When we stayed at this hotel we were happy with the overall look of the hotel lobby and breakfast room. We really enjoyed the breakfast they had...especially the cinnamon rolls and the pancakes! However, we did not like the location of the hotel and felt that the hallways looked dingy. The guest rooms were nice; however, you can hear a lot of the street sounds, nearby sounds in other guest rooms, and conversations in the hallway. On 2 out of the 3 nights we stayed we were awoken at 1-2 am to people yelling in the hallway. On one night the people also started smoking even though this was a non-smoking hotel. The hotel staff seemed almost non-chalant about the situation. We ended up asking for a refund and staying in another hotel for the next two nights of our vacation.

The hotel has free shuttle to the attractions and this is a big plus for us since we do not like driving . We missed the shuttle one time and the hotel manager even offered a ride to the train station when he was on his way to the meeting.
There is free happy hours which offers free drink and snack and free milk and cookie for the kid at night
Do not choose room close to the vending machine since the staff may load the drinks early morning and wake you up
Overall, this is a very good hotel and I am very pleased with the service

My stay occurred on a weekday between Christmas and New Years. I found an online rate through AAA for about $99 and then called the front desk to see if they'd match it; they looked it up and did so. The walk-in rate was much higher.

I was very happy with the cleanliness and the staff of the hotel.
Our main activities for the week were in Balboa park so the location was a big plus.
I especially liked the free internet-use computers, internet access in my room, and the breakfast. The breakfast included things like cereal, muffins, microwaved scrambled eggs and something I'd never seen before, an automatic pancake-making machine. The breakfast room, however, was a bit smallish - less than 50 - compared to the number of guests.

In general, I've rarely encountered a hotel situation where I just HAD to spend over $100 on a hotel to be happy. If I pay over $100, it's because I think I'm going to get something extraordinary. I don't see any evidence that downtown San Diego is any exception. If I go back to downtown SD and can't get Holiday Inn Express for under $100, I'll probably pick someplace cheaper; there are just so many hotels. So I'm glad I had a discount and was happy for the price.

That being said, I was irked (although not surprised) to pay $18 to park in their underground parking garage. It irks me because I don't believe they incur anything like $18 in cost for me to park there overnight - maybe $1.80. In my view they are taking advantage of people who wouldn't know where else to park and they amp-this-up by giving you a somber warning at checkout that it's risky to park overnight in downtown open lots, which might be somewhat true. The only reason I tolerated it at all was because it didn't look like the parking garage could hold enough cars for every guest to park there - if parking had been free, I probably wouldn't have gotten a space. I don't mind paying for scarce resources; it's simple supply and demand. But the parking was 50% vacant, which tells me the management team needs to lower the parking price. $9 parking would have made this place "Excellent" for a $99/night price.

Paid in full for room and checked in after midnight with a front desk agent that said "I was just in the process of cancelling your reservation for good tonight". Too tired to argue I just took the room key and went to sleep. Housekeeping started knocking on doors around 7am and chattering loudly in the hall.

Room was decent with an old tv and there was a big balcony.

Morning breakfast was ok but uncomfortably packed with people.

You can do much better in San Diego for the $$