For a Courtyard it was a little bit expensive, but convenience-wise it was a 10! This was one of Courtyard's refreshed properties, and it was very nice. It was a little more exquisite then standard. The check-in was very smooth. They have at least three agents working there 24/7. The lobby is very warm and welcoming and offers free coffee and cookies to enjoy. There is a fireplace there as well. There are two computers equipped with Internet access and printing services. There is small cafe with a breakfast buffet, and for lunch and dinner a la carte items go up to $15 tops. The rooms offer high-speed Internet access, with a "printme" server, where you can print from your room and request for the staff to deliver it to your room free of charge. The bathrooms are standard and rooms are refreshed but a tad small! During weekdays USA Today is offered complimentary right under your door.

There is a pool on the property grounds, but it is very small. There is secure parking at the property, however, is not complimentary. Guests pay $12 per night to receive a permit that must be displayed on the windshield. In terms of convenience, it is right off the highway. It is also just 2 blocks from the center of Old Town, and all the great restaurants and sights are minutes, if not seconds, away. The only other thing: is that if you're lucky, you get a room facing beautiful, quiet old town. If that side gets full, your view is of one of the busiest highways in Southern California. It is very noisy, and smelly, but you get to see the airport. We were the lucky ones and got the Old Town view, indicating that the hotel wasn't that full. I would normally rate a courtyard a 2 or a 3. For convenience it gets bumped up. The fact its "refurbished" bumps it up as well. However, because it charges for parking that should be complimentary, I brought it down to a strong 4!

We arrived at the Courtyard around midnight on a Sunday night/Monday morning, and check-in was no problem at this late hour. I had booked the room through Priceline.com (for about one-third of the going rate, by the way), and after reading other travelers' reviews, we expected to get a room on the ground floor facing the freeway. We were pleasantly surprised to find just the opposite: we were given a room on the fourth floor, facing away from the freeway and looking inland. Therefore, we experienced absolutely no noise problems from either the traffic or the remodeling that was going on in the hotel.

We essentially used the Courtyard for sleeping since we had activities planned during the daytime for our entire stay, but when we did hang out at the hotel, we found it to be very enjoyable. The staff in the bar/restaurant was accommodating, and we had no complaints about our stay whatsoever. There was a large group of high school baseball players staying there at the same time we were, but other than the small outdoor pool/hot tub being crowded at times, we barely knew they were there.

The main attraction of this hotel (for us) was the proximity to the Old Town district, which was a 5-minute walk away. There are several bars and restaurants in this area, and many of them offer weekday happy hour specials, which made it all the more enticing.

One tip to future travelers: The Courtyard charges a daily fee to park in their garage ($12/day, I believe), which can easily be avoided by parking on the street in the surrounding neighborhood. Since the hotel borders the freeway, the surrounding streets are mainly dead ends and very quiet, and we had no qualms about parking our rental car there every night of our stay.

There’s nothing really fancy here but nothing to complain about either. The location is very handy if you're exploring Old Town. We strolled around on a Friday afternoon here, but due to the rain, almost everything around was closed, except restaurants and shops. I suppose when the weather is nicer, the location is really close to many activities.

The furnishings in this hotel are adequate. We found the bed a little too soft. The rooms are moderately sized, with a workstation, a comfortable sitting chair, and an ottoman. Free Internet access is available in every room, although it isn't wireless. Our card keys kept inactivating—basically only working one time, so each time we came back we had to get them remade. Even though it was a pain, the staff was very helpful and friendly in getting us taken care of.

The toiletries were pretty meager. There was not even any lotion, just shampoo and pretty standard harsh soap. There was no minibar or fridge here either.

I used the fitness room in the morning. It has one set of stacked weights, a treadmill, and an elliptical trainer. Unfortunately, the window doesn't open in there, so it was very stuffy, but the machines were nice and the well-maintained. There is also ice-cold water to enjoy post-workout.

We found the breakfast buffet in the restaurant to be a great deal. It was $11 for a full buffet, including an omelet and a waffle station; plenty of sweet, ripe fruit; and all the standard breakfast fare. It isn't fancy, but it tasted great, was fresh, and got us off to a good and healthy start for day two in San Diego.