Megan and I have been traveling a lot with our families this year, so on Labor Day weekend we took our first vacation alone, visiting San Diego. I’d heard a lot about the Gaslamp Quarter but never been there. The US Grant Hotel, one of Starwood’s Luxury Collection hotels, seemed like a great fit. It had more character than some of the nearby Sheratons and Westins; Megan always likes visiting historic properties. And it appeared that a great deal of effort and money had been invested in its restoration — there was nothing shabby about this 104-year-old property.
Finding our way to the hotel was our first challenge. It’s very easy to get from the airport to downtown without even getting on the freeway. But the hotel’s address on Broadway is deceptive since there is no valet stand there. Instead you have to pull in behind the hotel off of Third or Fourth Avenue. We booked a AAA rate for just $20 more than the cheapest non-refundable rate, which was not only more flexible but included valet parking, normally about $39 a night. This was one case where paying a higher rate saved money in the end.
I’ve already detailed how we used three of my Suite Night Awards as a SPG Platinum member to upgrade to a Legacy Suite. While it was not the most impressive suite upgrade if only because the living room was so small, it was still a good use for a fun weekend trip like this. But service at the hotel was excellent, and the furnishings in general were of high quality. I’ve had big rooms that were rather sparsely decorated, and this was much better.
The living room still had a couple of comfortable leather sitting chairs and a desk by the door. I would have preferred not to be staring at a television three feet from my chair, but I guess people expect those things in their hotel rooms these days. Unfortunately a view to the outside wasn’t much of an option. There was some kind of balcony just below our ninth-floor room that made it impossible to see the street and only gave us a view of the pool at the hotel next door. Ironically, a lower floor might have been more desirable.
But the room had good bones. Nothing creaked or sagged. The hardwood floors were polished, and the carpet in the bedroom looked fresh while having a nice pattern that made it look more like a stylish rug. Visit a well-known store online for more rug options. Turndown service had already come, leaving chocolates and a little card on the bed with the next day’s weather forecast. Megan appreciated the architectural quirk in the design on the front.
The bathroom was not large but not very small, either. Remember that they had to work within the confines of the original construction. Someone had ripped out the tub to put in a nice tile shower, and the toiletries were high-end Remede, which you’ll often find at St. Regis properties. My only gripe was with the sink: the faucet had a tendency to spray in all directions when I put my hands underneath the stream, and the handle leaked.
I requested continental breakfast as my Platinum amenity, and we were informed that we could use this as a $14 per person credit for anything on the menu. Portions were quite large, so you might be satisfied if you picked just the continental breakfast, which included coffee, juice, bread, and fruit. The little rock candy stir sticks included with espresso drinks were classy, but I think they would have been more appropriate with standard coffee as a good espresso doesn’t need any extra cream or sugar. In any case, the service was great once again, and the art deco surroundings added a certain modern touch without losing the hotel’s historic charm.
This property doesn’t have a pool on the premises, but you are welcome to take advantage of the pools at any of the nearby Starwood hotels, including a Westin across the street. We opted instead to spend some time on our last day exploring the older rooms. Down in the basement we found not only the gym but several ballrooms, each decorated in a different style. And up on the seventh floor we got a great view of the roof garden over the lobby. Unfortunately it’s not directly accessible to the public.
For a little over $200 a night on a holiday weekend it seemed like a great pick. The room was adequately sized even if it wasn’t large. But the furnishings and service were great. Quality over quantity. It’s just unfortunate that the Gaslamp Quarter seems to have moved in an opposite direction. The bars and restaurants we passed seemed pretty rowdy and didn’t match the gentrified urban core that I had expected. Not that it mattered. Balboa Park was a very short drive away. Between that and the beach we had plenty to entertain us, so I would still say The US Grant Hotel is in an excellent location.
The US Grant At A Glance
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Property | The US Grant, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Diego |
| Brand / chain | Marriott Luxury Collection (formerly Starwood) |
| Address | 326 Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101 |
| Year opened | 1910 (reopened after $56 million renovation, 2006) |
| National Register of Historic Places | Listed since 1979 |
| Number of rooms | 270 guest rooms and 47 suites |
| Dining | Grant Grill (since 1951), Grant Grill Lounge, Rendezvous bar |
| Pool | None |
| Fitness / spa | 24-hour fitness center; spa suite by appointment |
| Valet parking | $70/day (in/out privileges) |
| Self-parking | Not available on-property; nearby garages and lots available |
| Marriott Bonvoy | Earn and redeem Bonvoy points; elite status recognized |
| Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts | Bookable; includes daily breakfast for two, two $100 F&B credits, 4 PM late checkout, room upgrade when available |
| Distance to Gaslamp Quarter | Adjacent (approximately 7-minute walk) |
| Distance to Petco Park | 0.8 miles (approximately 15-minute walk) |
| Distance to SAN airport | 2.9 miles (approximately 6-minute drive) |
A Brief History Of The US Grant
The US Grant opened on October 15, 1910, the product of Ulysses S. Grant Jr., son of the 18th US president, who wanted San Diego to have a grand luxury hotel worthy of the city’s ambitions. Built at a cost of $1.5 million, with San Diego voters financing $700,000 of that total, the property was constructed on the site of the former Horton House by architect Harrison Albright. It opened with 437 rooms, including 350 with private baths, two swimming pools, and a ballroom on the top floor. The hotel earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The property changed hands several times over the following century. In 2003, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation purchased the hotel, closing it for approximately 21 months to complete a $56 million historic restoration. The hotel reopened in 2006 as a member of Starwood’s Luxury Collection and has been part of Marriott Bonvoy since the 2018 Starwood-Marriott merger.
The $6.5 million Celebration Fine Art Collection, assembled during and after the renovation, gives the public spaces their distinctive character. Works by Native American, American, and European artists fill the lobby, corridors, and common areas with murals, paintings, sculptures, and ironwork. The hotel has welcomed 13 US presidents, Albert Einstein, and Charles Lindbergh among its notable guests, and is widely considered one of San Diego’s most atmospheric properties.
The hotel also carries a persistent haunted reputation connected to Fannie Chaffee Grant, wife of Ulysses S. Grant Jr., who died shortly before the hotel’s opening. Housekeeping staff over the years have reported unexplained sounds and moved objects, and the property appears regularly on lists of California’s most haunted hotels. In practice the atmosphere is that of a polished historic luxury property rather than anything overtly spooky, but the lore adds genuine character to a building that already has more than enough of its own.
Booking The Stay: Cash Rates, Bonvoy Points And Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts
The US Grant sits in a competitive downtown San Diego market where cash rates for luxury hotels run high on weekends and event dates. Published rates can vary significantly by season, but a general benchmark puts the property in the range of several hundred dollars per night at standard rack rate. Searching the Marriott website directly for your travel dates will show both the cash rate and the Bonvoy points cost side by side, which makes the cash-versus-points comparison straightforward. For points redemptions, the award rate shown by aggregators has run around 44,800 points per night at standard rates, though Marriott uses dynamic pricing so the actual points cost will shift based on the date.
The property is bookable through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts for cardholders with an eligible Amex Platinum or Centurion card. The FHR package at this property includes daily breakfast for two, two separate $100 food and beverage credits to use during the stay, a complimentary room upgrade upon arrival when available, noon check-in when available, guaranteed 4 PM late checkout, and complimentary Wi-Fi. Amex Platinum holders also earn 5x Membership Rewards points on prepaid FHR bookings. For travelers who would pay for breakfast and a meal or two at Grant Grill regardless, the FHR benefits stack up quickly against the underlying room rate.
Elite Status And Suite Upgrades
Marriott Bonvoy elite members receive the standard suite-upgrade and late-checkout benefits the program provides at Luxury Collection properties. Platinum Elite members and above are eligible for suite upgrades at check-in based on availability, and the 4 PM late checkout that Amex FHR guarantees is also a standard Platinum Elite benefit at this tier. The original review on this page used three Suite Night Awards as an SPG Platinum member to secure an upgrade to a ninth-floor Legacy Suite well ahead of arrival, which remains a reliable strategy for Bonvoy members holding Suite Night Award certificates. Requesting a higher floor is worth doing regardless of elite status, both for the view and to put some distance between the room and the noise that rises from the Gaslamp Quarter below on weekend nights.
Dining: Grant Grill, The Lounge And Rendezvous
Grant Grill has operated inside the hotel since 1951 and is among downtown San Diego’s most historically significant dining rooms. The Art Deco interior, with mahogany paneling, fleur-de-lis banquettes, and white linen tables, has changed remarkably little in spirit over the decades. The restaurant made local history in 1969 when a group of female attorneys staged a successful “sit-in” to challenge the men-only lunch policy that had been in place since the restaurant opened. A brass plaque outside the entrance commemorates what became known as the Grant Grill Invasion, one of the more striking footnotes in San Diego’s social history.
The menu focuses on California cuisine and Pacific seafood, and Mock Turtle Soup, made from the original 1951 recipe and finished with sherry, has been on the menu continuously since opening day. Grant Grill items typically run from around $16 for lighter dishes into the upper ranges for dinner entrees and seafood. The adjacent Grant Grill Lounge, redesigned in 2009 with crystal chandeliers and a cocktail-forward focus, serves as a more casual alternative. Rendezvous, at the hotel’s West Broadway entrance, traces its name to the bar that opened here in 1933, right after Prohibition ended. The current version recreates the spirit of that original French cocktail bar with dim lighting, communal seating, and a replica of the vintage neon sign above the door.
For Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts bookings, the two $100 food and beverage credits and the daily breakfast credit can offset a meaningful portion of the dining spend across a multi-night stay. Breakfast dishes at Grant Grill run in the $16 to $28 range, so the breakfast credit covers a full meal for two without much stretch.
Location And Getting Around
The US Grant sits at 326 Broadway on the northern edge of the Gaslamp Quarter, which puts virtually all of downtown San Diego within walking distance. The Gaslamp Quarter itself is roughly a seven-minute walk from the front door. Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, is 0.8 miles away, approximately a 15-minute walk, making the hotel a natural choice for baseball weekends. The USS Midway Museum and the Embarcadero waterfront are roughly a 15-minute walk heading west. San Diego International Airport (SAN) is 2.9 miles away, about a six-minute drive, which is about as close as a downtown hotel gets to a major US airport.
The beach is a different story. San Diego’s most popular beaches, including Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and Ocean Beach, are a 20-to-30-minute drive in normal traffic. The hotel is genuinely excellent for a downtown-focused stay, but it is not a beach hotel and should not be evaluated as one. Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, and the Museum of Man are a short drive or a longer walk north. The Gaslamp Quarter restaurants and bars are steps away, though the neighborhood gets loud on weekend nights, and the lower floors of the hotel are within earshot of that activity. Requesting a floor above the fifth significantly reduces the noise.
Parking At The US Grant
Valet parking at The US Grant runs $70 per day with in-and-out privileges. The hotel does not offer self-parking on-property, so for guests who drive, valet is the only on-site option. That cost adds up quickly over a multi-night stay.
The original review on this page found a practical workaround worth noting: an AAA rate that bundled valet parking for only $20 more than the cheapest non-refundable rate available, effectively absorbing most of the parking cost into the room rate. Rate packages that include parking or dining credits are worth checking at booking time, particularly for longer stays, since the $70/day valet cost can meaningfully shift the total-stay math. Several independent parking structures are also available within a few blocks if a daily valet fee is not workable, though walking to and from them adds a logistical step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the US Grant hotel haunted?
The US Grant has a well-established haunted reputation centered on the spirit of Fannie Chaffee Grant, wife of Ulysses S. Grant Jr., who died shortly before the hotel opened in 1910. Housekeeping staff have reported unexplained sounds and moved objects over the years, and the property appears on multiple lists of California’s most haunted hotels. In practice the atmosphere is that of a polished, character-filled historic hotel rather than anything overtly eerie, but the ghost lore is genuine and woven into the property’s history.
Is the US Grant a Marriott hotel?
Yes. The US Grant is part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection brand. It was a Starwood Luxury Collection property before the Starwood-Marriott merger in 2018. Stays earn and redeem Marriott Bonvoy points, and Bonvoy elite status is recognized at the property.
How much is parking at the US Grant?
Valet parking runs $70 per day with in-and-out privileges. The hotel does not have on-site self-parking. Guests who find the valet cost prohibitive can use nearby independent parking structures, and it is worth checking whether any room packages or rate types bundle parking at a reduced add-on cost.
Does the US Grant hotel have a pool?
No. The original 1910 hotel included two swimming pools, but the current property does not have a pool. It is a historic downtown hotel with a 24-hour fitness center and a spa suite available by appointment. Travelers with a pool as a priority should consider a resort property elsewhere in San Diego.
Who built the US Grant hotel and when?
Ulysses S. Grant Jr., son of the 18th US president, built the hotel in honor of his father. It opened on October 15, 1910, at a total construction cost of $1.5 million. The property was designed by architect Harrison Albright, and San Diego voters contributed $700,000 toward the project. The hotel has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
Is the US Grant worth booking on Marriott Bonvoy points?
For Bonvoy members, the US Grant can represent a solid redemption in a downtown San Diego market where cash rates are competitive with other luxury options. Amex Platinum cardholders can book through Fine Hotels + Resorts for a package that adds daily breakfast for two, two $100 food and beverage credits, a guaranteed 4 PM late checkout, and an upgrade when available. Running the cash-versus-points comparison against the nightly rate at booking time is advisable, since Marriott uses dynamic award pricing.
