Started bad, thought it would end good...
I chose to stay at the DoubleTree Mission Valley during my business in late March 2012 because of the many very good-excellent reviews here on Trip Advisor. The hotel staff were all very polite and pleasant. The hotel is located in a nice area near a mall, retail, restaurants, movie theater. My stay started with checking in on an evening when the hotel computer system was not working. The front desk personnel seemed a little stressed but were pleasant with me. I got a room assignment and went to the room only to find the door sitting open (literally open). I knocked and peep in and the room was empty with no signs of another guest occupying the room. I went back to the front desk to inquire as to why the door was open. Unable to get any answers from hotel engineering and housekeeping, the front desk agent assigned me to another room. The second room didn't seem to be as newly renovated as what the other room seemed (that is, from what I could see by peeping in). I immediately noticed hair strands in the tub, on the desk chair, on the floor lamp. The caulking around the tub was moldy. Two of the towels had stains and/or hair strands. The toilet did not flush and was near overflowing. A technician was in the room well after 11p working to fix the toilet. Exhausted from a full day of traveling across the country to San Diego, I requested a room change and was told there would be a room ready for me the next morning before I went to work. I called down the next morning before leaving for work and was told there were no available rooms. The hotel was sold out and they would try to get me into another room later in the day after current guests checked out and before new guests checked in. On the night before, I also had problems with the room key not working with entering/exiting the hotel garage. On the night before, the front desk agent told me the issue had been fixed and the key would work. I attempted to leave for work the next morning only to find the key did not work. I could not get out of the garage. I went to the front desk, told the agent that I was in a hurry, and asked for a parking pass to exit the garage rather than trying to get the room key to work. Instead of just giving me the parking pass the front desk agent started typing on her computer, went to another computer and started typing on it, then back to her computer when I stopped her and asked what she was doing. She said she was trying to figure out my room number. I told her I was in a hurry, just needed to get out of the garage, and would work out the room assignment issue later. One of her colleagues came along and told her to give me a parking pass. I arrived back later that evening and had been given another room. The new room was fine, not amazing, but better than the prior room. I was told it had been 'pre-inspected' by the hotel room manager. I appreciated the efforts by the hotel staff. I found the room to be clean but when I unrolled one of the towels, there was a bundle of 5 or more hair strands knotted together. I've never seen that before. Also, I woke up the next morning to the sound of hammering coming from somewhere in the hotel. After all of this, it was time for me to travel back home.