Hilton Del Mar

Our stay was scheduled for an 8/7/2026 arrival and an 8/15/2026 departure. The room we pre-paid for was a standard king. When I made our reservation, included a note letting the hotel know we were celebrating my 70th birthday. The problems started even before we checked in. On 8/6/2026, I received an email from Hilton, letting me know it was time to check in. I proceeded through the prompts and was informed I would be assigned to room 1031, and my room was being prepared. I was curious as to what room 1031 was so I looked it up on Chat GPT. Room 1031 was a King room, with a sliding door that led to a “patio”, with chairs, facing the pool. Wow, I thought, how nice of the Hilton to upgrade us for my birthday…how wrong was I! When we checked in, we were assigned room 1091, not room 1031. I thought maybe I read the e-mail from the previous night incorrectly, and we proceeded to room 1091. We also let the front desk know we had a package coming to the hotel. The woman who checked us in, made a note of it. (more on that later) Much to our surprise, when we entered the room, there was no slider, no patio, no chairs, and no pool view; we had a view of the parking lot. Again, although this is exactly the room we pre-paid for, it was not what we were told the night before. I went back to the front desk, and the man I spoke with actually told me I had two reservations! What was that all about? I did not have two reservations; I had one reservation which was pre-paid. When I let him know about the e-mail from the hotel the night before he told me they were at 99% occupancy for the next two nights, and to check back with him then to see if there were any upgrades available. What he should have said, in my opinion, is we are sorry for the mistake in communication with you and as soon as an upgrade becomes available I will let you know and we will take care of moving your belongings to the upgraded room. That would have been the customer friendly response, not the crass response I received. And while trivial in all of this, t once did either front desk employee wish me a happy birthday. Other issues: 1. There was signage in two places by the pool regarding pets. One on the outside entry gate to the pool and one inside the pool regarding pets in the pool area: Sign #1 on the gate outside of the pool: “Animals are not permitted in the pool area – per city code Sign #2 on the gate inside the pool: No pets allowed. There were MULTIPLE dogs in the pool area on both Saturday 8/9/2026 and Tuesday 8/11/2026. 2. There were not enough lounge chairs at the pool (6) and two of them were ripped to the point they were unusable. 3. There was green “stuff” on the side walls and steps of the pool. 4. The day bartender at the Coastal Cantina bar was very rude to my wife when she went in to get a Margarita. When asked what type of Tequilla she wanted she asked for Cassamigos, to which the bartender told her they didn’t carry that brand. She then asked for Patron, and again the bartender told her they didn’t carry that brand either, and proceeded to imply she was “stupid” for not knowing why they didn’t carry those two brands. In my opinion, the proper way to have handled this situation, the customer friendly response would have been we are sorry we do not carry those brands. However, here is a list of the Tequillas we serve. 5. One afternoon/early evening, the Coastal Catalina bar ran out of Miller Lite. 6. Another afternoon/early evening, the Coastal Catalina bar ran out of Coors Light. In my opinion, neither of which should ever happen in a hotel bar 7. When our package arrived, we did not receive a message from the hotel letting us know the package arrived, which again, in my opinion, would have been the customer friendly way. Instead, we received a message from the package sender letting us know the package had been delivered. 8. On Tuesday, 8/11/2026, we spent the day at the pool. We arrived back in our room at 2 PM; housekeeping had not been there yet. On the way out of the hotel at 4PM we let the front desk know our room had not been seen by housekeeping yet. The woman at the front desk brusquely told me housekeeping was still servicing rooms, and she took down our room number. When we arrived back at 7 PM the room was still not serviced by housekeeping! Totally unacceptable. 9. We stopped at the Coastal Catalina bar for a drink and appetizers one afternoon/evening. I wanted shrimp cocktail without all of the garnishes, and my wife wanted a quesadilla without some of the garnishes. The bartender told us they couldn’t serve our requested appetizers like that! I thought he was kidding…but he wasn’t! Thank God for a waiter named Peyton, who stepped up and told the bartender yes, we can server the requested appetizers that way. 10. There were little brown ants in our bathroom. 11. There were earwigs in our bathroom. 12. When we were checking out, there was a little brown ant crawling across a piece of paper behind the front desk. 13. The shuttle only goes to the racetrack and back, no longer will it take you anywhere within five miles of the hotel. 14. There is no longer a Concierge locate in the hotel, who, when there, was very helpful with dinner reservations and San Diego Padres tickets. 15. The smell of marijuana was prevalent at the pool, In conclusion, as you can see, I would give this hotel ZERO stars if possible. Front Desk – 0 Room – 0 Pool – 0 Bar – 0 Customer Relations – 0 While I will never again make this choice for a hotel when staying in the Del Mar area, I hope my review is helpful for those who are looking for a place to stay in the Del Mar area.

Spacious corner room on the very top floor. Bathroom a bit dated where vent was so loud that I cannot turn on light while showering since there was only one paddle switch. It was the only way showering in the dark so as to not wake the rest of families early in the morning. Other than that, the overall feel was a decent hotel. Pool is definitely smaller than shown in pictures, which is outdated anyways because actual pool does not look as grand. Location is conveniently off the 5 freeway and not too far from the beach.

Location (3/5): Decent amount of shops and restaurants nearby but they require a bit of walking. Room (2/5): Room was pretty outdated and you can see the age starting to show. There was also barely any soundproofing. Got placed in a room next to the parking lot and could hear cars come and go all day and night. There is also a busy highway nearby. Hotel (4/5): Lobby was nice and open with ample seating. The interior pool/courtyard was also quite large. It seems like the hotel spent all their remodeling budget on the common areas while neglecting the rooms. Service and Cleanliness (2/5): Some of the front desk employees looked like they hated working there. Even a simple question like "where was the gym" were met with disdain and a curt response. Overheard an interaction where the woman at the front desk acted very annoyed when another guest had a simple question about breakfast. Cleanliness also wasn't the best with noticeable dust and grime in many places of the room and bathroom.