The Sofia Hotel in San Diego, CA

we arrived a little after 2;00pm. We noticed that there were only 3 cars in the parking lot. I made a comment that there aren't too many guests at this hotel. There was a lady at the front desk who did not smile nor greeted us and asked if we have a reservation which we did. we had a long drive and since I recently had 2 knee replacement surgeries, I needed to rest and put my legs up because we has a wedding to attend that would start at 4:00pm. She said you are early, check in is at 4. I explained about the wedding and that I had noticed there are only 3 cars in the parking lot so, we know the must be several rooms available. She said there is if we pay 40$ for the early check-in which really upset me because I had never heard of it. ( my wife said she had heard about this ). I said I absolutely refuse to pay any amount. The room is available and out of courtesy she should let us us check-in. She responded that " well, I guess I can wave it if we write a good review " she said that with a NOT very nice attitude. My wife agreed and asked for a room closest to the elevator. She said it is on the first floor. BTW, she hardly ever made a eye contact nor smiled NOT welcoming at all. We proceeded to go to our room. She had made sure to give us the room at the very end of the hallway. All this for an absolutely no reason. My wife was quite nice to her the entire time. I only responded about the 40$ extra charge. My wife and I had several practices. We retired 3 years ago. We used to have morning huddles and monthly longer meetings with the staff and explain the importance of making people feel good about themselves and of course many other subjects. I always explained that if you do a favor for a patient, never make them feel like they owe you something and always make a comment like " you are such nice person I would love to do this for you " and always with a smile. I never hired nor kept staff who did not smile, greet, said goodbye, thank you and you are welcome. I don't think 40$ will make you rich nor would it make you poor but good effective management will go long ways. Breakfast was alright and the lady who worked there was very nice. We continued our trip to San Diego the next morning after the wedding. We arrived about 10:30am. We were greeted with a beautiful genuine smile. She checked us in and she surprised us by upgrading us to a suite with nice views. The difference in management and personality of the staff were quite evident.

Terrible experience. At check-in, the front desk couldn’t get any of our cards to work and wasted time switching computers instead of just trying manual entry—which ended up working. On top of that, the room had cockroaches in the shower and under the sink. If it hadn’t been almost midnight, we would have walked out. This place is unacceptable. Never again.

Really nice and comfortable hotel. It's value for money. It's walkable to several attractions and public transit. The rooms were well furnished and had all the amenities needed. The staff were very friendly.

Great location and terrific value. Clean, comfortable, with old school style and modern amenities in the rooms. Walking distance to the water front and Gaslamp district.