Hotel Review: The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, CA

After setting off on what was meant to be a 5 year, 50 state road trip in 2018 (but which is being extended to 8 years), Shae and I decided that we should try to celebrate New Year’s Eve in each time zone while on the trip.

2018 was Denver, CO (Mountain Time) while 2019 was Nashville, TN (Central). Due to COVID, we knew we’d have to extend our road trip and so we didn’t mind being in New Orleans, LA on New Year’s Eve in 2020 seeing as that’s also in the Central time zone.

Fast forward to 2021, we knew we’d be on the west coast. We decided to ring in the New Year in San Diego but it would be expensive paying for a hotel during those dates. Thankfully we have a number of free night certificates for hotel chains and had several Marriott ones at the time. We therefore booked a three night stay at The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter because our certificates were eligible for the points rates required during our dates.

It was a great hotel with friendly staff and is in an excellent location. Despite charging an unavoidable destination fee, that fee actually incorporated some useful benefits and perks that made it less painful having to pay that for each night of our stay.

Here’s a review of our stay at The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter.

Check-In

Due to the fact that we’d booked our stay using free night certificates, we were limited as to which room type we were able to make a reservation for. I therefore had to choose a king room on a low floor even though we’d prefer to be on a higher floor.

A couple of days before our stay, I checked Marriott’s website (Westin is one of Marriott’s brands) to see what types of room were still bookable. I noticed that they had a WestinWORKOUT room available which came with a Peloton bike in the room. Shae is currently training for RAGBRAI, a bike race from the west side of Iowa to the eastern side, so having a bike in our room was both a fun and useful feature.

I reached out to the hotel using the Chat feature in the Marriott app a day or two before our stay (this feature is only available close to your check-in date). I asked if it would be possible to get an upgrade to that room type because I have Titanium status with Marriott. I could’ve waited to do this until we were checking in, but doing this via the app is a) less awkward and b) allows you to lock in a room upgrade ahead of time. That latter point is particularly useful because the room you want to be upgraded to could’ve been booked by the time you arrive or someone else might’ve been upgraded to it.

As you can see from the conversation below, our request was granted and the room upgrade was subsequently reflected in our reservation online.

We arrived at about 4:30pm and Victor (who was wonderful) helped us with our bags. The room was booked in my name and so I went inside to check in while Shae sorted out our car being parked with the valet.

The front desk agent was friendly and it didn’t take long for us to get checked in. We soon had our keys to room 843 and headed upstairs with Victor bringing our bags up on a luggage cart with us.

WestinWORKOUT Room

Our room was at the far end of the hall which was nice because it meant it was quiet down there. When entering the room there was a small entranceway with a table for leaving keys, face masks, etc.

When turning to the right there was a closet on the left, bathroom on the right and the bedroom straight ahead.

The closet was a good size and on the left side contained a safe, drawers, ice bucket and a complimentary bottle of water.

On the right side of the closet was more space for hanging clothes, an iron, ironing board, handheld steamer and luggage rack.

The bedroom area itself wasn’t particularly huge, but had quite a lot of stuff in the space.

The room had an incredibly comfortable king bed. Rather than small pillows, the bed had pillows that spanned half the width of the bed. There were bedside tables on both sides, each of which had a couple of drawers.

Both sides of the bed also had power and USB outlets, a feature we appreciated seeing as a surprisingly large number of hotels don’t always offer this without having to unplug other items like bedside lamps.

On one of the bedside lamps was a small bottle of lavender balm to help you relax at night if desired.

To the left of the bed in the corner of the room was an armchair and ottoman.

Next to the window was the Peloton bike. Note that although the bike is in the room, the hotel didn’t seem to have a subscription you could use in order to access training programs. You’d therefore need your own Peloton subscription in order to use that feature. I’m not a Peloton user myself, but I’m assuming that setup is preferable for regular Peloton users as it means you can track your own workout.

The Peloton bike faced into the room, but it could presumably be turned to face outside if you wanted.

On the other side of the room was a small table and a couple of chairs that could serve both as a dining table and a desk.

To the left of that was an actual desk though, along with a coffee maker and wall-mounted TV.

In the cupboard to the left of the desk was a mini fridge. This was empty rather than being a minibar, but didn’t stay cold enough to keep perishable items in.

Bathroom

The bathroom was fairly standard – not too large, but not small either.

There was a bathtub with a rainfall showerhead. The water pressure was OK, but nothing to write home about. A nice feature was the fact that there was a hole in the side of the barrier to be able to turn on the shower without getting wet.

By the bathroom sink there were small bottles of lotion and mouthwash. For the main toiletries though, there were large wall-mounted bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash which were decent enough quality.

Overall, we were pleased with our room. It was fun having a Peloton bike in the room even though I didn’t make use of it myself, although Shae did ride it. The room wasn’t enormous, but it didn’t feel too cozy either. It was also very quiet, so we didn’t hear other people on our floor, nor people in the room above us.

Breakfast

The Westin doesn’t provide complimentary breakfast, although if you have Platinum, Titanium or Ambassador status with Marriott you can choose complimentary breakfast for two people as your welcome gift instead of 1,000 points or a different welcome amenity. Free breakfast is much better value than 1,000 points, so we picked that.

When checking in, we were advised that the free breakfast included one entrée and one drink per person. That turned out to not be true for the most part. The first couple of days of our stay we were told by the breakfast staff that our free breakfast coupons meant that we could take advantage of the buffet rather than ordering an entrée.

The buffet was busy both of those mornings and so I didn’t take photos of everything available, but it included several hot items, breads, bagels, yogurt, fresh fruit, cereal, etc.

On our third and final morning there was no buffet, so we were advised that we could pick $25 of food and drink per person when using our coupons.

I ordered a build-your-own omelet which came with a side of hash browns and a choice of toast or an English muffin. The omelet was very good and I liked how crispy the hash browns were.

Shae ordered the Belgian waffles which came with maple syrup, berries and whipped cream.

Other Dining

Restaurant/Bar

Breakfast is served in the restaurant area from 6:30am-11am. Lunch is available there from 11am-3pm, while dinner is available from 3pm-10pm. The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter also has a bar right next to the restaurant where you can order food and drink from 3pm until close.

The bar had a good selection of local beers, as well as wine, spirits and food.

Ingredients Café

In addition to the restaurant and bar, the hotel has a café called Ingredients in the lobby.

You can view the food and drink menu for Ingredients by scanning the QR code below.

Amenities

The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter has a good-sized fitness room with lots of equipment (including Peloton bikes if you don’t have one in your room) and weights.

The hotel has an outdoor swimming pool on the third floor that has loungers and other seating around it.

That’s not the only outdoor rooftop seating. The fourth floor has a Garden Terrace where you can hang out, along with cornhole equipment.

There’s a business center in the lobby which has a couple of computers you can use. I’m not sure if there was a printer too or if you’d have to ask the front desk to print off any documents you need.

Also in the lobby is the Concierge desk. In addition to being able to provide information about things to do in downtown San Diego, that’s where you can get tickets for activities that are part of the hotel’s destination fee.

Speaking of which…

Destination Fee

At the time of our stay in December 2021/January 2022, The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter had a $25 per night destination fee. Tax is added to that, so the total fee came to $28.19 per night.

I think resort fees/destination fees/amenity fees are awful. Most of the time they provide very little value and so you’re being charged extra for services or benefits you can’t use or which should be included for free anyway (e.g. internet).

Although I wasn’t a fan of the fact that we were charged $28.19 per night by The Westin, they do at least provide surprisingly good value in return for that non-avoidable fee.

As you can see in the photo above, the daily $28.19 destination fee includes the following:

• Daily Benefits
  • 2 glasses of craft beer or signature wine
  • $8 voucher for Ingredients (not listed on the card shown above, but provided anyway)
  • 1 hour paddleboard or kayak rental for two people
  • Westin Workout gear lending
  • 1 hour bike rental for two people
  • Premium internet access
• Once Per Stay Benefits
  • 1 hour Harbor Tour for two people
  • Seaport Village shopping spree discount book

If you would’ve had a couple of drinks per day at the bar and spent $8 on snacks and drinks at Ingredients anyway, the destination fee pays for itself. That’s before you even take into account the value from the bike rental, kayak or paddleboard rental, boat tour, etc.

We didn’t use the bike rental coupons, but we did go kayaking twice and did the Harbor Tour. Both of those activities were worth doing and so, along with the drinks and Ingredients coupons, would’ve cost more than the three days worth of destination fees that we paid.

Something that was particularly useful was that the coupons for the boat tour and kayak/paddleboard rentals didn’t have an expiry date on them. We stayed another four nights in the Gaslamp Quarter at a different hotel which meant that we were able to go on the boat tour and kayaking for a second time later that week rather than during our stay at The Westin.

While I’d rather have been charged no destination fee, the fact that we paid that fee meant we wanted to get good value from it. That encouraged us to go kayaking and to take the Harbor boat tour which we probably wouldn’t have chosen to experience otherwise.

Pet Policy

The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter is a pet-friendly hotel and, even better, doesn’t charge a pet fee. For us personally, that helped make up for the fact that we had to pay a destination fee seeing as many hotels charge a $75-$100 pet fee. There’s a limit of one pet per room and they have a 50 lb weight limit.

The hotel doesn’t have grass immediately outside, but if you head out of the hotel to the left and turn left again, there’s a park with AstroTurf just a minute’s walk away.

As for the hotel itself, it was nice and quiet which was great as it meant Truffles didn’t feel the need to alert us to people in the corridor (that was also helped by us being as the end of the floor). Seeing as we stayed at The Westin for New Year’s Eve, Truffles wanted to celebrate with us.

Service

Service at the hotel was very good. The front desk staff were friendly and helpful, but it was some of the other staff members that were particularly lovely. Victor who helped us with our luggage when both checking in and out was lovely, while Julianne who works at the Concierge desk was incredibly personable and helpful.

Wi-Fi

Internet at The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter was good. It seemed speedy enough and we didn’t have any connectivity issues. Something I appreciated was that we were able to specify our length of stay when logging on for the first time. That meant we didn’t have to log back in each day, a minor irritation we have during stays at many other hotels.

Check-In & Check-Out Times

The check-in time at The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter is 3pm, while check-out is at 12pm. My Titanium status with Marriott Bonvoy meant that we were able to get a 4pm late checkout which was useful seeing as check-in at our next hotel (just around the corner) wasn’t until 3pm.

Location

The hotel is in a great location in the Gaslamp Quarter, with many bars and restaurants within walking distance. Petco Park where the San Diego Padres play is less than a mile’s walk, with it being a similar distance to Seaport Village on the waterfront.

In fact, pretty much anywhere in downtown San Diego is within a mile of the hotel. If you don’t want to walk that far, there are plenty of electric scooters and bikes you can use to get to your destination more quickly.

Parking

Perhaps unsurprisingly given its location downtown, parking was expensive – $50 per night. I’d looked at ParkWhiz before our stay to see if there were cheaper parking options nearby and there were.

However, we decided to use The Westin’s valet parking service anyway for a few reasons. First, it was more convenient than having to park half a mile away and walk back. Second, the alternative parking lot didn’t have in and out privileges (The Westin does) and we weren’t sure if we’d want to use our car during our stay to visit somewhere like the San Diego Zoo.

Third, the other parking lot wasn’t as secure as the hotel’s parking lot. Our full-time travel lifestyle means we travel with everything we own, but we didn’t want to have to bring all of that into the hotel with us. That meant we left some stuff in our car, so having it be left in a parking lot that was seemingly only accessed by the valets gave us more reassurance that everything remaining in our car would be secure.

Finally, we had some Marriott gift cards we’d bought at a 20% discount. Seeing as the valet parking fees were charged to our room, the $50 nightly fee was reduced to $40. That was still a bit more expensive than the alternative parking option on ParkWhiz, but made it less painful.

Cost

We booked our three night stay using Marriott free night certificates. The points cost for our first and third nights would’ve been 40,000 points per night, so we used two certificates I received for earning Titanium status two years in a row (one of those was an older certificate that had been extended due to COVID).

The second night of our stay would’ve cost 35,000 points and so I was able to use a free night certificate from renewing one of my Marriott credit cards. I don’t remember which card’s certificate I used, but we do have to pay the annual fees for those cards and so that particular “free” night effectively cost $95-$125 depending on which credit card it was from.

If we’d paid cash for the stay, it would’ve cost us an average of $233.06 per night with tax. Redeeming our certificates to offset that cost was therefore great value. If we’d used points themselves, the value wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good as we would’ve only gotten ~0.6cpp (cents per point) of value.

Final Thoughts

Shae and I greatly enjoyed our stay at The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. It was fantastic being able to stay downtown without having a large out-of-pocket cost, our room was nice and the hotel’s staff were friendly.

Although I’m not a fan of destination fees, at least this particularly property provides a bunch of benefits and coupons that can actually be worth the cost of the destination fee – or more.

We both loved San Diego and if we return in the future, we’d happily stay at this property again if we had free night certificates we could use. The cost cash and points-wise is a bit pricey for our budget otherwise though.

Truffles Approval Rating

We loved that there was no pet fee, while Truffles loved how quiet the hotel was and the fact that there was a park just around the corner.

Our Rating

Room = 4.5 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.8 / 5
Food = 4.3 / 5
Location = 4.8 / 5
Service = 4.6 / 5
Overall Value = 3.9 / 5 (very good value when using free night certificates, but quite pricey otherwise, especially when adding in destination and parking fees)

Total = 4.48 / 5

Address

The Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, 910 Broadway Cir, San Diego, CA 92101