Those of us who live in Southern California have beaches all year-round to visit so there's never any big rush to the beach over Labor Day Weekend. However, we love three-day weekends so we can be even more laid-back than we normally are Monday through Friday.

And San Diego is a perfect road trip destination in SoCal.

TravelZoo is offering rates at the Four Points San Diego for $130 a night. They are even saying it's $130 off the hotel's regular rate of $250. Sounds good right? But we found an even better rate via the hotel's website. Like, we know! ]]> juliana 2008-08-11T14:44:14-05:00 32.8097670 -117.14859 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/11/1/12400/2673 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3/the_keating_hotel_san_diego.jpg" class="imgborder"> <p>Usually we like to round up <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/HotelChatter%20Comments">our favorite comments</a> of the week and put them all together in a single post on Friday. But every now and then, there's a special commenter who grabs our attention. Namely, it's someone who stays at a hip new hotel and sends us their review.<p>We're not saying we don't appreciate the bed bug stories from Motel 11 in Indiana or Arkansas. Those are good to know for our next big road trip. But since we write so much about these new hip hotels we really want your take on them. <p>Hence, we are giving HotelChatter Maven <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/user/mari">Mari</a> some big-ups today. She stayed at the brand new <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Keating+Hotel/local/204"><b>Keating Hotel</b></a> juliana 2007-11-01T14:21:56-05:00 32.713755 -117.16046 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/6/7/103755/7733 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/keating_rate.jpg" class="imgborder"/><p>If you weren't turned off by the LA Times so-so review of <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Keating+Hotel/local/204"><b>The Keating Hotel</b></a> in San Diego, then you will be happy to hear of the hotel's opening rate specials. Or will you?<p>The site says the Spring Special Rates are good until June 20th but when we checked a regular Stanza is going for $359 on weekends while during the week it's as low as $319. That doesn't sound like a very big deal to us.<p>However, if you select the Promotional Rates near the bottom of the booking rate, you can see the "Keating Prepaid Special" which means if you book online, pay in full and don't cancel you can score a room for $323 on juliana 2007-06-07T10:37:55-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/6/6/162723/9737 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/keating_LAT.jpg" class="imgborder"><p>Yesterday the <a href="http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-fi-ivy3jun03">LA Times</a> said the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Ivy+Hotel/local/317"><b>Ivy Hotel</b></a> was too porn-centered (sample quote: "The 159-room, $90-million property could pass as Playboy Mansion South, from the skin-baring cocktail waitresses to the $3,000-a-night specialty suite with king-size bunk beds, a group shower and, ahem, a fireman's pole") and today the paper is again giving a new San Diego hotel a blah review.<p>This time the target is the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Keating+Hotel/local/204"><b>The Keating Hotel</b></a>.<p> The <a href="http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-keating10jun10">LA Times</a> liked the slick design from the Pininfarina company, who is behind the design of Ferrari and Maserati cars. Indeed the paper writes: "If a hotel can be a sports car, then the Keating is one." However, under the hood there seems to be juliana 2007-06-06T16:28:21-05:00 32.713755 -117.16046 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/2/8/205929/5726 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3/the_keating_hotel_san_diego.jpg" class="imgborder"> <p><p>With travel mags <a href="http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122800887.html">spilling ink</a> all over San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, it figures a posh, Euro-style boutique hotel would land on the scene. Meet the new kid on the block, <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Keating+Hotel/local/204">The Keating</a></b>:<blockquote><p>The Keating is a statement of our time, combining the highest level of expressive Italian Design with sophisticated and personalized service. The Keating defines a new standard for lifestyle hotels worldwide.</blockquote> <p>Riiiight. We won't go that far, but it does have some pretty impressive stats, starting with a crack design team. The Italian design gurus Pininfarina--they've done Ferraris, air purifiers and Lear Jets--gave The Keating a stripped bare look, kind of like a doctor's office. But a sexy doctor who loves red. Or an pbb 2007-02-09T11:05:22-05:00 32.713755 -117.16046 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/