Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina Finishes $100M+ Reno

REAL ESTATE: Upgraded Rooms, Pool Area, Meeting Space, Lobby, New Restaurants

By  Donald Bloodworth  – December 19, 2024

SAN DIEGO – More than $100 million went into updating the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina in a newly finished renovation billed as a transformation that “redefines the property.”

“This is the most significant and comprehensive renovation in the history of the property, encompassing not only new coastal guest rooms, but also meeting space, significant lobby updates, new food and beverage outlets, as well as updates to the pool areas and outdoor spaces,” said General Manager Sean Clancy.

“Our goal with the redesign was to focus on the hotel’s public spaces and reimagine the Sheraton as the future of the world’s gathering space, drawing on its roots as a community hub for locals and guests,” Clancy said.

Opened at 1380 Harbor Island in 1972 by ITT Sheraton, the 717 guest rooms and suites in the Marina Tower got a new look and color palette that draws from the colors of the marina in a design by ForrestPerkins, a design and architect firm based in Dallas.

“The Marina Tower guest rooms’ design exudes a modern coastal vibe featuring serene blue hues, neutral accents, and natural oak wood, capturing the essence of San Diego’s marina and coast,” Clancy said.

Additions to the rooms included height-adjustable work tables and LED lighting.
The 130,000 square feet of meeting space in 53 rooms was also remodeled, adding new audio-video technology.

Occupancy Rising

The hotel’s last major renovation was in 1994, according to Clancy.

Typically, luxury hotels, as this one, undergo major renovations every 10 to 12 years, said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, based in Irvine.

From that perspective, “It’s way overdue,” Reay said, but he said many hotels put off major renovations during and immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic and are just getting back to it.

For a hotel as large as the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, “There’s not a lot of people that have the wherewithal to do it,” Reay said.

The Sheraton’s project won a 2024 award from a trade organization for meeting planners, the Northstar Stella Award, as the best renovation in the far west region.

Clancy said that the room occupancy at the Sheraton has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“Our group room nights in particular have increased 30%-plus from 2023 to 2024 and are projected to make a similar increase for 2025,” Clancy said.

“San Diego is probably doing better than most of the major markets in California,” Reay said, adding that the city’s hotels are helped by a strong convention business and lower crime rates than San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland.

A key part of the Sheraton’s renovation was the addition of four new restaurants – Rumorosa, Brewery X Harbo Island, Sunglow Cabana Bar, and Strada.

At 4,000 square feet, Rumorosa, which means noisy or murmuring in Spanish, is the hotel’s signature restaurant off the Marina Tower lobby and includes a main dining room, a casual bar, and a private dining room.

The menu features what Clancy said was “the best of Cali-Baja cuisine,” including local pastries, street tacos, Baja fish and birria, grilled Bavette steak and tuna tostada.
The 2,920-square-foot Brewery X Harbor Island is a collaboration with Anaheim-based Brewery X and has a selection of cocktails and Brewery X’s beers and hard seltzers, along with beers from Stone, Alpine Brewing and Society.

Food options include tacos, pizzas and a variety of desserts.

Open to the public and hotel guests, the 2,800-square-foot Sunglow Cabana Bar, alongside the Marina Tower’s two newly renovated pools offers, “a quintessential California poolside experience,” according to Clancy, with a menu that has everything from smash burgers to carne asada and beverages, made with a variety of spirits and alcohol-free.

Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina
FOUNDED: 1972
LOCATION: Harbor Island
GENERAL MANAGER: Sean Clancy
BUSINESS: hospitality
EMPLOYEES: 450
WEBSITE: www.sheratonsandiegohotel.com
CONTACT: 619-291-2900
NOTABLE: The Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina opened before the San Diego Convention Center opened.