The Westgate Hotel

We stayed at the Westgate Hotel in San Diego. While the hotel looked very impressive, upon a closer look, it was lacking in service in many ways. There were some annoyances including a) a courtesy van that was 90 minutes late in picking up the kids and babysitter from SeaWorld despite a number of phone calls and promises to the contrary and b) a maid who left our door open, the TV on, and her belongings in the room.

But the biggest problem was that the hotel refused to cash more than $100 (per day) of travelers’ checks. I find this a very strange policy for a nice hotel in that the hotel should anticipate that its customers will want to cash more than $100, and it is easy for the hotel to gain access to currency from banks, even on the weekend. For me this was a very big problem because the hotel first informed me of this lunatic policy on a Saturday morning as I was preparing to spend a whole day in a room interviewing job candidates with my children’s babysitter needing $200 in cash. They suggested I go to some local drugstores and buy gum with $100 traveler’s checks. That sounds like a strange suggestion to a guest at a supposedly quality hotel. When I asked to speak to the hotel manager, he refused. In the end, their policy made life significantly more difficult for me (and the babysitter). We received better service at a Holiday Inn Express Motel in Chula Vista where we stayed for one day.* I definitely would go to a different hotel when staying in San Diego.

* (by the way, there is a small, hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant near the Chula Vista Holiday Inn that had simple but fantastic food).