For those who don’t want summer to end, San Diego is known for its “endless summer” appeal, thanks to the spectacular autumn weather. It actually heats up in the fall and the most sunshine of the year is traditionally what tourists expect when booking this portion of the California coast.

Sure, the kids have returned to school & classes, so for many parents the trips to San Diego must be curbed for weekends only and holidays. But for those with flexibility in their jobs, their retirement and travels, fall season is superb opportunity to book your hotel rooms and have a less crowded vacation at America’s playground of sunshine in San Diego.

What you will notice is prices dropping at nearly every hotel during the fall. One exception is when major conventions and events, or a special heat wave drives exceptional fall traffic to the beach. But overall, you should check out some of the fall pricing on hotel rooms and get booking now for the break you need. One such example of great pricing as of this posting is the Hilton San Diego Resort with rooms starting at $139 in mid-September 2010. You rarely see the hotel offer such savings. This is a spectacular resort and the price is right.

San diego

San Diego is California’s second largest city and one of the top visitor destinations in the United States—a scenic harbor convention center, world-class San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Balboa Park, Point Loma Lighthouse, Cabrillo Monument, historic Old Town, the San Diego Padres, miles of beaches, and Coronado Island are all set to the finest weather anywhere on globe, with average temperatures of 70º F.

Ocean Beach “OB”, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Bay, and Coronado Island, and La Jolla beaches all make for a vacation that includes theme parks, fine weather, and beach settings around every bend. The outdoor sports mecca provides great walking, jogging, sailing, swimming, roller blading, kayaking, golf, surfing, and just about any other sport you can imagine.

Getting there: Located 120 miles south of Los Angeles and 20 miles north of Tijuana, Mexico, just drive on the Interstate 5 from L.A. and you’ll arrive in downtown San Diego in just over two hours. Another option is to hop on the Amtrak train at Union Station in Los Angeles and never drive during your stay! It is quite easy to get around San Diego on public transportation and many tourists do it.

San Diego has been the epicenter of hospitality for as long as people have known about the place. It is also infectious, so once you visit, you can count on returning again to explore local favorites such as Hotel del Coronado hotel, Hardrock Hotel, and the Catamaran. There are just so many amazing hotels to enjoy that you’ll never tire of exploring.

la costa resort

Carlsbad, Calif.–When a neighbor knocked on our door and asked us to watch their family’s house for the weekend, we asked where they were going for the weekend.  “LaCosta Resort,” came back the reply. For those who know San Diego’s north county region, you’ll be fully aware that La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, home to Legoland California. And in short order Legoland has grown, adding two additional attractions –Sea Life Aquarium, which opened last year, and Legoland Water Park, which opened in the summer 2010.  Geared toard toddlers, youngsters and pre-teens, Legoland is a weekend unto itself, and ideal for our neighbors with children no older than six.

La Costa Resort is a place where adults don’t have to compromise their vacations for the needs of the children. In addition to a fantastic swimming pool near the PGA ranked golf course at the resort, La Costa accesses Legoland, Carlsbad beaches, and is only a thirty minute drive from San Diego Wild Animal Park.

It’s likely our neighbors went to Carlsbad to enjoy the resort and Legoland on their three-day trip. La Costa Resort is among the top two places to stay on Legoland vacations. Highly recommended if you don’t mind paying a bit more.

One of the most fun things to do when visiting San Diego is staying at either of two hotels–Bahia Resort or Catamaran Resort. You can ride the Bahia Belle Sternwheeler in Mission Bay free with your night’s stay at the hotels. The summer schedule kicks in after Memorial Day allowing visitors more times to ride. The hotels are one mile distance from each other with the Catamaran generally costing a bit more for your hotel room. Both have beaches on site and the boat stops each night at both hotels. It is one of the most unique perks we’ve ever seen in booking and staying in hotels in San Diego, but even if you choose to stay elsewhere, you can still purchase a ticket for the affordable ride, which is around $10 (subject to change).

Temecula Hot Air Balloon Ride

With the California economy still in a slump and not enough jobs for all the people who want to work, what will the 2010 travel season bring to the beaches and bays of San Diego? Will you be able to find some deals this year? Foreclosures continue, yet, the hotel rates seem to be going up.

“It’s a mixed bag of deal-no deal,” said an industry insider who prefers not to be quoted, but who told us the hotel where he works is experiency low occupancy in 2010 compared to the average. “We thought Easter / Spring Break would be a bounce back of traffic, but it just didn’t materialize.”

What are hotels doing to survive?  This hotelier said that his property is trying to maintain higher rates than what the occupancy rate typically would have go warranted in the past. “Labor rates and operating expenses are higher, so we’re trying not to reduce our prices too much.”

Will there be any deals during the summer travel season in San Diego? VisitSanDiegoHotels.com (VSH) has studied the market and discovered travelers have become savvy in finding deals–and they seem to be going for price.

“There’s a two-tiered system of booking,” said a VSH bookings analyst. “We see the budget travel bookings in which travelers are actually finding rooms in San Diego for around $50. While some can spend 4 days for $200, there’s another segment of travel willing to spend $250/night. Those travelers tend to come from Europe, India, Asia, and are willing to spend more for amenities and location.”

What should you do to save?

• Book weekday in the popular beach and bay hotels, but be alerted to the convention and meeting groups that can inflate the price of rooms in San Diego during week days.
• Consider staying in convention hotels with ample space and below average rates for the quality of rooms. Newer high-rise hotels have a tendency when they launch to lower rates if they’re not getting traffic. It’s all about the buzz for several years. If you can build it, then the repeat customer may return and pay more.
• Consider staying in rooms minus beach views. You can save $100 or more in the room that faces the other direction. If the beach is outside your door, that $100 can be well spent on meals, entertainment, and shopping.
• Keep checking the booking engines. The researchers find the deals, but it may take them time to discover the soft spots in hotels. With San Diego offering several hundred hotel options, the deals do exist. It just take more time, research and patience to find savings ranging from $10 – 150 per night.
• Think outside the box. Try something new. One of our favorite gems where deals can be had is Temecula, approx. 30 minutes from San Diego County beaches. It features wine tasting, balloon rides, and lots of entertainment at Pechanga Resort.

San Diego Surf

The Easter Day Earthquake in 2010 brought some surprise and shaking, but the hotels in San Diego report in that there are absolutely no problems. If you are planning a vacation to the area, don’t change your plans. Come on down!

While the epicenter of the earthquake appeared to be across the U.S. border in the Baja California near Mexicali, the earth shook all the way to Santa Monica in Los Angeles, and in the Arizona desert.

San Diego is California’s top beach vacation destination, and with good reason! There are more hotels with bays and beach views than any other city in California. San Diego was made for vacations–literally! much of Mission Bay was artificially built and constructed for pleasure water sports and family fun.

If you are planning a trip to San Diego, the region features many golf courses, great surfing, a super public transportation system, and the hotels are amazing. Many are new around the Gaslamp Quarter.

So do GO have fun. San Diego is welcoming you with open arms..and it is definitely open!

If you’re looking for prices you can afford for an excellent San Diego vacation, check out “The Rock”, Hard Rock, that is. Located at the entrance to Gaslamp Quarter, the hotel features incredible rooms that offer comfort, cool and location. You can go down to the lobby for music and drinks, or head out the door for some great Gaslamp steaks and sizzling nightlife.

Check out prices at Hard Rock these days!

Nearby, enjoy a variety of family entertainment. Our favorites include San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, Sea World, and shopping for silver jewelry, leather goods, and even pharmaceuticals at a fraction of U.S. prices just across the border in Tijuana.

Be sure to check out Hard Rock soon. There are some deals, but by summer, they’ll be gone.

Hard Rock Hotel

A great family hotel in San Diego often overlooked for the better known beach properties to the south is the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. With many perks and amenities for families with kids, you’ll be hard-pressed to beat the beach activities, plus on site resort activities that will keep you having fun all day and night.  There are suites with kitchenettes, but with so much dining on site and nearby in La Jolla village, you probably won’t do that much cooking, except maybe the beach BBQ at sunset on the hotel’s beach.

Some call the hotel “old school” because of the club atmosphere with the active tennis club. If you’re priming your kids for tennis careers or just want them to have the experience of playing this is a great spot. The tennis courts are one of the most immaculate portions of the property, in fact.

What’s neat about La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is the way the suites easily access the beach. With lawn chairs lined up facing the ocean, it’s all about the beach in La Jolla. For the kids, we like the fact that burgers can cost around $10 instead of the gourmet bleu cheese burgers at expensive San Diego beach resorts where you pay a mininum of $15 and usually more for just a hamburger for the kids.

There’s golf, a small gym, and the famed Marine Room restaurant with spectacular ocean views and dynamo chefs preparing fine cuisine.

The cheapest rooms at the hotel are the garden view one bedroom options. But you can step your way up to a luxury accommodation with ocean front setting, full living room, kitchen, and bedrooms.

La Jolla is a region of San Diego that is located on the northern end of the city and its beaches. It has long been considered the luxury part of town, kind of like Carmel on the the Central Coast. La Jolla has other luxury beach resorts and casual beach accommodations. It features a great, beach-close downtown with arts, shopping and dining.  The attractions of San Diego such as Sea World and the Zoo are no more than 15 minutes or so away. If you are looking for an unpretentious family vacation where you’ll have a comfortable, secure feeling, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is one of the best bets.

For an extensive list of San Diego Family hotels, the website, California Beaches, has put together a pretty good one.

US Grant

The stately US Grant hotel in downtown in San Diego, an early 1900′s  brick building on the National Register of Historic Places, was built by Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., son of the 19th president of the United States. Opened in 1910 after delays because of the shortage of lumber as a result of th San Francisco 1909 earthquake, the building opened  with much fanfare. It was a beautiful hotel with marble and rich wood treatments, a 500 seat ballroom, and location across from Horton Plaza. Check out the great photos of the hotel.

Experiencing several massive renovations (one was over $80 million), the US Grant has hosted 14 presidents during its illustrious career as San Diego’s jewel of the downtown. Recent renovations occurred in 2006 and everything shines as a Starwood Hotel. Located in the center of the downtown area,  walking distance from Petco Park, Gaslamp Quarter with its wonderful Croce’s, many great restaurants and bars, and special street events, if you seek historic ambiance, and location, you will love it.

Guests arriving by Amtrak from Union Station can easily make the walk over to the hotel, or catch a cab a few short blocks it that makes more sense.

Grand Del Mar

The Grand Del Mar is one of the most luxurious spa and golf resorts in all of San Diego County. If you’re seeking elegance that reminds many of Del Mar’s esteemed pass aa home to visiting celebrities, then you are certainly on the right track as to the elegant look and feel you will be greeted with on your visit.