Meeting Testimonials

Check out what other professionals are saying about meetings at San Diego Mission Bay Resort.

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Total rooms: 357, including 65 Studios, 5 one bedroom suites and 3 two story suites

Total indoor meeting rooms: 15 with largest event space: International Ballroom | 9,600 sq. ft. and Pavilion | 9,600 sq. ft.

Total outdoor venues: 5 with largest event space: Garden by the Bay | 8,670 sq. ft.

Airport distance: 5 miles/15 minutes from San Diego International Airport

I recently planned a meeting at your resort (April 2 to 6) and I was fortunate to have Jessica Finnery assigned to me. I can’t express enough how amazing she was. During my planning, I had concerns about outside of your resort activities (made by me) and she directed me on who to contact; I had concerns about internal/external plans I made with help by some of your other staff, and she made sure they always followed up promptly (and they did… so fantastic).

Jessica made herself available to me and all participants of the group at any hour (only the best does that… what a dedicated employee you have). I’ve planned hundreds of meetings for my high level executive and never felt the relaxed, “I’ll make it happen” service as I did with her. She always came through.

What a keeper you have! I hope you let her know that. If I was in your business, I’d steal her 😉

-Amy Ayotte, J.S. Redpath Limited

Last week, we had the privilege of having our attorney retreat at the resort. This was the first time our firm had an out of town retreat—in the past we have always stayed close to downtown Minneapolis.

I have had a pretty busy year, and I was not looking forward to planning an out of town retreat. But, I must tell you it was a breeze. And that is almost entirely because of Kerri Higgins. From my very first email from Kerri, I knew we were in good hands. She offered ideas and suggestions. She never scolded when I was late to get her information she needed, and she politely gave me courteous nudges. She was poised and considerate when she pointed out that I had made a mistake about something. Our attorneys could learn excellent communication skills from Kerrie. As a small group, I was worried that we would get lost in the resort, but I always felt we were the most important guests. When I arrived at the resort late on Tuesday night, Kerrie had a cheese, fruit, and cracker platter waiting for me. I had been at the office at 5:00 a.m. that day, after not sleeping much the night before. After that and a long travel day, it was the most delightful meal I have had in a long time. On our first day of meetings, Kerri came in to introduce herself, and she kept in regular contact throughout our three days of meetings—even when she was off-site. Guess what else she did? When I asked her about the best way to pick up desserts from a local bakery, she offered to go pick them up herself. And when she delivered them to our hospitality room, she thought we needed another refrigerator, so she made that arrangement. Outstanding customer service. Just outstanding.

I have been planning Greene Espel retreats for 17 years, and I have never had such a wonderful experience working with a hotel. Kerri is amazing. I can’t imagine she would ever want to move to Minnesota, but if she did, I would find a job for her at our firm. Congratulations to you both for having such a super star. I am the current President of the Association of Legal Administrators, a 9,000 member international professional association.

When our firm decided to go to San Diego, I called a friend of mine who previously served on our Board, and she referred me to the resort. I am grateful to her for that. Now I am looking forward to recommending the San Diego Mission Bay Resort & Spa to my friends and colleagues when they decide to hold firm retreats in San Diego!

-Laura Broomell, Greene Espel

I wanted to take a moment to thank you and everyone on your team for being so helpful and professional during our meeting. Every one of your team members were friendly and helpful. You were very organized and I feel the entire event was hugely successful.

I spoke with many people who thought their rooms were very nice. Everyone I spoke with had nothing but wonderful things to say about the resort and the helpful staff.

-Stacy Winn, SARES REGIS Group

Dear Mr Dennis,

I wanted to send you a personal message and let you know how much I enjoyed holding an event at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort. This was a little while back ( 28^th September to 2^nd October), my sincere apologies that it has taken me this long to contact you. I’ve been on the road with other events.

I know you will appreciate how fabulous your whole team is but thought you would like to hear how very welcoming, professional and fun the team are to your clients. I choose our locations remotely and never have the chance to visit before an event so sometimes a location and team can be a lottery. I definitely hit the jackpot booking your hotel. Your team helped pull together one of the best events we have run globally and I would very much appreciate you letting the team know how much I valued them.

I would like to make special mention of the following people:

Cynthia – a fabulous ‘warm’ lady with great professionalism. Loved her being my Conference Service Manager. Always available and put up with my millions of calls/emails.

Zander (AV) – uber professional, with me helping me sort problems in real time. A real partner for me. Laughing with him during moments of extreme stress helped enormously.

Dory & Chris (AV)– Knights in shining armour with the patience of a saints. Both of them were amazing and helped me at all hours of night and day.

Gordon Berry – A kind and professional man

Jahaziel Atienzo – Always helpful and great fun to be around.

Albert – Saved my bacon when my computer crashed and he sorted it for me, bless him.

There were lots of fabulous people in Meeting & Events who helped us with food and Beverage and I feel terrible that I didn’t take a note of their names. I would appreciate you sending a general thanks to them on my behalf.

Please remember me to all of your teams and tell them I miss them terribly – could have done with them all in Jakarta last week!

Thank you, once again, for a fantastic event.

-Victoria Paxton, Franklin Covey Worldwide

Hi Don, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the wonderful event we hosted at your property last week. The hotel was fabulous from beginning to end. We love the relationship we have with Rylan and Cynthia!

Your staff treated our Warriors with the utmost respect and made them feel truly special. The food was phenomenal and your AV staff was wonderful with accommodating a few last minute needs.

We did a salsa making competition our first night and your Executive Chef and his staff went so far above and beyond to teach and interact with our Warriors. It was really a highlight for our group.

We look forward to working with you again in the near future.

-Kim Christianson, Event Planning Coordinator- Wounded Warrior Project

I could not have been more pleased with our annual member conference that was held at your facility, February 22 – 26. It was a grand success, due in large part to the patience and planning provided by Lou Cirelli and Cynthia Graham. What a team!!

My experience has been that once the contract is signed, the sales team is nowhere to be found. This was not the case with Lou. He remained involved and committed through the entire process. He was awesome to work with. And Cynthia was the best Event Coordinator I’ve had the pleasure to work with. She, along with Lou, were indispensable to the planning process, suggesting ideas and options that I could never have imagined. She was patient with our needs and changes and excited when we came to mutual terms on everything. And throughout our event, she was completely available and invested.

Your chef(s) was extremely helpful in pointing out foods that were problematic for some of our guests and the meals were restaurant quality. Our members were delighted. Lupita was ever helpful as were every staff member we encountered. In more than 10 years of planning, I can’t think of an event that was more pleasant to plan or more successfully executed. I want to commend you and your entire staff for a job well done.

Thank you and keep up the good work. We will be back.

-Kate Schifle, National Training Event Manager- National Comfort Institute

Hi Don,
I just completed 4 meetings last week at your hotel and I would be remiss if I did not send you a note to acknowledge your team at the hotel. The hotel staff in general are so friendly and helpful. But, I need to mention 2 individuals in particular that went above and beyond!

Lou Cirelli – wow – what a great sales experience I had!!! Not only was he helpful in accommodating our needs, but he was very patient with the contract process!!! And, he really was sincere about wanting my business.

Jessica Finnery – all I can say is she’s a keeper!!! I wish I could take her with me to other hotels!!! In our day of “instant” response and information, she never disappointed me!! She was always willing to help – and also find out how she could make my job easier!!!! She had great ideas when I was unsure of what we wold do on Wednesday night (and we ended up having a dinner outside at the hotel which was great!!!) Our company doesn’t meet all that often in San Diego but I know when we do, we will be back. Lou shared with me some possible renovations which are great!!!

Thank you to your staff for 4 very successful meetings last week!!! It was a pleasure working with your team members!!!! Jackie

– Jackie Mattfeld, CMP – Senior Meeting Planner – Prudential

Many things add up to having a phenomenal and wonderful conference experience. A competent staff that works with you to ensure all your details needed for your conference is handled even before you arrive, an efficient on-site staff that responds quickly to your a/v needs, and banquet/catering needs. Then, having someone always willing to help, never making you feel like you’re asking for too much, and working rapidly to find resolutions.

This is what we experienced at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort & Spa this past Jan. 2015. The amount of attention and efficiency exhibited by the staff was by far the most effective and impressive I’ve seen in years; a true example of customer service. Kerri Higgins, event manager, always quick to respond to emails & texts w/ several last minute changes & mistakes on our end. Definitely a person I knew I could count on in times of emergency; great example of what it takes to be a great event manager. On-site A/V support, Chris & Tony, were quick to respond to our audio and visual needs –personally surprised me how quick they were to respond to our calls. A positive banquet team that was always early to set up for lunch, breakfast, & snacks.

The hotel was located right by the beach with a beautiful view of the San Diego sunset. Having lunch on the garden by the Bayfront was a conference favorite for all of our attendees. Participants couldn’t stop raving about the wonderful fresh food and the wonderful atmosphere. The amount of attention to details was amazing; a few times where we had to remind banquet team to label food and ingredients, but after we told them, foods were labeled correctly.

We had a great time. Thanks to the entire team: Ignacio Villicana, Alfonso Juarez, Kerri Higgins, and our A/V on-site support: Chris & Tony! Thank you to the entire staff for the amazing job and creating a once in a lifetime experience for my staff and participants!

You have an amazing team there at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort & Spa. Everyone was competent and very accountable. Great job to you and your team! If we ever come back to San Diego, we definitely know which spot we would readily endorse again.

– Nhia Lee- National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)

Ladies and Gent,
You crushed it. You should all be very proud of yourselves and your staffs. We told you this while we were there but I’m going to say it again. You were easily the best all around hotel staff we have ever worked with. Paul and I see hundreds of places but rarely if ever, is everything 100%. You and your staffs made our job so much easier and so much more fun. No one ever missed a beat and, and no one ever frowned. Smiles from everyone and just a very gracious attitude. You could tell that everyone there takes much pride in their work.

Please pass on my comments to everyone (especially Ricardo and his entire crew), make sure I get a customer satisfaction survey, and rest assured that Paul and I will will recommend your property to anyone looking in that area. It was a pleasure meeting you and working with you and we look forward to the next time.
Thanks again,

Marc Cohen, President – MHC Productions

I am writing because last week we conducted our 2014 Resource Exchange Meeting which is a joint labor-management program between Kaiser Permanent and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanent Unions.

The meeting was an awesome success and I wanted to bring your attention to the fabulous staff that you have working at your hotel. From the sales experience with Deneda Young to the every-day attention that we received from Cynthia Graham our attendees were overwhelmed with the beautiful scenery and great service we received. Cynthia was flexible and I never saw her sweat, although we challenged her at every turn. She’s definitely an asset to your hotel.

Please know that we will return to your hotel with future meeting, and it is 100% due to the service we received from your staff . . . you should be proud.

Carol Hinton, Conference & Meeting Planner – Coalition of Kaiser Permanent Unions

I would like to thank you for the service we received from your staff before and during the conference held at your hotel. We worked closely with Cynthia Graham – who was amazing. Her responsiveness, customer service, and event planning knowledge enabled us to host a highly successfully meeting. I am still receiving emails from attendees three weeks after the conference – thanking us and telling us how great it was.

Everything was perfect, especially the staff…Ignacio, Chris, PSAV staff, and everyone assisting during the sessions, meals, and guest room issues. Two specific situations stand out to us…an attendee and guest at the hotel had invited her elderly mother to meet her at the hotel. The mother was driving from Oceanside and got lost. She called the hotel and one of your staff drove to find her and guide her to the hotel. I’ve never heard of this happening at any hotel I have stayed at – amazing.

Additionally, our “ice cream event” turned out to be very popular, but mostly with the Dove bars, not so much with the fruit bars. When the Dove bars ran out I found one of the staff (Chris?) and he let me know the hotel was out. I was less than happy, but he was very resourceful and accommodated my request for more Dove bars by going to the Gift Shop and getting a few boxes! No unhappy attendees!

The food was a main source of pleasure for our attendees. They were more than pleasantly surprised that “hotel” food could be so good – we feel gourmet is an accurate description We had a number of meals during the two+ day event and they were all excellent, from presentation to taste. I wish we would have written down all of the staff names because I know how nice it is when they get kudos – which all deserve from our event. Thank you and your staff again for helping our office host a memorable event and showcase San Diego County for the statewide County Recorders’ Association of California.

Val Wood – Chief Deputy Recorder/Clerk, San Diego County ARCC

I recently had the pleasure of working with your Sales and Conference team for IGEEM 2014. (This same group held their conference with the resort in 2012). My experience was one of the best I have had with a hotel. My work takes me to many different locations and most of the time I am working with a Conference Concierge. It was very refreshing to work directly with our CSM (Cynthia Graham). Cynthia was so easy to work with and so very accommodating. She handled every request with professionalism. We also shared quite a few laughs along the way. Both Cynthia and Shari were invested in the success of our program from the very beginning stages of the planning process. The entire team from the front desk personnel, banquet staff, A/V to the gift shop personnel, everyone was at the top of their game. You have a strong foundation of staff and it is was very apparent. Kudos to the entire staff and I look forward to the opportunity of recommending your property to clients. Cordially, Andria Butcher – Top Shelf Events

I’m the Meeting & Event Planner with Monsanto and your hotel just hosted my Coastal RLT Meeting at your property August 25-31. I work with many hotels and when I work with individuals who go above and beyond what is expected I want to pass on my positive feedback. Unfortunately I was not able to travel from St. Louis to attend the meeting but my experience with your staff through email and phone conversations made planning so much easier. My onsite contacts, Kristin Bonham (who I planned this meeting for) and Suzanne Thompson had a positive experience at your hotel and reported back that the food was very good the service provided was great! A meeting planner’s job can be stressful because you hope all the details that were arranged are going to be carried out, I trusted your staff and they did not let me down. The following staff I would like to recognize for their exceptional service and hospitality: Rylan Reilkoff-National Sales Manager: Rylan was the first person I contacted to introduce myself after being assigned this meeting after the first Monsanto planner left. Rylan helped get me up to speed on where Robin had left off in the planning process. I’m sure on your end, it is difficult to have a change in planners but Rylan made everything so easy and had an understanding of the program so he was able to let me know what still needed to be taken care of. He also remained involved even when this event was turned over to the Convention Service Manager, Cynthia Graham. I appreciate how patient Rylan was with the many rooming list changes and the promptness in getting me updated list. Being in St Louis and starting my day at 8:00 AM, it was nice to email your hotel and someone from your office (Rylan) would be there to respond to my questions. San Diego is 2 hours behind St. Louis which is usually a challenge in the time delay in getting answers so what a pleasure it was that Rylan was available to take care of customers. Thank you Rylan, I enjoyed working with you and my group had positive feedback on your staff and property. I’m not sure if we have plans to return to San Diego with this program but we would welcome to opportunity to work with you again. Jessica Maddock – Lead Concierge: Can you imagine the challenge of planning off property activities and selecting restaurants and booking transportation? It is stressful and time consuming trying to google/yelp/tripadvisor every place you are considering for reviews to make sure your group will enjoy the activity. Jessica was prompt in returning emails and gave great restaurant and activity suggestions for the area. In frustration when I couldn’t get a restaurant to call me back to make a reservation, Jessica offered to call them and take care of everything for me. I can’t imagine how much time I would have spent without Jessica’s help. Jessica, thank you so much for providing exceptional service, you made my job so much easier! Kelly Goddeyne – Spa Coordinator: Thank you Kelly for helping me set up the Spa day for my customers; you were great to work with and very organized! Cynthia Graham – Conference Service Manager: Cynthia is amazing at what she does! Detail oriented, knowledgeable, great follow through and friendly! Working with Cynthia made my job less stressful knowing that she cared that all details were correct and would always follow up with me shortly after she received an email. As a meeting planner I realize hotel managers are working on several programs at once, assisting other guests and have other groups in house. Cynthia was great at communicating when she was not able to take care of an email right away but would acknowledge that she received it and let me know when I could expect the information. Due to the size of our conference I had many rooming list and BEO changes and Cynthia would promptly update them and get me a new list the same day. On my last conference call with Kristin Bonham before she left for San Diego I filled her in on everything that was set up for the conference and gave her staff names in case she needed anything. I told her if she needed anything at all to go to Cynthia because I trusted that she would take care of whatever was needed. Both Kristin Bonham and Suzanne Thompson reported to me that Cynthia was great to work with, just like I told them. Cynthia, you truly were a pleasure to work with and always professional and willing to get me whatever information I needed. The resort is lucky to have you as their Conference Service Manager. I’m sure I’m not the first person to sing your praises. Thanks again for helping make our meeting a success! My experience with the staff at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort has been great! I would recommend this property to any person or group. Please pass on my thank you to your staff for providing hospitality and exceptional service! Sincerely, Rose Peterson – Monsanto | Meeting & Event Planner

I wanted to write you a quick note to express my sincere gratitude to you and your staff for making the Spectra Logic President’s Club trip to San Diego an amazing event! I cannot even begin to express how impressed I was with everyone on your staff, from my initial interactions with Sandy Rankin to our actual event when I worked with Cynthia Graham – everyone was so friendly and absolutely pleasant to work with, I wish that your staff could go with us to every President’s Club trip!

To provide you with a brief background, this is the third President’s Club trip I have planned during my tenure here at Spectra Logic – our first one was at The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, FL and our second event was at The Westin Grand Cayman in Grand Cayman – our third event at the resort was definitely the best when it came to the staff and the amazing level of customer service. Our group was at your resort from July 25th – 28th (roughly) and we had a reception event on the pool deck one evening and a formal dinner the second evening – we also had 40+ appointments at Mantra Spa for our guests. Every detail of our event was covered and Cynthia was an absolute gem when it came to being available and making sure everyone was happy…and she truly made my job so much easier because she covered every detail necessary to ensure our group was well taken care of. As I mentioned our entire group was delighted by the service at The San Diego Mission Bay Resort & Spa and I am definitely grateful to all as it made my job that much easier.

Thank you – you have a great group of people there and I sincerely appreciate everything you all did for us!

Sincerely,
Valerie Miller – Executive Assistant to the EVP of Worldwide Sales – Spectra Logic

I just wanted to let you know that everyone on your staff was excellent during our Global Sales Meeting! From our first meeting with Rylan to arranging the minute details with Cynthia, the experience was easy and enjoyable. Once on-site, everyone truly enjoyed your property and the service given by your staff continued to be outstanding.

Each part of our event ran smoothly, thanks in large part to your team. The private sections by the pool worked wonderfully, with an added bonus that my team really loved having access to the games! The group who ran our Chili Cook-off was a lot of fun, and helped make the event a success. We got lots of help on Thursday, and everyone from AV to Fresco’s to Cynthia (with all my email requests during the meeting) was quick and helpful. Lastly, our events coordinator Ricardo and bartender Amy made sure that we were well taken care of, which was immensely appreciated.

Everyone on your staff was professional and personable and took great care of my small group. I couldn’t have asked for a better event and wanted to make sure to pass along how great your team was. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks,
Kim Maibaum – Marketing Programs Manager – BioNano Genomics

This letter is to express my sincere appreciation for your role in making our 2014 PAR Sales Conference the most successful sales kick-off meeting I have been involved in in my 15+ year marketing career. When we met with the resort team on our site evaluation visit, we were very impressed by the extensive menu of team building activities at your resort. Your team inspired us to take a more creative approach to our sales meeting and raise the bar on integrating our theme “Play to Win” throughout our conference. Working with you and your team, we identified two great team building activities to work into our agenda: Chili Cook-off and Beach Olympics.

The Chili Cook-off activity was a great way to get or employees to work together on a project that was outside the comfort zone for a lot of people, but everyone entered into this event – even our president. The event was extremely well organized by the resort team and every detail was taken care of, as all we had to do was show up. All of the chili’s tasted very good, the packaging and branding was very creative and the videos each team created to “sell” the product were hilarious! It was also great to get a copy of all the videos, which we now have available on our post-event Web site. The Beach Olympics were also a great hit. I was amazed at how competitive everyone was. Again, the resort team orchestrated many different creative beach competitions where all eight teams were competing head-to-head with another team. This seemed complicated to organize, but the resort team did in a way that was easy for everyone to follow and it was seamless. There sure were a lot of laughs and it sure made us all learn to work effectively as teams!

At the end of our sales conference, nearly everyone in our group came up to me and told me that the team building events were awesome and that this is the best sales conference they have ever attended – from any company. You and your team made my job a lot easier and you certainly made me look good! Without a doubt, we picked the best resort in San Diego to hold our sales conference and I am so glad we selected your team building activities that were the highlight of our conference.

Sincerely,
David Naumann – Director of Marketing, ParTech, Inc. (PAR)

Warmest thanks to you and the whole resort crew for making our Global Sales conference a smashing success! Everyone loved the facilities and the staff could not have taken better care of us. When you have a moment, please send through our finalized bill. Thanks again for your hospitality and service.

Kindest regards,
Margaret Donahue Walker – Journal Sales Director – The Americas Taylor & Francis Group

I wanted to send a quick note letting you know how impressed I was with your hotel and its staff. We had a Rep Training Session there a couple of weeks ago. With me being here in NC I was not able to visit the site in person it was important for me to have a good rapport with the meeting folks. Cynthia and Rylan fit the bill! They were both such a pleasure to work with and so helpful!

In addition the F&B staff was superb. They moved tables for us at the last minute and even, when a friendly seagull took the food off my plate, got some fresh replacements! All in all, I would definitely recommend holding an event at the Mission Bay resort and, if the opportunity should arise, I would have another one there. Kudos to you and your staff…

Beth Carroll – Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas

Our organization would like to extend our thanks to your resort for hosting us this weekend. We could not have chosen a better venue. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to host an event at this hotel.

One of the common comments we’ve been hearing from our attendees is that the hotel staff were incredibly accommodating and very friendly. I wish I could remember the name of every Banquet Captain, Banquet Manager, and A/V Tech, but I do remember that they were all fantastic. Any problem that arose was taken care of swiftly and with no complaints. Your staff made our job easy and many commented on how smooth our operations seemed.

Our attendees were shocked by the high quality of the food. Usually food that is prepared for 400+ attendees does not retain the same quality as it does when prepared for a few. The Vienna cheesecake was especially popular! We also appreciate the kitchen’s willingness to accommodate our high number of walk-ins and dietary restrictions that we were not notified about ahead of time. I am incredibly grateful of the hotel staff’s role in making this annual event the best one yet. Please pass along our thanks. You will be highly recommended to our members for future events.

Thank you,
Nadia Bess – Society of Women Engineers, SWE Conference

It’s been a bit crazy since our meeting and I’m just now taking a moment to write you to let you know about the amazing level of service that I received from Cynthia Graham and your team during our meeting on 2/10 – 2/12. I cannot tell you how blown away the team was with how perfect everything went — from the meeting to the facilities to the food. Cynthia’s exceptional attention to detail resulted in one of the best meetings I’ve ever attended / put together.

Regards,
David Fuller – Regional Assistant to Colleen Morse RVP West ULTA BEAUTY

I am writing this email to commend your employees for the outstanding job they did to ensure our event was a success at your hotel this week. Cynthia Graham has been a pleasure to work with and extremely responsive to any need we had prior to the event and in particular during our stay. Zander Beetge and his team, took care of all our audio/visual needs to ensure we did not have any technical difficulties in which we did not. I worked with several of your staff members this week and can say that each person was professional and accommodating to our requests. Our event guests were very complimentary of the food and venue as well.

Thank you for assisting us in hosting our event.
Sincerely,
Louanne Shaffer – Director of Government Relations and Marketing, TCPN – The Cooperative Purchasing Network

I just wanted to take a moment and recognize some of the stars that you have working on your team that brought the service level to COLA’s Symposium for Clinical Laboratories (May 15-18) to a spectacular one.

First and foremost to the incredible Conference Service Manager, Cynthia Graham- She was such a gem and from BEOs, rooming lists, and final execution she was wonderful; she is an invaluable member of your staff.

From Banquets, I would like to of course thank Banquet Director, Efren Montes and the indispensable Banquet Manager, Chris Gutierrez. Chris saved the day when he offered to drive to another company and swap their package with our conference case. This was a delivery error made by the shipping company, but Chris saw the easy solution and just drove over to make the switch. Special thanks to Chris for going above and beyond in customer service.

It was wonderful to recognize members of your banquet staff from our last stay in 2007. They were so welcoming and gracious in their service. I feel terrible that I cannot remember each name, but to the staff who helped us with our special set up of 50 chairs in our exhibit hall on Thursday and Friday…THANK YOU!!

I was thrilled to work with PSAV Director, Alfredo Herrera and PSAV Manager, Ana Pillado. I have planned many, many meetings- and I have worked with PSAV all over the country, but I have never come across a PSAV employee like Ana. She embodies customer service and customer satisfaction with all that she does. She was wonderful!

I wanted to mention the incredible quality of food and beverage and a special thank you to Chef Schaefer. The dishes that he and his culinary team created in both the restaurant and for our catered events were spectacular. My staff and I had the pleasure of eating in his restaurant on more than one occasion and everything was spot on; we thoroughly enjoyed the fresh, seasonal ingredients and the lovely presentations. I also wanted to thank some of your friendly bellmen; both Jeffrey and Ramzi were always there with smiles and warm greetings when we saw them each day. Don, this was COLA’s 2nd time at the resort, and it was a very successful event. We of course would love to see the Pavilion a permanent structure; for that would give my group more flexibility and more comfort. For the most part, this is a great property for us and we were very happy to be back.

Thank you,
Tricia Hudson – CMP Operations Director, Symposium for Clinical Laboratories

I am a Project Manager at Scripps Health in the Conference Services & CME department where I have been working for more than seven years now. During my tenure at Scripps, we as a group have worked with nearly every hotel property in and around San Diego. I know I speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say the San Diego Mission Bay Resort is the standard by which we measure all properties. It is on behalf of our entire department that I am writing to say thank you and share some of our specific experiences.

My colleagues Meredith, Ashley, and I have hosted numerous meetings at the resort and the experience has been outstanding each time. Whether we booked a small conference of less than 100 attendees or a larger group (500+), the commitment to service never changes. The staff at your hotel is dedicated, extremely friendly, and easy to work with. As a department we have developed close working relationships with several of your staff members over the years and would like to call out a few of them specifically. Kelly Sprague has been, and continues to be, our go-to for sales. Kelly is both personable and professional and someone we as a team enjoy working with. She works closely with our team to ensure a fair contract for both Scripps and the resort and has always demonstrated to us her clear understanding of our needs and limitations being a non-profit organization. As you are aware negotiations and contracting can be time consuming and frustrating, however, Kelly continues to make it a seamless process for us.

Kerri Higgins is easily the best convention services manager in San Diego, if not all of Southern California! She is an absolute delight to work with even when we have some of our more challenging groups in house (ask her about integrative medicine professionals) Kerri goes above and beyond no matter the size of our group and she is always available to assist in a pinch. Our planning team at Scripps is responsible for many simultaneous conferences and we are not always able to get our specs to Kerri in a timely fashion but that has never changed her attitude, her level of service, or the smile on her face. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “no” come out of her mouth which, as a meeting planner, makes my job so much easier.

In addition to Kelly and Kerri the banquet staff is phenomenal to work with. Efren, Chris, Ricardo and the rest of your team take excellent care of us and our attendees. They are all easy going and very patient whether it is a last minute change from our group or a difficult attendee. We’ve had programs requiring special menus and attendees with various food preferences but there has never been an issue meeting these needs. Your banquet staff and housemen also take excellent care of our staff when we are on-site. Whether it’s a morning soda or a bottle of water, they never forget about us! Because we host so many programs in the San Diego area, Scripps looks for more than just a venue, we look for a partner who provides the same level of service as we do. We truly believe we have found that partner in the resort and we hope to continue our relationship for many years to come. Please say a big thank you to everyone on your staff on behalf of Scripps. We have and will continue to recommend the San Diego Mission Bay Resort to colleagues and friends in the industry for your superior level of service.

Sincerely,
Carlin Admirand – Scripps Conference Services & CME

I wanted to tell you again thanks for a great job and support you provided us for our customer support conference. I have had so many compliments and comments that this was the best conference we have had to date. The hotel staff did a great job of responding to our needs but Kerri you took care of so many things for us and did it quickly. You were constantly there asking what we needed and responding to the special last minute comments. Lou, I know when the agreement was signed you normally step aside but you hung in there with us to help make our jobs easier. You are both exceptional in your jobs and very customer focused. Keep up the good work and thanks for your support. Thanks, John Ganzerla – Manager, Global Communications, Eaton Aerospace Group

The words “Thank You” seem almost inadequate to express our appreciation for you and your San Diego Mission Bay Resort team for another great conference! Everything about our experience here was first class and your staff once again provided a warm, friendly and most helpful attitude that our guests really appreciated and felt most honored. The teachers are now headed home, refreshed, honored, and inspired to do their best to provide top quality and improving science education for our nation’s students. We look forward to working with you again next year!

Best regards,
Bart – MJ Murdock Trust

The Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education was created in 1996 to provide a forum for dialogue among leading figures in government, industry, and academia. Once a year we come together to share our knowledge and we have hard working professionals like your staff at the San Diego Mission Bay Resort & Spa to thank for making it all possible. Their help planning and executing CISSE 2014 made this our best years ever! This kind of service, starts at the top and we can’t say enough about Martin Hall and his level of commitment.

CISSE 2014 was our 18th conference and we have seen it all in hotel venues, service, food and value and we rank your hotel at the top of the list. Right from the start your staff made it understood that we were in this together and all our requests were met with quick action. Our conference experience in San Diego will be hard to beat as we circle the country. We will make sure the resort is on the top of the list for each of our venue selections from now on!

Many thanks,
William Maconachy – CISSE Chairman & Tamara Shoemaker – CISSE Operations Manager

I had the privilege of being at the Mission Bay resort for an event with about 40 of my colleagues from around North America. In leading up to this event and during the course of our stay, we were assisted by Jessica Finnery, a staff member in Conference Services. I am writing to inform you that she did an OUTSTANDING job in helping all of us.

Jessica anticipated our needs and concerns and provided immediate response. She was visible, accessible and more than anything, helpful in making us feel right at home. She exceeded our highest expectations, with her gracious, willing spirit and her informed answers and solutions. We could not have been more pleased.

You are fortunate indeed to have her on your staff. She is an asset to your company and a prime example of the excellent customer service and attention we received while there.

Thank you again,
Dr. David Jackson, President SDOM Fellowship Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware

US Sailing has traveled across the country hosting meetings, symposiums and regattas and never have we had the level of customer service we experienced with your group at the resort. I did not have to field a single complaint from an attendee about their check-in experience, rooms, food, customer service, etc….. and believe me, I am the first to hear.

Jessica is the best of the best. Her attention to detail and onsite support was like no other I have experienced. Martin was a great support leading into the event and flawlessly handed off onsite execution to Jessica but always stayed available for support. Chris was a smiling face every evening and was always one-step ahead of me keeping a close eye on food while maintaining a respect for our budget. The banquet staff did an incredible job turning the rooms over in such a short amount of time and refreshing the rooms throughout the day.

And what can I say about the food… typically in my world, no news is good news with hotel food. If I am not hearing a complaint I assume the food was ok. This was completely the opposite from what I have experienced, not only did I not hear complaints, I heard raving reviews. The apps Wednesday, dinner Friday and lunch each day was delicious and our attendees were sure to tell me that. Even the staff that did not work directly with our event was always smiling and checking in to see if we needed anything. Please pass along my sincere appreciation and compliments to your entire staff. They really made my job easy and made me look good and for that I am forever grateful. I hope to make a trip back to the resort with my family as I now have many fond memories there. Thank you Don – I hope we will be back on site for a future event and I know our attendees hope so too.

With Gratitude,
Katie Ouellette – Event Manager, US Sailing