Popularity grows — so do lodgings
If you’re headed to San Diego and worried about having a place to stay, just give it a minute. More than half of the 34.9 million visitors to the city in 2016 stayed overnight — a number that has been rising steadily for seven years — fueling the push by area hotels to expand, renovate and add new services. Here’s what’s new with San Diego digs:
The Bristol in downtown San Diego recently completed a 1960s-themed refurbishment of 114 rooms, including Pop Art-inspired graphics, retro TV cabinets and pillows with a print of a ticket to the Beatles’ 1965 concert in San Diego’s Balboa Park; some also have vinyl record players. Gleaming new bathrooms, a new fitness center, a bar and a coffee kiosk round out the updates. www.thebristolsandiego.com
Kona Kai Resort & Marina, which underwent a $22 million overhaul of its Shelter Island beachfront hotel in 2015, has now remodeled its pool area, adding four cabanas and a cocktail bar known as the Tiki Bar, and expanded from 129 to 170 rooms, including several suites. www.resortkonakai.com
La Valencia Hotel, known as La Jolla’s “pink lady,” plans to open Spa La V — six treatment rooms, tranquility salon, sun deck and private garden — early in 2018. The new spa, in a renovated 1905 bungalow next to the hotel’s villa wing and pool, will also offer wellness-themed cuisine from the hotel’s Cafe La Rue. www.lavalencia.com