Bahia Resort Hotel 998 W Mission Bay Dr, San Diego, CA 92109, USA

Parking & Entrance

The Bahia Resort Hotel is located on Mission Bay in San Diego, a very popular and touristy part of the city due to SeaWorld as well as the many waterfront promenades and colleges nearby. The resort itself is on a peninsula which makes it look really appealing. With your stay one car receives free complimentary parking—an often rare trait for most hotels in Southern California.

Upon arrival to resort surrounded by palm trees, handicapped parking is available at the front desk to check-in. The desk includes a lower section for easy wheelchair access. The staff was courteous and asked if any help with baggage was needed. Adjacent to the front desk is a business center for guests. Checking email and whatnot is free but printing costs a fee. Around the corner from the business office is the resort’s restaurant and bar. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner but the food’s quality was just okay for the price—same goes for the room service. Many tables with chairs were arranged inside and on the patio. The bar counter was low enough for comfortable wheelchair access. Right next to the restaurant and bar is an animal rescue exhibit featuring two different California seals. Ducks can frequently be seen everywhere as they are acquaint to human presents.

Rooms:

Four wheelchair accessible rooms exist at the Bahia Resort Hotel and all have roll-in showers (no bathtubs). Rooms 182, 604 and 214 have two double beds. Room 114 is a suite with a king bed and the best view but it cannot be guaranteed, only requested. Both rooms 604 and 214 are in buildings with hallways and elevators. Room 182 has one room above it and 114 is a single unit. During my 3-night stay I was in room 182. One handicapped parking spot was located just outside the room but since spots are not assigned other hotel guests that have a handicapped placard may also park there. For most of my stay it remained open.

Access into the room was done so with a card and the door has a lowered peep hole. Every time that I tried to open the door it seemed to stick. Overall, the room had a good open flow to it. When first coming through the door the closet with a lowered bar is on the left which also acts a full-length mirror, the vanity is directly in front and the bathroom door in-between. To the right were the two double beds, flat screen TV, coffee/tea pot, small table and door to the patio. The vanity’s sink was not a full roll-up sink as it an angled piece of wood blocking access. A sulfur-type smell would occur when the sink water was turned on, making me very reluctant to consider it safe drinking water.

The beds were a little on the high side but still transferable. However, if you find the beds are too high then ask hotel management what they can do, like remove the box spring, etc. Access to the beds were possible on three of four sides—the space between the first bed and the wall is too narrow for the majority of wheelchairs. All but one light switch were accessible, which was placed behind the table in a corner. The HVAC system was located in the same area on the floor, which made it a little challenging to reach. One power outlet by the television was accessible but was an inconvenient location when it came to using cell phone alarms, etc.

The view at 114 is really lovely and is what’s seen on all the hotel advertisements but the other rooms including 182 was less than so. To access the patio at 182 one must be able to go over a small lip as the patio was not flush with the room’s level and there was no ramp, so power wheelchairs and scooters may have difficulty. The paved patio would almost max out on space with two power wheelchairs. What decreases the attractiveness of the bay’s view is a very large parking lot, which is often heavily populated during the day. The beach room 182 looks onto is the part of Mission Bay where fire-pits are but none are currently accessible.

Bathroom:

Upon entering the spacious bathroom, the toilet is directly in front with two grab bars. The roll-in shower is to the right and includes a permanent padded flip-down bench and hand-held shower nozzle. A small soap shelf was within reach. Soap, shampoo and conditioner along with a cotton ball, Q-Tip or two are provided by the hotel but don’t forget anything else as items such as toothpaste and razors must be bought at the gift shop for an inflated cost.