San Diego Gem: Walk to Bay, Beaches & Boardwalk

Reviews

• Nice location to Pacific Beach

  3/5

  We spent 4 nights. Initially thought it would be better to stay downtown however closer to Pacific Beach (20 minute walk) was nice. Easy to Uber to Zoo, Old Towne etc. grocery store, restaurants etc are all close.

  Unit itself was fine except for the furniture. Mattress is too soft. New mattress cover required at the very least. Living room couch and chair both extremely uncomfortable.

  Due to the heat we spent more time inside so it would have been nice to have comfortable furniture. Also the fan left in closet was unusable due to how filthy it was.

  Good lighting, shelving, nicely appointed with art work etc. kitchen well stocked with utensils etc. great to have laundry available. TV was excellent, able to watch baseball, Disney etc. lots of bath towels was great. Everything spelled out in terms of directions.

  Despite the signs in kitchen welcoming us didn’t feel welcomed in two communications with Michael. Very curt.

  Manager's Response:

  Hi Karen, we always appreciate hearing from our guests. We've passed your comments on to the homeowner who would like to share the following:
  - It’s great to hear you enjoyed the lighting, kitchen amenities, and entertainment options. I always aim to provide a welcoming and well-equipped space for our guests.
  - I recognize that mattress preferences can vary widely, and while I try to accommodate all guests' comfort, I’ve never received any complaints about this mattress in the past.
  - The apartment is equipped with ceiling fans in both the living room and bedroom, as well as a mini-split A/C to keep things cool. I’ll also be replacing the portable fan to ensure our guests have everything they need.
  - I responded promptly to your email regarding the TV volume and didn’t receive any further concerns. I strive to be responsive to any guest needs and would have been happy to assist with anything else during your stay.
  We have worked very hard to provide a clean and comfortable place for guests to enjoy and will continue to do all we can to provide the best possible stay for our guests!

• 4/5

  Cute apartment. Only 5 units. It’s walkable to beaches but not recommended after a long day in the sun. It would be up hill with all your belongings.

  Accommodations were average. Thin pillows. No sheets for the hide-a-bed. Very little cookware if you planned on making meals. Plenty of towels but a little too much bleach.

  Lots of shops (grocery too), restaurants, and tattoo shops around.

  Awesome little ice cream place around the corner. Street parking wasn’t bad. Mostly quiet at night.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

• Everything great! Except…

  4/5

  The bed, the single most important part of a unit. Unfortunately there is no place to upload a picture. The mattress has a piece of foam rubber on top. Clearly that is done to make an uncomfortable mattress more comfortable. It failed. Terrible mattress=poor sleep. Not good.

  Otherwise this is a great place. Location is excellent, clean and comfortable and easy access.

• Comfy

  5/5

  We love that there is the cutest dog to play with! We love you Buddy 😊

  Great stay!

  Thank you

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

• Room for improvement

  2/5

  The location of this place is great, but the unit itself has significant room for improvement. The biggest con is that the space is not ventilated enough. You can open a single bag of chips and the entire place will smell like it for the whole day (s). This was worse in the room, where even the open door and the fan going wasn’t enough. On muggy days, like the ones we encountered, the place felt stuffy. We had to open all possible windows from the kitchen to the rest of the place. Secondly, the bathroom is not well kept. The bathtub was backed up and wouldn’t drain the water, forcing you to practically bathe in any dirt, soap, etc. Thankfully, my boyfriend was able to fix this, but the tub had significant wear and tear and there was no fan to ventilate the bathroom. Lastly, although the description of the place was accurate, image of the front was a bit misleading. There are 3 units connected to each other so the lawn chairs pictured are not really for you to sit and enjoy in a “private space”, but rather placed feet apart from the other units. Nonetheless, the location is close to the boardwalk and the beach, with public transportation nearby. I was glad to have visited with my boyfriend as I would not have felt entirely safe walking the streets alone. It seems to be a very safe neighborhood, and this is not an issue from the unit, but the neighborhood itself is not well lit and becomes very dark. This is critical information if you’re a woman traveling alone. While writing this review, I realized I forgot to mention that on the last day we had to remove all sheets and blankets (as directed) for cleaning services. We were disgusted to see how dirty the pillows were underneath their cases, with significant yellow stains. I was grossed out by this. It shows that they do not maintain the apartment well and certainly do not switch out pillows and linens regularly. We didn’t even have the chance to check the mattress, though I’m glad we saw noticed this on the last day otherwise I’m not sure what we would have done. In the end, we were only there for a few nights but for the price of the stay, I would stay elsewhere.

  Manager's Response:

  Hi Maria, we want our guests to rest easy when they stay with us, and we apologize if you experienced some issues during your trip. We followed up with the homeowner after reading your feedback, and they wanted to share the following:
  - We encourage guests to thoroughly review the listing before booking, to ensure they find the perfect vacation home for their needs. The listing does state that it's a shared yard for all the units in the building, but we’re sorry if this caught you off guard.
  - We wish you had reached out to us during your stay. We would've been more than happy to resolve your concerns and make your stay more comfortable by explaining that the yard furniture is lightweight plastic and guests are free to move it around and use it as they wish.
  - The apartments all have steel security doors that lock on the front & back of the home. They are very secure and allow for the ocean breeze to flow through the unit when the interior wood doors are left open. This is all explained in the property information posted on the wall inside the front door.
  - There are also ceiling fans in the living room and bedroom. Lastly, there's a mini split air conditioning system in the apartment as well as an additional pedestal fan in the bedroom closet to cool and ventilate the apartment.
  - Unfortunately, drains do get clogged on occasion and we have a plumbing company that comes out when necessary, usually within an hour.
  - We wish you had reached out to us during your stay. We would've been more than happy to send our plumber to resolve your concerns and make your stay more comfortable.
  - As you can see by our many great reviews, we are accustomed to providing five-star experiences, and look forward to this property hosting many happy travelers!