Hotel Review: Homewood Suites Carlsbad-North San Diego County, CA

After spending a week in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, we headed half an hour north to the city of Carlsbad.

I’d booked us this extra time in the San Diego area as there was a lot we wanted to see and I was worried that a week downtown wouldn’t be enough. Staying downtown even longer would’ve been expensive though, hence why we headed north a little.

That ended up being a great decision because we loved the San Diego/Carlsbad area and so were glad to have another 10 nights in Carlsbad to explore. We stayed at the Homewood Suites Carlsbad-North San Diego County as we were able to book a one bedroom suite for a reasonable number of points.

It was a decent hotel and was a great place to stay for our 1.5 weeks in Carlsbad. Here’s a full review of our stay at the Homewood Suites Carlsbad.

Check-In

We’d been able to get a late check-out from our stay at the Hotel Indigo San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, so it was about 3:30pm by the time we drove the short distance from San Diego to Carlsbad.

The check-in process was quick which meant we were soon on our way up to room 313. The hotel is spread out, so it was helpful to have a map of the layout so that we had a better idea of where to go.

1 Bedroom Suite

One of the reasons we picked the Homewood Suites for our stay is because we were able to book straight into a one bedroom suite using points. Having a separate living room is important to us so that we don’t disturb each other when one of us is working in the morning or night while the other is sleeping.

When entering the suite the living room was straight ahead, the kitchen on the right and the bedroom and bathroom through a door between the two.

The living room had a good-sized sleeper sofa and armchair, as well as an ottoman and side table.

Opposite the couch was a TV on top of a unit with several dresser drawers.

Between the living room and kitchen was a dining table with a couple of chairs.

Kitchen

Not all suites at the Homewood Suites Carlsbad have a separate bedroom and living room, but all of them do have a full kitchen. This includes a fridge-freezer, stove top, dishwasher and microwave.

In the cupboards and drawers were plates and dishes for four place settings, mugs and drinking glasses, cookware, pans and silverware.

Bedroom

The bedroom was spacious enough. The king bed was very comfortable and the blackout curtains worked well.

Although we didn’t make use of it, it was nice to have a ceiling fan in the room as I imagine that could be more useful in the summer than when we stayed in January.

Opposite the bed was a TV and another dresser.

The bedroom had a good-sized closet which contained an iron, ironing board, luggage rack and bedding for the sleeper sofa in the living room.

Bathroom

In the bedroom area itself was a sink and vanity. I’m never a fan when hotels set up their suites this way rather than having the sink in the bathroom. That’s because if someone’s asleep in the bedroom, trying to use the sink to wash your hands, brush your teeth, etc., can wake up the other person, even before taking into account the fact that you have to do that in the dark or by the light of your phone screen so as to not turn on the light.

The bathroom had a bathtub and shower. The shower was wonderful as it had excellent water pressure.

The hotel provided small bottles of toiletries rather than having larger, refillable bottles.

Breakfast

Breakfast is complimentary for all guests at the Homewood Suites Carlsbad. It’s served from 6am-9am from Monday-Friday and 7am-10am on Saturday and Sunday.

There’s a large breakfast area, but with the Omicron variant running rampant in the San Diego area while we were there, we always took breakfast back to our room.

They offered a good selection of hot items for breakfast every morning. The day we took the photos below there were scrambled eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy, breakfast potatoes and Canadian bacon, but other mornings there was sausage, bacon, pancakes, etc.

There were plenty of other breakfast items to choose from every day too:

Amenities

The Homewood Suites Carlsbad has a laundry room with two washing machines and two dryers.

It cost $4 per load for both the washers and dryers. That’s more expensive than many other hotels charge for self-laundry, but probably still cheaper than a launderette would’ve cost, plus it was convenient having it right there in the hotel for us to use.

Also convenient was that we could pay by credit card rather than needing $4 worth of quarters per load.

The hotel had a courtyard with a swimming pool and whirlpool. The swimming pool wasn’t very big, and so it was more somewhere to splash around in than being able to do laps.

Inside there was a fitness room with a few pieces of equipment and weights.

Heading back outside, there was some nice outdoor seating, some of which was undercover which would be useful on both sunny and rainy days. There were also two grills for guests to use; grilling utensils were presumably available from the front desk.

Just off the lobby was a business center featuring a couple of computers, although the printer was broken throughout our 10 night stay.

Pet Policy

The Homewood Suites Carlsbad is a pet-friendly hotel. There’s a pet fee of $50 for stays of 1-4 nights and $75 for 5+ nights which is a reasonable cost compared to many other extended stay hotels that charge $100-$175 for longer stays. They allow both dogs and cats at the hotel, with a limit of two pets per room.

For dogs, there are a few grassy areas around the hotel, but there were very few walkways around the hotel which meant having to walk through the parking lot; not ideal in the dark when some other guests drive fast through the lot.

At the time of our stay there was a closed-down bank next to the property which had a large grassy area too. There were also sidewalks straight outside the hotel so that you could go for longer walks.

Service

There’s not much to say about service during our stay. Not because it was bad, but because we didn’t have many interactions with staff members. Housekeeping was by request only and we didn’t request it during our stay.

The front desk staff members were friendly when checking in and out, while the people in charge of breakfast always ensured it was well-stocked, even towards the end of breakfast time.

Wi-Fi

We didn’t have any problems with the internet during our stay. Shae and I both work online and there was always good connectivity and speed, including when using Zoom for video calls.

Check-In & Check-Out Times

The check-in time at the Homewood Suites Carlsbad is 4pm, while check-out is at 12pm.

Location

There wasn’t too much to the hotel’s location, although it is opposite McClellan-Palomar Airport. That doesn’t have commercial flights coming in to it, so its proximity will likely only be useful if you’re flying there in your own plane.

There were several restaurants half a mile down the road, so you could walk there if you wanted. Otherwise, you’ll need a car to get anywhere, with it being a 10-15 minute drive to LEGOLAND California and Carlsbad State Beach.

Parking

The Homewood Suites Carlsbad offers free parking for all guests and there’s lots of it all around the property. Due to the design of the hotel and the multiple entrances, that makes it easier to park closer to your room. There’s more than one set of elevators, so you’re not stuck walking far through the hotel to get to an elevator or up the stairs if you’re on the second or third floors.

Cost

We paid for our stay using Hilton Honors points as Homewood Suites is one of Hilton’s brands. They were charging 37,000 points per night for the first seven nights and 46,000 points per night for the final three nights.

Hilton offers every 5th night free on award stays to anyone with status. With us staying ten nights, that meant we got both the 5th and 10th nights free. That reduced our total cost from 397,000 points to 314,000 points, or an average of 31,400 points per night. For comparison, the room rate was $141.71 per night with tax which certainly wasn’t a bad price for a one bedroom suite in Carlsbad, CA.

Redeeming points therefore meant we got 0.45cpp (cents per point) of value which is about average for Hilton. That’s not as good as the value we normally aim for when redeeming their points, but we have a ton of Hilton points and so that felt like a better option than having to spend almost $1,500 for the stay.

Final Thoughts

We enjoyed our stay at the Homewood Suites Carlsbad. Our one bedroom suite was a decent size and was clean and comfortable. They provided a decent hot breakfast each morning and there were useful amenities for longer stays like guest laundry facilities.

Although it didn’t have a prime location near Carlsbad State Beach, it’s only a 10-15 minute drive there and was a much more affordable accommodation option compared to oceanfront properties.

Truffles Approval Rating

Our dog Truffles gives the hotel three paws out of four – pawsome! The pet fee was reasonable and she liked having a quiet room. However, it would’ve been nice to have had safer options for walking around the outside of the hotel rather than just having to walk around the parking lot if we didn’t want to go on a longer walk.

Our Rating

Room = 4.6 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.5 / 5
Food = 4.5 / 5
Location = 4.1 / 5
Service = 4.1 / 5
Overall Value = 4.4 / 5

Total = 4.37 / 5

Address

Homewood Suites, 2223 Palomar Airport Rd, Carlsbad, CA 92011