Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines

It does not make me feel good to have to write this considering I have never written a bad review before but after the events of our week stay, there is a lot to be said about the Torrey Pines Hilton. Being that I have worked in the hospitality industry for years, I have a leniency towards those working in the same work force but, it was truly disappointing to see that the hotel correlated to a very famous golf course would under perform to this capacity.

We checked in on a Friday and waited in line for over an hour just to be told that our room would be ready in 2-3 hours. Please keep in mind that we arrived to the Hotel at 3pm and could not get into our rooms until close to 6pm. After a long day of travel, like many, we were anticipating on dropping off our belongings and getting dressed in order to eat but, had to hold off until our rooms were ready.

Soon after we had checked in, we realized that we were charged an extra $800. We waited in line for another hour and when we asked the front desk, they told us that that was a part of the bill and provided no explanation as to why. They gave us a number to call in order to try to dispute the charge which turned out to the number of their front desk…. who we had just talked to.

There were days when housekeeping did not come and in the instance that they did, our towels were stripped from our rooms and not replaced. When we called, they informed us that there was a shortage of towels and we would have to wait. Again, another service issue that disrupted our plans.

Valet is $48/day compared to self-parking which is $40/day. With valet, at the very least we expected to be greeted but, instead we pulled up to 3 gentlemen standing at the desk that would wait for us to get out of the car and hand them the keys ourselves. No doors were opened and there was no help with our luggage/belongings. Unless you are driving a luxury vehicle, they will not give you the time of day. This was proven to be true because we had 2 vehicles with us, one being a Mercedes and we distinctly received different treatment when entering and exiting the Mercedes.

The escalator and elevator were both broken during our entire stay. As you could imagine how fun it was bringing our belongings (golf bags, suit cases, and bags) up and down the stairs for five days.

The bar downstairs is severely understaffed. With the amount of guests staying at this hotel, there should be 2 bartenders and a bar back scheduled specifically on Friday and Saturday nights but, on both of those nights we had 1 bartender who was busting his a** to serve a fully packed bar, bar side tables, and booths. Nick (the bartender) was AMAZING and deserves nothing short of a HUGE raise and recognition.

Majority of the staff seemed miserable and that tells me everything that I need to know as to how an establishment is ran.

We are very disappointed in the service and hospitality of the Torrey Pines Hilton. This trip was marked on our calendar for months and we were expecting a nice relaxing getaway for the week but, instead we’re met with our very underwhelming experience. The only redeeming factor was that it was located right on the Torrey Pines Golf Course and based off of the price, they play into that. Overall, it was not worth the convenience and we will not be back.