Hotels in the San Diego and La Jolla area

My co-worker's husband has a conference in the La Jolla area starting end of the week and would appreciate any hotel recommendations. He has a rental car so a certain distance from city center is no issue.
Thank you in advance!

I lived in San Diego, including in La Jolla, for 10 years, so I can give some pretty good recommendations.

In La Jolla
This is my favorite in La Jolla - La Jolla Shores Hotel It is right on the beach.

This one is very nice, not on the beach, but just 5 minutes drive from downtown La Jolla. Hotel La Jolla

This is also not in downtown La Jolla, but just a 7 minute drive or so away. It's where I stayed on my honeymoon. Fantastic views of the ocean, and maybe a 10 minute walk down to a nice, more secluded beach. Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines

This one is also technically in La Jolla, but not on the beach. But 10 minutes drive to downtown La Jolla. And it is definitely 5 star luxury, if that is what they are after. Fantastic spa. La Jolla Hyatt

Finally, this is a very cool boutique hotel right in the heart of downtown La Jolla. Hotel Parisi

Thanks, leeza. By the way, he is going to be on his own and is supposed to want to return

I visited our offices in San Diego February 2007 & I think its that area.

I stayed at the Residence Inn La Jolla (its a Marriott)
The included breakfast isn't much cop but there is a large mall only a few 100m away...

Hotels seemed to be fairly expensive (compared to rest of US).

The W San Diego. Brilliant hotel. Great restaurant. Happening rooftop bar.

The W is brilliant, one of the best hotels I've ever seen, but it is in downtown San Diego. If Sarabyrd's friend doesn't mind a bit of a commute, it could be worth it. But figure 20 - 40 minutes drive time one way, on the higher side during rush hour times.

The Residence Inn La Jolla is standard-issue Marriott, so perfectly acceptable, if a bit boring and over-priced. It's located about 10 minutes drive time from downtown La Jolla, and the shopping mall there is smallish by American standards, but has, among other things, a Ralph's grocery store (super size, of course) a Jamba Juice, which makes THE best smoothies, a movie theater if your friend is the movie-going type, and a Trader Joe's, which is only the coolest grocery store on the planet.

And HEM is absolutely right, hotels in San Diego are very steeply priced. But at least there is the awesome EUR-USD exchange rate at the moment... (at least it's awesome if you have EUR)

Thanks all, I have sent my co-worker the links but will look into these places myself when I visit my little brother (30 since Monday!) who lives a block away from the beach.

i just went to sd a couple of weeks ago. i ended up staying here

http://www.innsofamerica.com/

it was pretty expensive, about 100 bucks with the tax, but i guess it was still ok for being pretty luxurious and an off season rate. it's about 20 minutes north of la jolla. i had initially booked a days inn in mission valley for about 55 usd incl. tax, but it was pretty filthy and stunk really bad, so we only stayed there for one night, even though the room had a full kitchen, which was pretty nice. anyway the innsofamerica was nice, a little loud with the highway on one side and the train on the other, but very clean, 100% no smoking and no chemical smells.

this place has excellent food if you're in the area

http://www.mozycafeencinitas.com/

Just out of interest my company's 2008 MSGR (Maximum Spend Guideline Rate) for San Diego is US$ 162 per night (taking corporate rates into account). For 2007 it was USD 164...

I'm a native San Diegan and went to UCSD. I went home last summer and found it surprisingly difficult to find a nice hotel, so we went to Coronado instead--but that's too far for a conference. I know some people who have stayed at the Torrey Pines and liked it. Whatever hotel your husband picks, he shouldn't miss the John Cole bookstore. IMO it's the prettiest bookstore in the world.

FYI, that's where he ended up, liked it no end.

Have you got a link for the W San Diego?

That took two seconds to find: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/prop...ocaleoverwrite=

well i'll be damned, some people actualy spend 230 bucks a night in san diego to stay in a place with rooms straight out of an ikea catalogue.