Horton Grand Hotel Reviews

We chose this location because it reminded us of New Orleans Square in Disneyland and we were having a Disney themed wedding so it was at the top of our list. From our first communication with Jennifer, everything was a breeze. She was attentive and always had answers to our questions. There was a possibility of rain on our day but she eased our stress and had back up plans for any situation. She gave us the peace of mind we needed in a crazy time.

The venue is BEAUTIFUL and there are many great locations for photos! Guests are still complimenting the venue weeks later. The staff was SO FRIENDLY. Everyone greeted us with a smile and was helpful! The food and cocktails were DELICIOUS!

Our out-of-town guests felt at home and our in-town guests can't wait for an excuse to go back. The day was perfect and without this venue, Jennifer, and the rest of the staff that would not have been possible! We truly felt like Disney royalty!

We had such a great wedding at the Horton Grand!!

The venue is beautiful. It looks great in pictures and even better in person. We got so many compliments on the venue on our wedding night. It doesn't need much in terms of decoration. The layout is great. The courtyard is beautiful and we had both our ceremony and reception there. The cocktail hour in the alley way was perfect. There's quite a few spots for pictures.

The food received great reviews from the guests. We chose prime rib, chicken, and a veggie pasta. We hired an extra bartender and that kept the lines short and drinks flowing for our 130 guests. The venue size was perfect for the amount of people we had.

We had a lot of out-of-towners and I loved that it's only 4 miles from the airport and walking distance to everything. We liked that no one had to rent a car. We had a get-together night at Half Door Brewing and our rehearsal dinner at Union Tap & Kitchen, both walking distance. There's a discount to stay at the Horton Grand and the rooms have so much charm. It's also close to every hotel chain for people with rewards.

Price was in line with everything else we looked at. We liked that there were no upcharges for chairs, linens, lighting, and all that. Everything is included in their packages that you would expect from a venue in terms of tables/chairs/linens/lights/food/bar/meal tasting/setup/takedown/etc. They even comp you a room on the wedding night. The only add-on we did was an extra bartender. We also appreciated that there are ballrooms as back ups in case of rain, which we did not have to use. Vendor-wise we brought in a florist, dj, photographer, day of planner, and photobooth.

Communication with Jennifer was excellent and she was very responsive to our many (and probably repeat) questions in the past year. I cannot recommend her enough. She was a true pleasure to work with.

All in all, the best compliment I can give it is that I wouldn't change a thing about our wedding at the Horton Grand. We spent so much time planning and preparing and stressing over it, but our wedding night was the best night of our lives. It was worth every penny.

Gorgeous boutique hotel the vintage vibes are one of a kind. Jennifer is AMAZING she has been the best from the very first meeting. She's so kind, attentive, organized, all of the things! You will love it!

My husband and I got married at Horton Grand Hotel last week. Choosing Horton Grand as our wedding venue and Jen and Blake as our wedding coordinator was the best decision. Everything went very smoothly, beautifully and the event was perfect! The event started on time the staff was on top of everything, we didn’t worry about anything but having a great time. The courtyard is stunning no extra decor needed.

I highly recommend Horton Grand for wedding events!

Thank you so much!

I recently coordinated a Vow Renewal at the Horton Grand Hotel! Jennifer was absolutely amazing, she is so kind, quick to respond, makes everything as easy as possible! The food was delicious, fresh, and well portioned! The venue itself was so beautiful that it did not take a lot to dress it up! My clients and myself LOVED our experience here and I can’t wait to recommended them for more weddings! Thank you Jennifer and your whole team!

- Justice Gonzales
Event Coordinator - Instagram: SanDiegoEventCoordinator


Photographer: MarciaLanaPhotography.pixieset.com

They were so great and exceeded all expectations! They were very flexible with any request we had, as well as being thorough and responsive the whole process. The venue is absolutely stunning, we have guests telling us they want to go back to the hotel to stay because they had such a wonderful experience, and their prices are so reasonable!!!

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Jennifer (Sales Manager), and the Horton Grand Hotel (HGH). She was perfectly placed in our lives when we began searching for our venue. She’s half the reason why we chose HGH. She was AMAZING for putting up with us, and all of my husband’s questions for the entire year of the wedding planning process. She responded very quickly, professionally, and was very helpful!

If you decide to go with the Horton, consider using their ballroom for reception/dancing. We were going to use the quart yard, but it was going to rain that evening, and moved to the ballroom which we thought was even a better option for our 130 guests. We absolutely loved our ceremony at the quart yard. It’s a hidden gem in downtown Gaslamp Quarter San Diego. Our guests loved the fact that everything was in one location (ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, and even accommodations) all in one property. In addition, everything was walkable for our out of town guests who are excited to be in San Diego, with a very good room rates.

The food was great!! I recommend the prime rib and lemon chicken. One of our guests was super impressed with HGH’s chef because she’s allergic to onions, so the chef accommodated our guest’s needs.

My husband and I are absolutely going to miss Jennifer! We cannot be more pleased with how our wedding went. Jennifer and HGH will always have a place in our hearts!

When looking for our wedding venue we knew we wanted something unique but beautiful. We spent months look at boring venues, expensive venues, parks, wineries, you name it but nothing came close to our visit at Horton Grand Hotel. The architecture and the feel of this hotel is breath taking. We were beyond happy with the outcome. Our event coordinator Jennifer Nauta was so helpful and sweet. She helped craft our wedding into something out of a magazine. I can't say enough nice things about her. Our guests are STILL raving about the beauty of the venue and the hospitality of the staff. As I begin to post pictures on social media every day I get messages from people I don't know asking what the location was. You will not be disappointed in choosing The Horton Grand Hotel!

Jennifer at the Horton Grand Hotel has been an incredible asset throughout our wedding planning process. I cannot fathom the number of questions she answered, issues she handled, and nerves she calmed throughout our early planning stages to the event itself. The venue is absolutely gorgeous, and the staff do such an amazing job of making everyone feel welcomed and helped. Being from Chicago, most of our family and friends were from out-of-town, so having everyone in one place was helpful and all our of guests greatly enjoyed their accommodations. Also, people were raving about the food all night long! Our wedding was a dream, and that is at least 80% because of the Horton Grand Hotel. I highly recommend them!

This venue is absolutely perfect for a beautiful wedding in a beautiful setting! The staff was professional, prompt and responsive to all our needs! Jennifer is organized and can provide creative options whenever needed! They made our small weekday wedding intimate and beautiful! We couldn’t have asked for more!

We had our wedding reception at the Horton Grand after a beach wedding at Imperial Beach. Jennifer and her team did an amazing job preparing the perfect event for us. It was supposed to rain the night of our wedding, so Jennifer put a plan b into place and gave us a tour of the interior ballrooms. We ended up using the courtyard for dancing and the ballroom off the courtyard for dinner, which worked really well. Jennifer was really responsive and flexible to our requests for the wedding. The chef created an entirely gluten free menu, and even checked on us a couple times during dinner to make sure everything was perfect. I would highly recommend the Horton Grand!

This venue was amazing I work for the CW San Diego and we just threw one of our events here for the premier of charmed! And Jennifer and her entire staff was amazing and so accommodating! Can't wait to throw another event here

We had our wedding in the courtyard of the Horton Grand Hotel on 9.15.2018, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. The first couple of venues we looked at had terrible service, with contacts being unresponsive or completely gauging prices just because it was a wedding—one place wanted to charge us to use barn tables they already had, and when we asked where they’d be if we didn’t pay for them, they told us not to worry and that they’d lock them in a shed “so they won’t be in sight.” Then we visited the Horton Grand, which is beautiful and classic, with a real vintage feel, and Jennifer was so responsive, upfront, and flexible. We felt like humans instead of a wallet. The prices were the best we found from all the venues, and with much more included. Jennifer was able to customize the quote, too, so we were able to make sure everything was how we’d envisioned on the big day.

Throughout the entire planning process, Jennifer responded to all our emails so quickly and helped make all the things we wanted for our wedding happen. She had suggestions for vendors, recommendations for who we should contact if we didn’t know where to find something (we wanted a hedge wall for the alley during cocktail hour and she knew right where to send us), and solutions for any decoration/setup issues we ran into. She even did two walkthroughs with us because we scheduled our first one too early, before we had a wedding planner.

The day of the wedding was seamless, the staff was wonderful, and our guests can’t stop raving about how good the food was. There are also so many great places to take pictures at the venue because it’s such a historic hotel. It’s classically romantic. I honestly wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you to Jennifer and the rest of the Horton Grand staff for making our wedding day absolutely wonderful!

Worked with Jennifer and she was wonderful! We had our party in the courtyard and it was amazing! Such a quaint and beautiful hotel in the center of everything!!! Any event would shine here!

I had my birthday party at the Horton Grand in November, it was simply stunning. The hotel possesses it own charm to it. The overall theme of the hotel greatly complimented my masquerade themed party. Front desk clerks are nice and welcoming. The rooms are cute and clean. The Horton Grand is also in a nice location as it is quite in the Gaslamp of San Diego. Would definitely recommend for any event or even a stay at the hotel.

We had our wedding and reception at the Horton Grand Hotel in September 2016. After doing a lot of research, meetings, and comparisons— our families both felt like the Horton Grand offered a reasonable price for one of the most exceptional venues in San Diego.

I was looking for a place that was filled with character and history, while my husband wanted an outdoor space that took advantage of San Diego’s awesome weather. We certainly found both in the Horton Grand. The atrium, courtyard, alley, Ida Bailey restaurant, and Palace Bar provided exceptionally beautiful backdrops to all of our wedding festivities, while also providing a sense of intimacy. Many of our guests raved about the space and how they had never been to a wedding venue quite like it. We could not be happier that we chose the Horton Grand Hotel as our wedding venue.

Jennifer Nauta was our point of contact through out the planning process and was extremely helpful. She was willing to accommodate special requests, share her recommendations, and generally worked very hard to make sure everything ran smoothly.

We would highly recommend the Horton Grand Hotel.

The grand was amazing!! The staff was great. Everyone that works there cater to all my needs!!!

We had our wedding at the Horton Grand Hotel in June and it was perfect! Jennifer and her team were great to work with and made our day so special! The Horton Grand Hotel was the BEST venue for our elegant, rustic, romantic wedding, with the perfect blend of history and charm! All of our guests continue to rave about the uniqueness of the venue space and how perfect it was all around! We love that the space offers the downtown experience for guests, but offers its own character and funkiness! The courtyard is breathtaking and not like anything else you would find in downtown San Diego! It was also great to be able to use the Salt & Whiskey bar for pictures and the after party. The pricing for guests to stay during our wedding weekend was very affordable too, as it is right in the middle of the Gaslamp district. I would definitely recommend looking into this unique venue for your wedding or next big event!! You will not be disappointed!

This review is for Jennifer Nauta at the Horton Grand, we absolutely loved working with her for our big day. The Horton Grand is the perfect spot for an intimate gathering, where you can have a beautiful wedding under the trees and still party after dinner. We really could not have been more grateful to have worked with Jennifer, she was extremely professional, caring, and flexible. We were also in contact with Jenny M, but did not feel nearly as comfortable with her professionalism or personality, we were able to request to continue working with Jennifer N. which made the situation a lot better. Also, the only downside to this venue is the bar pricing for your guests. We worked around it with Jennifer by bringing in our own wine and ordered a keg through their bar but compared to other venues and catering companies their alcohol/bar was definitely pricier. Besides that, everything else is fairly reasonably priced for the location and quality. All of our guests raved about the venue and couldn't believe it was in the middle of the Gaslamp Quarter! Jennifer, we really could not have had a better day without you and Jacky too! Overall this is a beautiful place and you won't regret chosing this as your venue for such an important and special day!

The Horton Grand Hotel came through for us with flying colors! We put our trust in Jennifer Nauta and the hotel and it was worth it. The venue was beautiful, the food was delicious, as noted by all our guests, as was the service. They were sympathetic and flexible to all our concerns right up to the end. Great venue, great value, but more importantly, great wedding!

Let me start by saying, Jennifer is the best. She made the most stressful day of my life, way less stressful. We found this venue in late November, fir an August wedding. She gave me all the information I asked for and then some. We emailed constantly and had two walk throughs, including a tasting. Jennifer went above and beyond, she even had a drink waiting for me when we came down the aisle. The venue was absolutely beautiful, the entire staff was attentive and helpful. Downsides: buffet was a little pricey, valet was mandatory. Overall, I’ll always recommend HGH!

The Horton Grand was a beautiful venue to have a urban, rustic, New Orleans style wedding. The options of space to use from the courtyard, alley, and both ballrooms were great have available for wedding. The Hotel staff was very helpful and professional, it made the special requirements easy to request. We were especially satisfied with Hotel Manager Jennifer. Without having a hired wedding coordinator, it felt as if Jennifer was one and couldn’t be any happier. Overall, the Horton Grand is special place to have your wedding!

They were extremely accommodating and helpful. The day turned out beautifully without me having to stress too much about it. You do have to use their food but it was so delicious! So glad we got married here

This venue is STUNNING. I knew from the moment I walked in that this was the place for us. We worked with Jennifer and she was amazing and very attentive. Initially, there weren't any packages that fit our budget and they were very quick to customize a package for us. I don't feel like we compromised on anything in our package and it fit perfectly into our budget which was a very important factor for us.

Our wedding size was ~75 and the Horton Grand held our party perfectly. The ceremony space was intimate and beautiful, our guests loved the alley way for our cocktail hour, and the courtyard was the perfect setting for our reception. It comfortably held nine tables and a sweetheart with plenty of room for dancing and desserts. Dinner and appetizers were very good and the staff was very careful to cater to various food allergies that we had. I am still hearing rave reviews from our family and friends on the venue, most of them actually stayed at the hotel because our wedding was a destination and they all enjoyed their stay very much. I would recommend the Horton Grand to anyone with a wedding around our size in a heartbeat. Huge thank you to Jennifer, the staff, and everyone else that served us at the Horton Grand!

The Horton was a fantastic venue for our wedding! They were on top of everything they needed to do, and the coordinator, Jennifer was fantastic and was easy to get in touch with. They made our wedding day run very smoothly!

To start off, this hotel is incredibly beautiful. If you're interested in a gorgeous historic Victorian feel, a New Orleans style courtyard, or a stately restaurant with button leather booths, this hotel has all of those and the look and atmosphere of the venue did not disappoint! I had my wedding on September 21st - we had the ceremony in Balboa Park, then cocktail hour and the reception dinner in the Horton Grand's courtyard. We had quite a few out-of-town guests, so it was a great affordable hotel location for them to stay at and enjoy the Gaslamp Quarter as well as other fun tourist locations nearby. For the reception I worked with Behind the Scenes (BTS), the company that the Horton uses for their events. BTS has the event managers, chefs, and servers that you'll coordinate with for the event. Planning with them went smoothly over the months leading up to the event and they were very good about making sure every question was answered and no detail was overlooked. I was happy with their flexibility for food options because they were willing to adjust any foods I wanted, including having all vegan options for some guests. The only cons were that the highest-level alcohol option (the full house bar) had a pretty basic selection and the alcohol itself was very weak, though that may have been a blessing in disguise, haha. Unfortunately the Salt & Whiskey bar inside the hotel, which we had been told would be open to guests who wanted to buy their own drinks with more options, was closed during the event due to staff shortages. The other con was that BTS' decor options were pretty limited, so I opted to DIY the vast majority of my decorations - unfortunately BTS won't set up anything you rent or bring that isn't theirs, for liability reasons. I was very fortunate to have a sister who is an event manager with a small team of friends and family who were willing to set up all the decor and florals. I was warned that the speaker system in the courtyard is old and not good quality, so instead of getting a DJ we opted to get two portable Bluetooth speakers and dual pair them to my phone, then play a wedding Spotify playlist my fiancé and I made beforehand, which worked out great! In the end, with the gorgeous whimsical lighting I got from SD SocialLights, the courtyard turned out absolutely magical! I was very happy with the courtyard space - even for a small wedding of less than 30 people, it didn't feel overly spacious with our table and lounge setup. BTS was very accommodating about how I wanted to layout the space, letting me decide the exact tables/chairs/belly bars/lounges layout I planned. The servers coordinated with my sister so the food and cake was served in a timely manner. Overall the event was beautiful, and went off without a hitch. All the guests raved about how gorgeous the hotel was, and they loved the historic feel to it. The hotel's various pretty rooms also made for a great place to take the First Look photoshoot. For the value of what you're getting, the Horton Grand Hotel offers the whole package at an affordable price, and is an excellent option for anyone wanting their wedding in San Diego!

Horton Grand was absolutely beautiful for our ceremony and reception. We had an evening ceremony in the courtyard with the twinkling lights, followed by cocktails in the bar and our dinner/reception in their quaint restaurant. Many of our guests decided to stay there for the night, which was very convenient. The wedding coordinator/manager was very flexible in working with us since we wanted to do different things for our wedding than is typical for their wedding package. We were allowed to use their restaurant instead of their banquet halls, and that created an entirely different ambiance for our wedding! The main challenge was getting in contact quickly via email or phone (but that was entirely pre-wedding). The actual wedding was perfect! Oh, and the food was ah-mazing! Perfect!

The initial responsiveness was less than stellar, but the beauty of the space, professionalism the day of, taste of the food, and quality of the drinks well made up for it. I would highly recommend using the Horton Grand Hotel for your wedding. A great value in San Diego.

The Horton courtyard was a beautiful spot for a wedding, location in downtown San Diego is great as well. Unfortunately, many of the people now running rooms and events for the hotel were nothing but difficult to deal with and created unnecessary headaches throughout our planning process and the night of our wedding.

It honestly felt like the Horton really didn’t care we were having a wedding there, were bringing in a lot of guests, etc. Ever since Jennifer, our previous contact left, they made things difficult every step of the way.

While all of our other vendors went our of their way to be nice and make our day special, the Horton almost did the opposite. They didn’t do anything special for our wedding suite (I feel like it’s a pretty basic thing when someone is getting married at your hotel?), and some of the people there were just flat out rude to both us and our guests. We know everyone is short staffed right now and many people are new, but we had been planning this for so long and spent so much money on this night, so we expected better.

Here are some of the specific the issues we ran into so others are aware:

- We paid for an open bar but around 8 / 8:30 the bar had run out of beer, tequila and whiskey. Our guests then had to purchase their own drinks at the Salt & Whiskey bar for the remaining two hours which was pretty frustrating and embarrassing given we paid for an open bar. Apparently our third party vendor, Snake Oil, had raised concerns about the amount of alcohol that would be provided but said Horton and BTS (Horton’s catering and event management co) were adamant about the amount that would provided and would not provide additional.
- We were told many times the Salt & Whiskey hotel bar would stay open until at least 11 or potentially midnight depending on traffic to host a small after party (it’s one of the things that sold us on the venue). That night, they stopped serving alcohol at 9:30 despite us begging to stay open and offering additional money. To top it off the bar manager was extremely rude and smug about it.
- Our guests had a ton of issues with booking confirmations. Quite a few of our guests were told a week before they didn’t have a room for that Saturday (the day of our wedding) despite booking a year in advance. We tried to set up a call with the woman in charge of bookings, Tricia, to figure it out - no response.
- The valet scuffed/scratched one of my bridesmaids cars
- The Horton was overall really tough to work with on the room blocks and reserving balcony rooms. We had trouble extending our room block despite being told we’d be able to and would be notified when the blocks was filled, we were not notified.
- Beware - vendor load times are pretty unreasonable (1:30 before a 4:30 ceremony) and something our planner had to negotiate. It worked out, but unnecessary stress. What difference does it make if our florist arrives to start setting up at 11:30 am? it felt unreasonable for the sake of being unreasonable.

A few additional positives we want note though - the food, provided by BTS, was delicious and our guests raved about it. The servers the night of our wedding were also very attentive and polite. It’s too bad many of the others at the hotel are so unorganized and aloof, it’s a beautiful spot.

When we first looked at this venue fro our event we were WOWED! The courtyard is absolutely beautiful and our first meeting with Jennifer went perfect. Off to a great start - we gave precise details of what we wanted from the event and our expectations were so far from what we wanted or expected from this facility. A very simple event that involved an open Beer and Wine bar with a cocktail hour then a nice station dinner. We asked fro music and a projector. I have been in the entertainment business for over 20 years and this was the most horrific event I have ever been to. To start off, cocktail hour with appetizers was a tray of cheese and crackers on a table that was not even where cocktail hour was held. There was NO BAR!! I am not kidding - they just did not have a bar. They put beer in buckets on the tables in where dinner was being served. Oh it gets even better - - - to shorten this review. They ran out of food!! The displays were AWFUL! Tables were covered in leaves from the trees (which they did not tell me shed) The music system was crackling and they could not change the music off of some Spanish station and they had almost no control of the volume! The Screen was a pop up with cables running across the floor with a projector that wasn't even set-up. They didn’t butler the tables. SO much went wrong and they did absolutely NOTHING to help! Jennifer was not even there until 45 minutes into the event - There was no captain or anyone in charge! I had to go into the kitchen to find people to help! Food was AWFUL!!! SERVICE WAS TERRIBLE! All I got was $500 back from the over $5,000 I spent for NOTHING! AVOID THIS PLACE!! DO NOT BOOK ANYTHING HERE - PS - We tried several times after to resolve the situation and received very little support! Thank you Horton for ruining my event!