Book Hotels Early! Lack of San Diego & Seattle Hotels Next Year

I'm booked on back-to-back cruises next year. I leave from San Diego on April 28, 2019 for a 6-day Coastal, ending in Vancouver. In Vancouver, I'm staying on the ship for a 7-day round trip Alaskan cruise. At the end of the cruise (May 11, 2019) I'll shuttle down to Seattle and fly back home from there on the following day.

Bottom line, I need a hotel room on April 27 in SD and on May 11 near SeaTac.

I'm a Hilton Honors member, so my preference is to book with the Hilton family of hotels in order to pay with points or points and money.

In San Diego, my go to hotel is the Hampton Inn on Pacific Highway. Most Hilton properties don't have rooms available on April 27, 2019, but I was able to book at the Doubletree for 40,000 points. The combined Hilton Garden Inn/Homewood Suites had rooms at a higher rate, as did the Hilton on Harbor Island (close in price to the Doubletree). There were 2 Del Coronado properties with availability, but WAY out of my price range.

At SeaTac on May 11, basically the same story. Very little availability at any price. I was able to snag a room for 21,000 points at the Hilton with the sky bridge to the light rail. Quite a bargain.

In the past I've sometimes been able to find the hotels I want closer to sailing date. I think what happens is that blocks of rooms that were being held for groups are released. I will continue to monitor the situation.

Moral of the story - much like airline fares, when you see something you can live with, book it. It may or may not be available tomorrow, and with hotels you can always cancel with no penalty unless you've prepaid.

Roz

Roz - I think April 27 is a bit early to book. On my Marriott website that date is one day to early, so you might check in a few days.

In SD, I also have stayed at the Hampton and liked it, but this last trip we were at the Springhill Suites Bayfront, which is RIGHT across the street from the pier (a 3 minute walk). It is a new property and is co-located with the Residence Inn (same check-in area for example). Very nice/new rooms, great staff, good free breakfast and no train noise!

For some strange reason, this property does not book very far out (like 90-120 days??). Maybe it is because of the co-location with Residence?

Dave

Not many people know that hotels are increasingly using the kinds of yield management tools the airlines (and cruise lines) have been employing for years. I suspect your problem isn't that hotels are all booked, it's because hotel chains haven't opened booking for their properties yet.

Here's an article that covers various hotel companies' advance booking policies - https://thepointsguy.com/guide/how-far-in-advance-book-hotel/ . It shows, for example, that several major chains (IHG, Marriott, Choice etc.) open bookings 350 days or 50 weeks out, so for May 11, 2019 you're still a couple of weeks away from reservations being available.

Hilton family members in the US typically open up 365 days from your check out date. Overseas is different...sometimes. It is pretty rare I see a domestic Hilton not open up a year in advance. I am a Diamond, almost Lifetime.

That being said, San Diego has been crazy. Have two trips there in the next 4 months...hotels have been jammed and expensive.

Thanks for all the good advice. I'll keep checking. I figured it would be better to book something (a bird in hand or something like that :D) now with the understanding that I can always change if something more desirable becomes available later on.

Roz

I think like you Roz, wanted to book and went looking today. Ended up booking a Bayview room

at the Wyndham. We like the location across from the cruise terminal and being close to Little Italy for our dinners. Booked the room for now as it is refundable. Can always change our mind but like knowing we have a place booked to hang our head.

Canadianbear,

Over the years I've found April to be especially busy in San Diego with lots of meetings and conferences. Two or three times I've ended up over in Old Town. This past February I had a reservation at the Hilton on Harbor Island but then was able to change it to the Hampton Inn a few weeks out. Coming back I wasn't able to get the HI, but the Hilton Garden Inn was available and only a few blocks away.

With the availability of Uber and Lyft, it makes it easier to get around if I have to book something a little further away from the cruise terminal than I would like.

Roz

I think like you Roz, wanted to book and went looking today. Ended up booking a Bayview room

at the Wyndham. We like the location across from the cruise terminal and being close to Little Italy for our dinners. Booked the room for now as it is refundable. Can always change our mind but like knowing we have a place booked to hang our head.

I always request the south tower. Great looking out the window in the morning at the bow of the ship

I had trouble booking a room in San Diego for next Mar, either full or not taking bookings yet. Some one on our roll call mentioned that there is a marathon that weekend, heads up.

I had trouble booking a room in San Diego for next Mar, either full or not taking bookings yet. Some one on our roll call mentioned that there is a marathon that weekend, heads up.

I did a Google search and the only thing I came up with was a convention of Asian American Hotel Owners that ends on April 27. I was thinking the same thing - marathon, pirate festival, boat show, etc.

Roz