All my pre-planning was for naught.
Checking in to the Holiday Inn San Diego on the Bay was more of a challenge than it should ever have been. In fact my entire experience with Holiday Inn has been a frustrating experience. 
 In April, I made a reservation on the Holiday Inn website for Oct 3rd through the 7th 2012. I didn’t realize when I was making the reservation that it was a prepaid reservation and I would be charged and locked in right away. When I clicked the OK, the response came up that my credit card was being charged. I called their reservations right away and said that I didn’t mean to do a prepaid reservation. I would be willing to pay the higher rate, for a reservation that would be flexibile in case I couldn’t work my schedule out. They would not budge. I was stuck with the reservations for the date that I booked. OK, really my fault because I did not pay close enough attention when I was pointing and clicking. All I could do was hope that my schedule would be OK for the dates I chose. 
Now that October was here, I did some juggling with my work schedule to get the time off to be able to come to San Diego. On the morning of the 3rd, I called the front desk to note that I would not check in that date, but it was a prepaid reservation and I wanted to check in the morning of the 4th when my flight arrived at 0930, I did not want to have to wait until 1500, and I wanted to make sure my reservation would not be cancled because I did not come on the 3rd. The person on the phone confirmed that my reservation would not be lost, and they would pre-check me in, so I would have no trouble when I arrived the next morning. This was a relief, as I did not want to have to leave work early on the 3rd, to take the last flight to San Diego, although I would have if my reservation would be in jeopardy. 
The morning of October 4th, I arrived at the hotel. The first person I talked to told me that check in was not until 1500. I explained a couple of times that I had a prepaid reservation, and the reservation started yesterday, and I had called ahead to precheck in, so I could check in upon my arrival and not have to wait until 1500. We finally got that issue resolved and I was checked in to a room. Before I left the desk, I confirmed, that I was getting a King Bay View Room. No, she told me, the reservation is for a standard room, and it was going to be on the opposite side of the hotel from the Bay. I told her that no, I had a King Bay View room. She wouldn’t budge, so I asked for a manager. He also said I had a standard room. He did remember that I called the day before, but he said that there was no mention of a King Bay View room. I didn’t think we would need to discuss that, as I had booked and paid for that room type. 
I asked to use their lobby computer so I could access my email and get my confirmation. They let me use the computer, although the computer did not work. Next they gave me an access code to their wi-fi . I attempted to connect to the wi-fi, but that was a no-go as well. Finally another manager came along, and asked if she could help. By now I was very frustrated, and upset, and really wanted to cry. I didn’t feel great, I was hungry, and I wanted the room that I paid for, so I was cranky with her. She checked me in to a Bay Side Room on the 3rd floor. The 3rd floor is not high enough to be a Bay View room. But I could see the water a bit. When I got to the room, I accessed my email finally, and got my reservation which clearly said I had booked and paid for the King Bay View Room. I took my laptop to the lobby and had to wait in line AGAIN, behind all the cruise passengers who were checking in, for my turn to get helped. I got the same person who checked me in before, and showed her the reservation. She got into her computer and said that she didn’t know why it had been changed to a standard room reservation. I don’t know either, and it’s a bit scary that this can happen after someone has already paid for one type of room. 
 They did not have a Bay View Room that was available for check in yet, but she said they would have one in about 20 minutes. I could wait in the room that I had and she would bring me a key. I went to my room and in 20 minutes she was there with the key. I did finally get a King Bay View Room, but I had to work very hard for it. I was given 2 breakfast coupons for my trouble, which I suppose was nice, but I think I should have been refunded for last night, since they undermined my attempts to make things go smoothly at check in, and to make the best of my initial stupid mistake when I booked the prepaid room. I figure they probably have some sort of guidelines for what compensation that they give a customer when there is a service disruption, and the breakfast was probably it. As I noted at the start, this was not an outside party booking, this was right on the Holiday Inn website, so it’s very difficult to understand what happened to my reservation. 
On the 2nd day of my stay, I decided to go out for a walk. I wanted coffee and a couple of snacks and some soda to keep in my room. It was a nice walk, the weather was beautiful. When I got back to the hotel, I went to get into my room, and my key would not work. I’ve been told my so many hotels not to put it next to a credit card, that I keep my keys in a separate pouch in my purse, and in the holder that they are handed to me in. I went all the way back downstairs, and over to the other building to get a new key, and was told to not put the key next to credit cards. Gee. 
My next fun experience was once I finally got into my room, I wanted to get some ice, for my ice bucket to chill my soda. I walked out to the hallway and the ice machine was very near to my room. It was out of service. I tried to go down the stairs to the next floor, rather than take the elevator, but when you exit the hallway through the stairs, you get locked outside and have to go all the way down to the ground level to get back in. When I got back into the hotel, a young gentleman, an employee, possibly a bellman, or delivery person for room service saw me wandering around with my ice bucket and asked if I wanted ice. I told him yes, and explained that the ice machine was not working on my floor. He insisted on getting ice for me, and delivering it. When he brought it to me, he told me which floors had working ice machines, there were 3. I started to put a couple of sodas in my ice bucket to get them to chill, and he must have thought I didn’t have enough room, because he excused himself, and came back a few minutes later with an recycling container, that was lined with plastic bags, and 2/3 full of ice, so I could chill the rest of my sodas. It was a very sweet gesture, and it was nice to finally have something go right. 
While my check in process seemed a disaster, I was greatly impressed by this young man’s desire to take care of the customer. I hope he continues to work in the field, and move on to positions with greater responsibility as his experience permits. 
I do have to say that this hotel is a good location for me, because I love to be near the water, I love having the cruise ships outside my window, and there are good places to eat near by. So that is a plus, but my experience here has kept me from even clicking on a Holiday Inn link, when I am searching for hotel stays on any of the search engines, and I go on at least one trip a month which requires a hotel stay.