Convenient hotel with friendly staff
Stayed for 4 nights with family and also attended a conference across the street at the Convention center. The location is great, walking distance to anything in Gaslamp district, Horton Plaza, etc. What sets this hotel apart from the rest in the vicinity (Marriott, another Hilton, Hard Rock, Hyatt) is the size (quite a bit smaller, with a cozy modern lobby and bar, cute outdoor pool area with soft cushioned sun beds) and a great personable service that would not be possible if you had thousands of guests milling around a train station sized lobby. We spent several fun hours watching hockey play-offs with Matt at the lobby bar (what a kind and helpful young man), reminisced of the years gone by with Steve at breakfast (he did remember us from almost 10 years back!) and were very grateful to the bellboy who let us borrow his own personal Blackberry charger (sorry, forgot his name). Loved the food at the restaurant, hummus dip duo was amazing! The room was spacious enough for 4 people and clean. In terms of train noise, it was very quiet over the weekend and got much louder on Monday/Tuesday nights (maybe some overzealous train operator was having fun honking the horn 7 times in a row!) but I think you would face a similar problem staying in any of the above mentioned hotels in the vicinity.
A very pleasant stay overall.