San Diego SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, Hilton San Diego Homewood Suites - 2 Days Combo Fun - Part 1

Beautiful Life

Before we wrapped up our Christmas vacation at Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort at Huntington Beach, we spent two days in San Diego SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo.  We tried to lower expenses to the reasonably minimum without sacrificing happiness.  As it turned out, San Diego SeaWorld or Shamu, charmed us, particularly me, so much that we left with joyful memory and several SeaWorld souvenirs.


Why San Diego SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo?
If you have kids, they would love to visit these two fun parks.  For adults, San Diego SeaWorld would still be lots of fun.

Shamu (SeaWorld killer whale) flipping in the air

Where We Stayed
I started planning about 4 months before the trip.  There are many Hilton hotels in San Diego area.  Isa had about 120K Hilton HHonors points available (mainly from Hilton Reserve card spending and Virgin Atlantic transfer) for redeeming a quality Hilton hotel nearest to San Diego SeaWorld and Zoo.  Quite overwhelmed by choices of Hilton hotel,  I applied a systematic approach to reach our decision (see the chart below).  We picked Homewoord Suites by Hilton San Diego Airport - Liberty Station.  

Homewood Suites brand did not sound promising at the beginning, even a little worrisome.  But I believe in TripAdvisor's reviews (high rating and large number of reviewers).  We used 80,000 Hilton HHonors points to redeem two nights of king bedroom suite.  The suite did not disappoint us; it reminded us of our stay at Hilton Grand Vacation Suite at Las Vegas.  Although Hilton Homewood suites is not intended to be a Hilton luxury brand, it is still spacious, quiet, and fully furnished.  The suite had a sofa bed in the living room, one TV in bedroom, and one in living room.  The suites also did a great job to soundproof the suite, so we could not hear any airplane noise.  The Hilton Homewood king bedroom suite should comfortably house a family of four.

Cozy king-size bed

The king bed suite looks like 500 sq. ft, comfortably houses a family of four

Recall Hilton Grand Vacation Suites at Las Vegas

Every morning in the lobby was ready with free continental American breakfast buffet which was important.  The objective of this San Diego trip was to have fun in San Diego SeaWorld and Zoo which were expected to be packed with visitors.  We did not plan to look for restaurants to serve great breakfast.  It was satisfactory to have wholesome breakfast ready and nearby right at where we stayed.  If Hilton Homewood Suites customers do not feel like eating out for dinner, the hotel also serves light dinner Monday to Thursday.

Dinner Menus

Hotel staff were courteous.  Our restroom faucet was broken.  The repair staff kept apologizing and fixing.  Self-parking is free.  We spent $95 for the Virgin Atlantic credit card membership fee and received 100,000 Hilton HHonors points after conversion and $2500 spending in 3 months.  Each overnight stay at Homewood Suites during Christmas holidays was priced about $220 before tax.  Quite a good investment and still has 20,000 HHonor points left.

The out-of-pocket expense was $95 + tips

If you are planning to stay in San Diego for visiting San Diego SeaWorld and Zoo vacation, are you ready to earn Hilton HHonors points to have a comfortable stay at Hilton Homewood Suites at San Diego?


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San Diego SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, Hilton San Diego Homewood Suites - 2 Days Combo Fun - Part 2