We stayed at this property for the convenience of the location while we were in town for a family wedding in downtown San Diego. We wanted to be able to enjoy the beach easily while attending to wedding events and duties.
Location Pros and Cons:
-Extremely convenient, with quick access to the airport and downtown.
-Easily walk out to the beach or the bay
-2 parking spots (very tight, back in for sure, rent small cars!)
-Incredibly noisy - the traffic noise, garbage collection (every morning??), beach cleaning, flight path from the airport overhead. Bring ear plugs because you have to sleep with the windows open
-Mission Beach is a busy place. Everywhere smells of garbage
Property Pros and Cons
-Very nicely updated and does NOT smell - important for older properties
-Clean and comfortable beds
-Nice bathrooms
-Quick communication from the property managers
-No air conditioning - ceiling fans helped cool down at night but during the day the apartment was stiflingly hot. Not usually an issue in San Diego but the weather was intensely hot and humid the weekend in August that we were there.
-Kitchen was decently equipped with a single serve Keurig and nice new knives and dishtowels. But the pans were unfit for cooking. A few basics like salt and pepper (and tons of cinnamon?) but no oil for cooking.
-The balcony in the back is over the garbage cans and unusable. The surface of the balcony is crumbling and sticks to your feet when you step out. So there is nowhere to sit outside.
-Some inside floor mats at the entry and sliding door would be nice.
-There is no lifejacket for the kayak and the beach umbrella was missing. 2 beach chairs but one was broken.
Overall this property suited our needs for 5 adults. The property managers were prompt in their communication and quickly addressed our request for some extra towels and a bathmat for the second bathroom.
However, when we notified them that there was no beach umbrella and one of the beach chairs was broken we were informed that the owners were unwilling to address this because they were tired of guests stealing or losing them. Same when I commented that the pans were really bad (scratched, beat up nonstick) - "unfortunately people do not look after things." These pans were clearly old rejects dumped at a vacation rental, not just overused by "careless guests." Michael did offer to cover the cost of rental of beach equipment but this was not a feasible option for us as we were managing briefer trips to the beach in between wedding events.
I would rate the management team highly for their communication and I would work with them again for a different property. The property itself is nice inside with a mix of nicely equipped and significant misses. The location is extremely convenient yet also incredibly noisy. I found the outlook of the owners to be disappointing and it seems they may want to rethink being in the vacation rental business.