| | | |

Hotel Review: Homewood Suites Liberty Station in San Diego. In a word: amazing.

a lawn with palm trees and a path

The past four days we spent in San Diego was one of the best family vacations we’ve had in years. The weather was perfect, the kids got along, we chose great activities, and the hotel was amazing. While I was pleasantly surprised by all of the above, I was actually stunned by the hotel, for many reasons.

For one thing, it was a Homewood Suites. Not to sound like a hotel snob, but in my experience, a stay at a Homewood Suites is typically not amazing. This totally was. In fact, I would go out of my way to stay at this property again.

Here are the reasons why:

1. The location was perfect

The Homewood Suites Liberty Station is 10 minutes from the airport, Old Town, and the beach. It’s 5 minutes from Sea World, 20 minutes from Legoland, and 30 minutes from the Zoo Safari park. It is also close to Trader Joe’s and Von’s in case you want to pack a picnic or want to stock up on snacks.

2. The staff was awesome

Every staff member we encountered was professional and friendly. This is the kind of place where they go the extra mile. When we first arrived, our room wasn’t ready, so we stashed our bags behind the counter and dashed off to Sea World. When we returned at the end of the day, our bags were already in our room, along with this note:

Homewood Suites note

3. The suites were immaculate, quiet, and comfortable

Our rooms were basic but included everything we needed.

Each suite features a full kitchen, complete with full-size refrigerator, range, microwave, and dishwasher.

Homewood Suites Kitchen
Kitchen

Sinks are placed outside the bathrooms, which is always convenient. Bathrooms have showers over tubs.

My one complaint (which is way too strong a word) is that the rooms were a bit small. We had originally booked a 1-bedroom suite, which would have been a little cramped for my family of four. However, if you’ve got younger kids, a 1-bedroom suite would probably be just fine.

4. Tons of extras were included in the price

This is one of the things I appreciated the most. I just love that this property is packed with value for families. Every stay includes free parking, free hot breakfast, and free dinner. This is a huge value! While the offerings weren’t fancy, this is a perk that could be worth hundreds of dollars if you have a large family and stayed for several days.

We enjoyed the heck of out of the free breakfast. What a spread! There were Belgian waffles with berries and whipped cream, omelets, sausage, hash browns, pastries, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, cereal, and more.

While we didn’t take advantage of the free dinner, I made a copy of the menu:

Homewood Suites menu

5. Lots of conveniences both on-property and nearby

I loved that the hotel has BBQ’s, plenty of outdoor furniture, and an outdoor fireplace. It would be so easy to have a casual dinner right at the hotel! You could zip over to Trader Joe’s for some things to throw on the grill, use the full kitchen in your room to prep everything, and then head down to the patio for a relaxing evening.

Homewood Suites BBQ
BBQ’s

The hotel also has a laundry room (!), a game room, and a small fitness room.

There is a bocce ball court, a swimming pool and hot tub on the property.

pool at homewood suites

Nearby, there is a fun playground, a large grassy area, and a little rocky “beach.”

kids and josh running on path
Bird, Bear, and Josh running along the water
beach outside hotel
Rocky beach steps away from the hotel
Playground
Playground

6. This stay can be completely free!

The best part about this stay is that it was free. This was a fantastic award redemption for our family. I used the two Free Weekend Night certificates I received as a sign-up bonus for the Hilton Reserve card, plus 40,000 HHonors points for an award night.

We had originally booked a 1-bedroom suite, which would have cost us $200/night, or $600 total, if we had paid cash. Since we got upgraded to a 2-bedroom suite, our 3-night stay was worth a total of $750 ($250/night).

I think this is the perfect example of how it is important to redeem an award in the way that best makes sense for you and your family. Sure, we could have wrung more “value” out of a different Hilton redemption, such as a stay at the Conrad Maldives, where rooms normally go for $650+ per night, but then we would have had to get to the Maldives. 🙂

This award redemption was packed with value for us, because it was exactly what we were looking for.

What have been your best award redemptions?

9 Comments

  1. Thanks for the review of this. It is great info to know. Maybe next October I’ll take a few nieces & nephews. It looks pretty nice (surprisingly – yes I am a hotel snob somewhat). Suites are the way to go with kids. The running trail looks awesome. Do you recall how far it went?

    BTW – many hotels have laundry rooms I have found. Occasionally I’ll have 2 week stays during events, and have taken advantage of this feature. It’s not always widely publicized, and it’s often hidden away on one floor – ask specifically at front desk.

  2. Rebecca – Yes, I would definitely give this hotel an A+. The running trail went on for quite awhile – we didn’t follow it to the end. The surrounding neighborhood is cute as well (probably good for running).

    I had no idea about the laundry rooms, but what a great perk!

  3. I stayed in a Homewood Suites (in ATL) about 20 years ago and liked the concept – I had never stayed in a hotel suite before that time. (Wow, time flies!!!) I’m glad to know that they are still nice.

  4. Pingback: best cvv site
  5. Pingback: Anonymous
  6. Pingback: Vegan Chaturbate

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *