Handlery Hotel

Here was another of those hotels that paint a promising picture of a wonderful
stay and Internet pictures to back it all up. There were plenty of other places to
choose from at the "hotel circle", but I wanted to venture from the chain hotels,
hoping to find hidden treasure. This was perhaps one of the worst places I've
stayed at yet. Even their restaurant, Postcards, was a bomb.

First of all we were assigned a room at the far end of the property, which
wouldn't have been so bad if there were anybody else around. While all of the
cars and other guests were huddled around the main building, we felt so unsafe
isolated from others that we barricade our front door by putting a chair under
the knob. That was a first.

Our room #435 wasn't much to brag with minimum put into the decor. Flat
pillows contributed to a miserable night sleep, but bad went to worse quick
when we were rudely awakened at 7:00 A.M. by jack hammers and the
pounding of nails. Nobody warned us that there was major construction going
on, less than 20 feet away. We struggled to ignore the noise, but it was so near
and intense. We'd so needed and anticipated sleeping in after a late night out
at a concert and this was not a good way to start the day.

Finally giving up any hope of rest I was further disgusted discovering dried
coffee on the bottom of the coffee cups and no stir sticks either. There was no
end to the annoyances here. Not only were we now denied the late check out
that we were told would be no problem when we first booked our room, the
maids became relentless in their pursuit to evacuate us far before normal check
out which was noon. 10:00 A.M. they knocked on the door as we yelled to them
for our privacy. Unbelievably they attempted three more times to enter our
room prematurely before we finally left. I complained about the intrusive maids
at the front desk, but the receptionist made excuses saying a big group wanted
to check in early. I thought current guest should be their first concern, but
apparently it's all about new business for them.

At this point people were bustling about, eager to check in. A man overhearing
our complaints must have had some of his own already saying, "Boy the
pictures on the Internet make it look much better than it really is." I replied,
"Isn't that the truth."

Room #435 was $99 for a Tuesday in September.

Located at 950 Hotel Circle North in San Diego.

Telephone (619) 298-0511