The Most Beautiful Bay View from 1 Bedroom Apt

View. Location.

Stairs only. No elevator.

Apartment was great- close to downtown and right across balboa park. Was very clean and provided toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, clean towels, etc). Working AC and good security- takes 3 codes to enter the property.

Very safe , very comfortable & nice location !

The room overall is nice and spacious, and the location is good. However, the apartment seems to oversell itself in some areas: The room view is not as described. The description claims the room has a washing and drying machine, but it's actually a shared facility. The room shows signs of wear, with black marks on the wall and damaged furniture. The ventilation is not optimal, possibly due to the large size of the room and less powerful air conditioning, resulting in a faint smell. Despite these issues, our experience with the room was still positive. The bed is very big and comfortable.

What soured our experience was the parking situation. The listing advertises "free parking," but only nearby street parking is free. The garage parking costs $20/day, which we didn’t realize until we arrived. The "free parking" term is misleading, even though street parking is mentioned in detailed description (otherwise all hotels can technically advertises "free parking"). Street parking is often occupied, and there's a safety concern compared to garage parking. We met another customer who also fell for the "free parking" trap. It shouldn't say "free parking". When we arrived, we couldn’t find street parking as all nearby spots were taken. We decided to pay $88 for garage parking for our 4-day stay. However, when we drove to the garage, our car couldn't get in due to the steep ramp, and our car bottomed out. We asked for a refund, but the on-site staff declined, offering several unreasonable excuses: 1) He mentioned a five-day cancellation policy, but we booked on the same day as we checked-in, and we are only going to stay for 4 days. 2) He said we should have checked the garage condition before booking (what customer would do that?). 3) He claimed a sports car with a low base could park in the garage, implying he didn’t believe us. 4) He stated our booking made the garage full, but we saw empty spots during our stay. Despite explaining our situation and asking for understanding, the staff refused a refund. Eventually, I consulted Booking.com, who contacted the owner on my behalf. The owner agreed to the refund. However, as of now, I still haven’t received it. The discrepancy between the owner's and staff's responses suggests a communication issue. The staff should have consulted the owner instead of providing unreasonable excuses, causing us stress. This experience negatively impacted our overall impression.

Responsive host; clean room provided with everything needed for a comfortable stay. I enjoyed the view from our apartment, and the location is amazing - it's within walking distance from Balboa Park, Little Italy, Gaslamp Quarter, and all the interesting museums and other attractions. I found the bed to be very comfy too.

Noise-sensitive people may find it overwhelming - you can hear neighbors from adjacent apartments when they are loud. There was nothing truly disturbing that a pair of earplugs couldn't fix.