pastries and desserts to choose from.
I particularly enjoyed the free flow of berries.
The view of the marina is pretty good, too.
(Image from Hilton San Diego Airport website)
Facilities
As usual, I totally forgot to check out the facilities at the hotel, though the website confirms that there’s a pool and a gym on the property…
(Image from Hilton San Diego Airport website)
(Image from Hilton San Diego Airport website)
But really, who has time for exercise when you’re busy shuttling to the Gaslamp district for Comic-Con?
Conclusion
The Hilton San Diego Airport Harbor Island Hotel is situated near the airport (obviously) as well as central San Diego. It’s well-located for sight-seeing as well as conferences/conventions/business. Though nothing luxurious, the property’s well-maintained and offers a good quality of comfort and cleanliness. I thought it was a great place to stay over Comic-Con.
