Where We Stayed

Much like in 2023 and other years past, we divided our week-long stay between Hotel Circle and Pacific Beach.

Holiday Inn Express – Mission Valley
Located within a few minutes walk of the Town and Country conference center, the Holiday Inn Express was a good option for the first half of the trip when I was at the conference most of the day. Self parking was easy, if expensive, and we usually chose the almost empty underground area. The complimentary breakfast was fine for grabbing a light snack before we headed out to a proper breakfast, especially before an early meeting. Two downsides: the gym is quite small and noisy (from the elevator proximity), and the pool/hot tub and out deck area was closed for renovation during our visit. On a positive note, housekeeping was great here with daily service.

Tower 23, Pacific Beach
Staying at the beach in San Diego is a huge plus as it provides easy walking access to several restaurants and beach views. Much like 2023, Tower23 cost less than the Holiday Inn Express for the second half of our trip, so we moved to the beach on Sunday afternoon. This time around I surprised Leandra by upgrading us to a room with a partial ocean view.

The hotel charges a $25 resort fee that includes a drink coupon, gym coupons, and access to beach bikes. The free drink coupons are fairly limited, house wine or well cocktails, but still appreciated. We stayed for four nights and were told that we could only receive two gym passes to the off-site location though. We also found out after checkout resort fee stopped including parking last August, so the extra $15/night for parking was an unpleasant surprise.

The in-room coffee was not to Leandra’s liking, and though they don’t do daily room service they sure do check the minibar each day.

Still, you can’t beat the location, especially the sun deck with views of the ocean and pier.