It's your typical Marriott Residence Inn, modern, tastefully decorated, clean, two room suite, kitchen, etc. Nice breakfast (despite the icky powdered eggs) well-stocked with plenty of seating and lots of food. Very kid-oriented with a cartoon area in the breakfast room, game room, kid floaties in the pool. Pool was packed with kids. In fact, all the guests seemed to be families with kids of all ages (uh, including us). Of course, there was the couple that came out of the elevator with six huge dogs on leashes...so I guess it's a dog-friendly place too.

Staff seemed fine...those working on refilling the free breakfast buffet seemed to be working very hard. Front desk kindly printed driving instructions on how to get to the zoo, and then back to the hotel.

The hotel layout is absolutely confusing...one part has four stories, the other part five, elevators and exits everywhere and once inside the building we seemed to completely lose all sense of direction.

Having to pay for parking is appalling...though typical of most San Diego hotels, this is particularly galling at this establishment because there is no where else to park except for the parking lot (gated, with access by using your room card).

Hotel Circle is a dismal freeway frontage road of chain hotels and motels. Not the sort of place you'd want to take an evening stroll. We had to drive to find someplace to eat and stumbled upon a satisfying King's Seafood in a nearby strip mall. True, there was a place called Ricky's, an older diner about a five to ten minute walk from the hotel. We had to walk past a fenced-in, boarded-up, failed spa business, and overgrown weed-filled, vacant lots filled with trash and empty liquor bottles to get there.

We stayed for two nights because my husband was attending a conference at a nearby hotel. The location, despite being dismal, is a short drive to Balboa Park, Old Town, etc. It took about ten minutes to get to the zoo via the nearby freeway. Still, Hotel Circle is pretty soulless, and well, depressing. The hotel itself was fine.

My family of 6 stayed here 5 nights as part of our San Diego trip and we could not have been more pleased. To keep things short, here's the summary....

-clean rooms with plenty of space and full kitchens
-super quiet
-friendly, efficient, helpful staff
-great breakfast with some daily variety
-super clean pool, hot tu, and kids play pool
-nice evening reception (M-Th)
-feeling of security
-less than 15 minutes to almost everything
-easy on/off highway

We usually stay at ES, but this place was awesome! As they say in SoCal, "No worries."

The location of this hotel is "off the highway" which after driving two hours from Anaheim, made me a little nervous. But on the plus side of its location, it is very close (10 mins. or less) to Historic San Diego (not the Gaslamp Dist.) and of course highway access is a breeze. It is set pretty far back from road and noise or activity level were never an issue.
Okay - we were put in a Handicap room (seemingly because we arrived in the late afternoon). The room seemed to be smaller than other Res. Inns. The interior is dated and a little worn. The shower is NOT one of those wall-less handicap showers that lets water go everywhere though. There is no closed closet - no bigg-y. And the volume on the dated TV's is picky.
The breakfast is a free-for-all. It was so busy but they have a sign that indicates that they restock btwn. 9:15 - 9:30. And they do. It has what you would expect - powder eggs, fruit, oatmeal, breads, drinks, etc.
We paid more for this hotel for two nights that we did for four nights at a Marriott Suites in Anaheim. (We got a screamin' deal there). Admittedly we were not there for its ammenities and again the location (convenience wise) couldn't be beat. But it's too bad they can't put a little money towards making it a slightly nicer retreat for travel, park weary families.

We have been to San Diego/Sea World every summer for the past 5 years. I had been happy with our choice of the past 2 years, a property about 20 minutes from SeaWorld. This yeard, I didn't want to drive the extra distance daily to and from Sea World. After lots of review on this site, I decided on the Residence Inn. This was a great choice for our family, with a teenager and two 6 year olds. The room was comfortable, with my little ones sharing the kids room. Instead of bunkbeds, the hotel gave me the option of 2 twins which worked out well. The breakfast bar has plenty of good food and will save lots of money on breakfast. The lobby has cookies, fruit and punch/lemonade available all day. There is a small game room for the kids and larger game room with 2 pool tables, foosball, air hockey and pinball. This gave my teenager something to do. There is a large laundry room with several washers and dryers available. The hotel provides laundry soap and dryer sheets. Thank you!The stafff was very friendly and helpful. We took full advantage of the kitchen, but there was no stove. Grocery store was only 1.5 miles away. We also used the business center and wireless internet in the lobby. Parking and hotel seemed very secure, as you need your room key to enter the parking lot and get in/out of the hotel through the side doors. Oh, and the best part...only a 5 minute drive to Sea World!