Admiral Kidd Inn

Wow. I love my DOD benefits. We went to a wedding here… beautiful. Food was fine, and the venue was awesome. Stayed at the Navy Gateway Inn and Suites. There is NO WAY to beat $ 80 for the VIP suite. We were in the Philadelphia Room. Typical Navy stuff, clean, no fancy business. The lodge must have been built in the 70’s — big walkways, lots of space. It has been remodeled. Our room had a bedrooom, and bathroom, and a living room on the other side. Full size refrigerator, microwave, coffee. CLEAN. The bed was double sheeted… who couldn’t love that?
The best part was — THE VIEW. Million dollar view. We took a walk around and this is where the Navy trains the seals (real mammal seals — the ones that are sonar seals that detect bombs and stuff) and we heard them barking. We even had a view from outside our room. Really, just a fabulous place. For those that have any ambulatory problems, go for first floor, no elevators.
It is also right across from Liberty Station, so you can walk there. Highly recommend if you are AD, retired AD, or GS.

Great place for a reception! The food is ok the staff is nice and it’s cheap for the best view in San Diego

If you want some bang for the buck, then this place is a pretty decent choice to stay at. Consider this, for $ 37 a night (no tax!) you get a full sized fridge, microwave, a full size bed, two TV’s (one in the living room and bedroom), free internet, laundry units on the floor, two complimentary bottled waters, and you can borrow movie DVDs at the front desk for free. If you want to compare it to the cheapest place to stay at which was a Motel 6, it would cost you about $ 60 for something that’s probably not even as good.
Being at Point Loma, I feel that it’s pretty central location (within ~5 miles) to a lot of activities in the area ie. Sea World, Balboa Park, Gaslamp Quarter, etc.
Since this is my third time staying here, I’ve noticed some quirks about this place. For starters, there are no elevators to get to your room. So if you have a lot of luggage and you got the top floor, then you’re in for a pretty good workout. Secondly, the couch is more comfortable to sleep on than the bed (whatcha expect? it’s military grade). Ah, then there’s the noise. If you’re a heavy sleeper, then this shouldn’t affect you, but since I’m not, then I need to bring this up. Noise seems to carry from the outside especially from the stairs to your room. I usually have rooms about halfway down the hall and I can clearly hear someone going (kluck kluck kluck) up the stairs. Also, when someone in the building flushes the toilet or uses the sink you can hear the water swooshing in the pipes. The final thing about this place is the all girl staff at the front desk. I know I’m at a military area, but do the girls really need to have a mean and hurried tone to their voices? All I’m doing is checking in the place so just chill ladies. =P
Overall, this place is definitely a good value for the budget traveler and aside from the quirks of this place, it’s pretty worth checking it out.

This is another military hotel, one which we stayed at the last time we were here. I guess for $ 38 a night I shouldn’t be complaining, as it had one queen sized bed with a separate living room area. There are 2 TVs in the room, one in the bedroom area and one in the living room area. There is only a microwave and a full sized refrigerator but no place to cook anything. Complimentary laundry is on site.
As we were 2 adults and one child, I was hoping they would’ve given us a room with at least enough beds for all of us to sleep in, however, that wasn’t the case. We were here 2 nights, during Labor Day weekend so one night I slept on the sofa… which I must say I didn’t sleep a wink. I used the blankets they had provided in the closet but it probably hadn’t been used for a long time because I was itchy as hell. The next night, hubby slept on the sofa. I guess he’s used to roughing it as he slept okay and I still didn’t in the bed.
$ 38 is really nothing if you think about it, but by paying $ 30 more I can stay at the Navy Lodge San Diego which is a lot nicer and much more comfortable.