Hotel La Jolla Curio Collection by Hilton

We chose this hotel for a short getaway to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, especially because we had such a wonderful experience at the Hilton Conrad in Florida for our actual wedding. Unfortunately, this stay did not meet the standard we’ve come to expect from the Hilton brand. The first room we were given was not clean. There was a noticeable amount of hair on the bathroom floor, the mirror hadn’t been wiped properly, the closet shelves were dusty, and the light switches were visibly dirty. It gave the impression that the room had been rushed through without proper attention to cleanliness. To make things worse, the hotel is operating with only one working elevator for guest as well as service staff. This created long wait times, lines, and crowded elevator lobbies throughout our stay—definitely not ideal when you’re trying to enjoy a relaxing weekend. The dining experience was also underwhelming. There was a clear lack of attention to detail. For example, we ordered the cheesecake on multiple occasions and each time it was presented differently—and not in a creative way. The presentation actually got worse with each order, as if someone was annoyed and just threw it on the plate with no care or consistency. This stay left us disappointed, especially since it was meant to be a celebratory trip. While we still made the best of our time together, this hotel fell far below the quality we expected from Hilton. We hope future guests have a better experience, and that the hotel takes steps to improve both cleanliness and service consistency.

I was very disappointed with this stay. Only one elevator was working the entire time, so we often had to use the stairs. Housekeeping didn’t come until around 4 PM each day, which was always when we were back in the room — so we only received service one out of four days. There was no body wash provided in the room — just two containers of shampoo in the shower. When we asked for body wash, we were told the hotel didn’t have any at all, which is hard to believe at this price point. The rooms and the hotel itself also feel very old and in need of updates. Despite being a Lifetime Diamond member and paying $450 per night, we were given a room on the 4th floor with no ocean view. On top of that, the front desk staff was rude when I asked them to leave a key for a friend arriving while we were out. I left her name and arrival time on a note, and the attendant assured me she’d be taken care of — but when she arrived, the new staff on duty had no idea. She had a difficult time getting in, and it was clear there had been no communication between team members. Overall, this experience fell far short of what I expect from this brand.

This hotel has a lot of pros and cons. It has a beautiful entrance with great parking. There are entrances from multiple parts of the building so no matter where you park you don’t have to walk all the way around to get inside. The elevator situation they have is absolutely AWFUL. If you have any type of handicap needing you to always take the elevator you will be lucky if it is in order. I thought this would be a top priority to fix but they made it seem like it was one broken toilet with a room full of stalls so it could be put on the back burner of things to do. It would work for a few hours then it wouldn’t work again. The “technician” hasn’t been able to fix the other elevator at all and the only one that works takes forever. We had to take our 70+ lbs suite case down 9 FLIGHTS of stairs. They don’t have a service elevator so after taking hours to get ready then having to ride down the elevator from the 9th floor stopping on every flight on the way down along with trash the smell gets awful. The rooms have great views and it is close to multiple different tourist attractions. It was a little to cold to use the pool but I did take it look and I was disappointed thinking it would be a lot bigger. They do not take complaints seriously at all so I wouldn’t bother calling the front desk. My husband came here a week before me complaining about some scraping/construction sound that would be going on all the time. I thought he was elaborating but when I got there I saw what he meant. It was really annoying nails on a blackboard type of sound randomly happening the entire time. The showers were weird you would set your shower at a certain temperature and after a couple of minutes it would get super hot/cold like it wanted to make sure you were still there. I would find it dangerous for a child because it got so hot that I had to get out the tile was hurting my feet. I really thought we would be getting a lot more for the amount we were paying. If you find a good rate for this hotel during a certain time of year and you can compromise with the using the stairs/random hot water change it isn’t that bad. If you are older/have kids I wouldn’t find it as user friendly. The reason I am giving it one star is because of the elevator, the sound that wasn’t addressed, and the lack of staff. These are considered a default or at least quick turn around fixes that didn’t occur the entire week we were there.