The Good:
The location was right in the heart of downtown, walking distance to Cortez Hill and right across the street from the San Diego Union Tribune building. Plenty of bar and restaurants within walking distance. Although capacity is currently limited due to COVID restrictions, we had no problem finding a place to eat. The management of the property was kind and accommodating. The nautical theme decorations were cute if that’s your thing and the AC certainly blows as cold as you will need it to. It had a microwave, coffee maker, and mini fridge which was also nice but no kitchen area.
The Bad:
The check in process was a mess. After driving countless hours, we finally arrived to the AirBnB only to discover the access code that they gave us didn’t work. Since there was no phone number given for the host, we had no ability to make contact immediately and had to wait on an email. Meanwhile it was swelteringly hot in the hallway with our dogs. Luckily, a manager came to the rescue 10 minutes later. Upon entering the unit, we immediately noticed quite a strong stench coming from the bathroom sink. It was so strong that we had to keep the door to the bathroom shut at night with a shirt tucked underneath it. One minor detail is that if you are a woman and want to get dressed up for a night on the town, there is absolutely no counter space in the bathroom. I had to set my hairdryer and makeup on the toilet seat lid. The unit is advertised as a full apartment but in reality it is the size of a small hotel room, around maybe 150-180 square feet tops. The mattress was hard as a rock. Needless to say, a motel 6 mattress would be a significant step up. When we tried to take a shower in the morning, we waited for the hot water to come on for three or fours minutes before just getting up and taking a cold shower. Of course, toward the end of the shower the water heated up so if you choose this unit please be patient with the time it takes for the water to heat up.
The Ugly:
We should have known better, but of course you are responsible to find your own street parking. We were lucky to find a spot very close to the unit but just be mindful that street parking can get expensive along with the local paid parking lots dotted around the area. After we found parking when we approached the entrance of the building, we immediately noticed how rough the neighborhood was. There was a homeless vagrant trying to fake an injury on the front steps of the building in order to attempt to extort the property owners. After we got into our room, we observed this same individual pulling the same scam across the street at the Marriott. The area was so saturated with homeless people that it felt unsafe and uncomfortable to walk our dogs at night. Indeed when we were having drinks and dinner at two different restaurants right near there, both times security had to deal with homeless people trying to harass the customers for money. I understand that these things are out of the owners/hosts control but it’s something to be aware of. Overall not a terrible unit, we just ran into a little bit of bad luck.