The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows Reviews
Reviews
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![Michelle]()
Michelle Sent on 12/16/2021Say YES to the Lafayette!
We had the wedding of our dreams at our favorite San Diego landmark. From our first meeting with Lisa the INCREDIBLE wedding coordinator to our first day waking up married, we felt nothing but spoiled. (Let me also add that our wedding was exponentially more affordable than any other venue's events.)
The food was DELICIOUS. (The chef takes great pride in his work, and the presentation and flavors and textures are on point!) The staff were warm and friendly and so happy for us. The space was elegant. The Lafayette really succeeds in walking this line between being very cool and hip and also being extremely warm and friendly. Our friends and family stayed at the hotel and loved it. Our room was perfect, and we were spoiled with congratulations/surprises. I wish we could go back and do it again every year.... -
![Hannah]()
Hannah Sent on 02/02/2022Look no further
Our wedding at The Lafayette was magical. It’s a beautiful yet affordable venue. Our coordinator, Lisa is hands down the most amazing, professional, efficient & meticulous planner. Better yet, she is so personable & fun to be around. We feel extremely lucky to have found. Lisa who made our wedding so perfect. We had only a month to plan & Lisa executed the ceremony & lunch perfectly. We did not have to worry about anything because the moment we think about something, it's already taken care of. She also kept us on track throughout the planning process & also gave helpful opinions & suggestions.
Additionally, all of the staff were very attentive, helpful & welcoming.
We cannot be thankful enough for Lisa & the rest of the hotel staff. We would like for all the couples to have the greatest experience that we both had! -
![Dan]()
Dan G. Sent on 12/31/2021Amazing wedding venue!
We were so fortunate to have our wedding at The Lafayette!
Like many couples, we were affected by the pandemic. We had originally planned to have our wedding in 2020. We signed an agreement with the Lafayette in 2019. When the pandemic took over, we were forced to reschedule. We had to reschedule multiple times. The Lafayette worked with us the entire time. They stayed in contact with us the whole time.
We were fortunate to set a final date and got married!
The hotel was such a great space for all of our wedding wants and needs. The conservancy is a beautiful ceremony space. It’s very picturesque. The courtyard, where we had our cocktail hour, was set up nicely. The reception hall had ample space for our guests. The food was really tasty. The appetizers were tasty and plentiful along with the dinner buffet. Everyone had their fill of food and drinks. Lastly, the hotel offers several great spaces to take pictures. The hotel has great style.
The hotel accommodations were great! We loved our room. We had several guests stay at the hotel. We were able to book a block of rooms and saved our guests some money.
Lisa and the team at the Lafayette did such an amazing job! Lisa answered all of our questions. She was very prompt and responsive. We always felt that we were in good hands. The front desk staff, the hotel staff, the servers and to the event staff, treated us well. We couldn’t have asked for anything better!
Choosing the Lafayette for our wedding was a great choice! You should definitely consider them for your wedding. You won’t be disappointed! -
![Jill]()
Jill Sent on 10/20/2021Best Hotel and staff EVER!
Lafayette Staff Members are the absolute BEST!!! We cannot express how grateful we are for how welcoming each staff member throughout the hotel made us, our family, and friends feel so welcome and comfortable during our stay. It truly made it difficult to say goodbye.
Shoutouts to Lisa Kanemori, Mialani, Joseph Taumua, Krystal, Kane, Cass, Shirley, Ed and the entire support staff working this past weekend.
We met with Lisa back in July 2019 to make wedding/reception arrangements at the hotel which was originally set for October 2020. The new hotel owners were kind enough to allow us to postpone for a year due to the pandemic. It has been an unexpected 2 year process that Lisa made sure to keep in constant communication with us to ensure everything was to go as planned. She is very organized and extremely thorough leaving us with little to no questions during the entire experience. Lisa's knowledge of the wedding/reception process was crucial in making everything smooth and effortless.
Mialani was always a ray of sunshine whether it was via emails or in person.
Joseph's welcoming demeanor and kind words were like a warm hug.
Krystal was always more than willing to help out for anything we requested.
Cass made sure everything for our reception and ceremony was set up with professional perfection. Thank you for allowing our family and friends set up and access the room when needed.
Shirley (Aka Auntie Shirley) made sure my wife and I were well fed throughout the evening.
Hope 46 restaurant: Heather, Amy were always attentive. The food provided for our reception received a plethora of kudos from all of our guests. The Halibut Filet constantly received rave reviews. Oh and the beans at breakfast to die for! Our families wanted to take the entire pot home.
The hospitality the hotel staff extended to us and to all of our family and friends was above and beyond anything anyone of us have experienced anywhere else, including from other five star hotels.
Our family, friends, including me and my wife, will definitely be back!
Keep rocking' it! Truly appreciate all the love and care the Lafayette Hotel team extended to our family and friends. If it were up to us, raises for all who worked this weekend! -
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Camille Sent on 12/23/2020
Wedding and Baby Shower
We love Lafayette. We had our wedding here 2019. The team, venue, and food were amazing. The process was pretty easy and they’re super flexible. So much was included in their packages for the most part I feel like I just has to show up. 2020 we had our baby shower a month before the pandemic. Once again they work with our budget and allowed us the freedom to make the shower what we want. Lafayette will always have a special place in our heart. -
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Jeremy Sent on 10/10/2020
Brilliant kind and beautiful hotel & staff
Lisa and the entire staff at Lafayette made us feel at home. They are awesome people who were attentive and provided us the perfect experience -
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Jen P. Sent on 10/07/2020
We had a great overall experience. Lisa and Tawn Lee were extremely welcoming and helpful!
We got married here in September amidst the state’s strict COVID regulations which made it a bit different then we had planned but Lisa and Tawn Lee made sure to help us in any way possible so that our day would still turn out perfect! We were able to have a beautiful ceremony in the conservatory and it was nothing short of magical! After the ceremony we took the most beautiful photos in front of the hotel with the brick and pillars and it gave such a classic and romantic feel to our photos. -
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Molly Sent on 02/28/2020
Our wedding was perfect!
The Lafayette was the most beautiful and perfect venue we could have asked for. We didn't have a specific aesthetic laid out for our wedding, so when we found the Lafayette we loved the idea of building around the beautiful space. There's already so much personality within the walls of the hotel that it didn't need a ton of work from us! Lisa was amazing to work with during the almost 1.5 year planning process. She was quick to answer any questions and was always helpful in filling any request we had. As we got closer to the wedding we also worked with Gillian who was just as upbeat and hardworking! They both helped our wedding to run so smoothly. We took over multiple parts of the hotel for the wedding, cocktail hour, and reception, as well as many rooms for our guests. We got so many compliments from our friends and family staying there! Then the weekend of the wedding we used the complimentary wedding suite as our getting ready room and had a TON of space. Overall it made for a beautiful wedding we will never forget. -
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![Lindsay]()
Lindsay Sent on 12/13/2018Lafayette Hotel Fall Wedding
The hotel was beautiful with an old hollywood vibe! All of our guests loved relaxing at the pool area in the days leading up to the wedding. The Mississippi Ballroom was a perfect location for our reception. Plenty of room for our guests to move about and dance. Our sit down dinner food was tasty. We used the clamshell to display our wedding cake and groom’s cake. It was nice to have all of our guests in one spot since this was a destination wedding. My family rented a bungalow which was wonderful to have the space to store all the wedding decor and have a space for the groomsmen get ready in. We also rented the penthouse the night before the wedding for all of the girls to get ready in the morning of. It was great for pictures! And the food at the Hope 46 restaurant was delicious! We had our bridesmaids luncheon there the day before the wedding. Everything in one location was very convenient since we were from out of town. This was such a great place for a destination wedding! -
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![Tammy]()
Tammy Sent on 11/19/2018Threw our Welcome Party/Rehearsal Dinner and Day After Brunch at the Lafayette!
We worked with Kara Elkins to host our Welcome Party/Rehearsal Dinner the night before our San Diego Zoo wedding, as well as the Day After Brunch. Kara was responsive and easy to work with. We met in person for the initial tour, and then did everything by e-mail afterwards. She always offered to speak on the phone if I wanted as well.
For the Welcome Party we had the Old Town Buffet option and the food was great. In particular, the skirt steak was amazing, people kept going back for seconds and thirds. Service and bartenders were top notch as well. For example, my 12 year old cousin has a peanut allergy and asked if any of the desserts were safe for him to eat. One of the servers went to find out, but returned and told me she was unsure because the cakes were delivered from somewhere else. However, she asked the kitchen to make my cousin a dessert he could eat and brought it out to him! So nice and sweet and just going that extra mile.
We had the Sunrise Brunch Buffet on Sunday, which is traditional breakfast food but was delicious as well (perfectly crispy bacon!).
For both events we used the Conservatory area which is really pretty. They opened up the outdoor patio for us to use during the party which has a lovely view of the pool. It was easy and convenient to plan because set up, linens, chairs, tables, etc. are all included so we didn't have to worry about any of the extras. After choosing the food we basically showed up and had a wonderful time with all our guests.
We also rented the bridal get ready suite the day of the wedding to get makeup and hair done. It is well lit and has AC, as well as extra seating for us to hang out and have girl time (at one point we had the makeup artist + 2 assistants, me, 7 bridesmaids, and 2 moms in there). They also brought orange juice in for us (we could've had mimosas but declined as we'd all been drinking too much the night before, haha).
We stayed there for our wedding weekend as well, as did most of our out of town guests. We booked the larger suite for ourselves so the groomsmen could get ready there, and that worked out well. Our guests loved the hotel, it is historic and has an old timey boutique feel that is unique. Kara left us a card with some chocolate and wine when we got back after our wedding, that was a nice touch.
Overall, highly recommend the Lafayette, our wedding weekend went perfectly and all our guests had a wonderful experience. -
User179494 Sent on 04/01/2009This was the perfect spot for our event. Tina made sure that all our needs were met, and had no problem working with us on the menu so that we got exactly what we wanted and stilled stayed within our budget. Our guests enjoyed staying in the hotel, and it was fun meeting each other on the terrace for the complimentary breakfast tne next morning. For a unique and unforgettable experience, i highly recommend the Lafayette Hotel. -
![Lindsey]()
Lindsey Sent on 10/10/2019Perfect place for our wedding
This hotel is so amazing! They have the coolest decor and it’s all very retro which I love! It was the perfect spot for our small wedding of 50. I went back and forth with our event planner Kara via email mostly and she always got back to me, but sometimes it was a bit delayed (usually a few days later). She was fantastic and made sure everything was where it was supposed to be and that we got the wedding started on time. Me and my husband stayed at the hotel the night of our wedding and they upgraded us into one of the suites! It was soooo amazing! Also - we had a brunch reception and the food was freaking amazing!!! All our guests loved it and were so happy with the buffet options! Thank you Kara and Lafayette crew! -
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Daisy Sent on 09/14/2018Surprisingly my husband found this venue driving passed it one day!! From the moment we took the tour we knew this was the perfect place to have our wedding at. We booked in advance about a year out! For us it was very hip, very modern yet elegant and has history to it we found interesting and raved about it to our guests. The ambiance from front of the hotel, walking into it, to the pool area outside and banquet area where we had the reception was absolutely gorgeous and met our expectations! The space just fit our style and what we envisioned. We got married in summer of June 2018! The weather was a little overcast, warm but not summer hot. We had our wedding inside the Conservatory area which to be honest was just the slight disappointment, as during the ceremony the entire crowd and my bridal party were sweating bullets. Not sure if this was typical or the AC just was not working high enough that day. I pointed this out to my catering sales manager and she immediately worked with me in what I was asking to compensate for an important part of the wedding I wished went a lot better. Other than this I had not other issues.
For the reception we booked the Mississippi Ballroom which was more than enough space for the 80 people we invited. Very spacious with an upper level where we did buffet style dinner vs. sit down. I had my photobooth and cake area set in the same space and it was not an issue. Even had enough room to setup small cocktail tables and their small white couch for guests to lounge. THE FOOD SELECTION WE CHOSE WAS NOT A DISAPPOINTMENT!!!! Our guest could not stop saying how delicious it was and how they went for another round. I couldn't have been more happy! The entire staff did a fantastic job and the customer service was beyond my expectation. They definitely will work with you and are flexible to ensure that you have the best wedding day ever!!!!!
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![JStopsCrespo]()
Jennifer Sent on 12/01/2016Overall we had a really great experience with the Lafayette!
It's such a gorgeous venue and the value of using their space and catering (the food was absolutely incredible btw!) made it an easy choice for us when we were shopping around. There's so much personality!
Overall we had decent communication, but a few little flubs and instances where we really had to follow up with the staff- since we had both Nick & Taylor helping I think there were a few gaps in communication but ultimately it got sorted.
We also had some issues with some of our guests who had reserved rooms on our room blocks- one of which wound up having to get switched to a hotel a mile or two away. They comped the room, so from a customer service aspect at least they made amends, but it seemed like in general there were some issues with organization... I think perhaps this is a venue that is growing and still getting its legs underneath it (perhaps not used to the scale of the bookings/events they've been receiving lately?)
But overall, I would definitely recommend (seriously, just the history and architecture... melt!), just make sure you are on top of your organization, get things in writing, and follow up to ensure things that need to get booked, noted, or handled are being taken care of. Our guests loved the venue and being able to stay the night at the hotel after the big party was done was a definite plus for them. No regrets on booking here <3 -
Madison Sent on 08/03/2018The Lafayette is a gorgeous, classic venue with an amazing location in central San Diego if you have lots of out of town guests staying for your wedding. We enjoyed the planning process, and loved our food tasting, multiple meetings with the hotel coordinators, however during our year between booking the hotel and our actual wedding date, we had a great experience up until about a month before our wedding. There was a large event happening at the hotel that we specifically asked in advanced to make sure our date was NOT on the same day of this event, and about 3 weeks before our wedding I found out via social media that this event was, in fact, happening on our wedding day. The hotel ended up covering a couple items from our overall tab, however I never felt like in the end anyone took ownership for the oversight on their part. There were also several changes in staff within the 1-2 months before our wedding, so both of our points of contact ended up leaving their positions at the hotel. Overall, we enjoyed our wedding at The Lafayette, but there was a lot of added stress and worry from these changes.
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