Clean but noisy; Very disappointed
First the pros: clean room and bathroom, with a comfortable and large bed. Free wifi is also great. Free shuttles to San Diego zoo and airport. Good location - within walking distance of the Gaslamps area, Seapoint, Midway, and maritime museum.
Now the cons: AmTrak line runs about 2 blocks behind the hotel and the trains run 24/7. What's worse is that they blow their horns consistently for literally 3-5 minutes each time they pass. Honestly, I've never been in a hotel room as noisy as this one. To be fair, this isn't something that Holiday Inn can do much about. HOWEVER, they can improve their 'ventilation' system. The bathroom has a sliding door with a frosted glass, which means you can see the person through the door, as well as hear EVERYTHING that happens as the door is not flush with the walls. This is bad enough except that the bathroom has Zero ventilation. There is an air vent however this is not sufficient to work as ventilation. When I complained to the staff I was told 'this is our central ventilation system, you wouldn't hear the rotor'. When I said that it wasn't working, I was told 'Well, that's how it works.' As the ventilation is non-existant, we had to keep the sliding door on the balcony open all the time, which means we had the constant noise of the trains all day and night. We asked to be moved but were told that all rooms were booked. Also, we were woken by a wake up call at 7am though we didn't order one.
All in all, I would not stay here again, nor would I recommend people stay here. I know the trains are out of their control but this noise really impacted badly on our enjoyment of the city and our holiday in general as we could not get a proper nights sleep. Very disappointed.