Security Musings

Excellent Conference Hotels

SANS is always looking for the best in conference hotels - Stephen Northcutt describes some of them.

The Hyatt Manchester is my favorite San Diego conference hotel

Aug 8th, 2009
By Stephen Northcutt
If you are running a conference event in San Diego, and you do not need the downtown convention center, consider the Gas Lamp District and, in particular, the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel. It is big and luxurious, providing 1625 guest rooms and if you have any significant room pickup, you can arrange for your VIP to get a "presidential" suite. The food and beverage team at this property will work with you to give your guests a positive break experience within your budget. There are two restaurants on property, Sally's Seafood on the Water (my favorite) which is sort of an asian fusion, but nicely done. Laels is a bit more casual, good breakfast, lunch sandwich and decent supper menu. The Hyatt has a ton of meeting space and if you have a mega event, it is a very short walk to the San Diego conference center. have the best meeting room layout in the area and can accommodate a fairly large event; we have run 20 tracks. The hotel even has 125,000 sq. feet of meeting space with some huge ballrooms that can handle, over a hundred students hands on, two to a six foot table. If your meeting has a lot of transportation needs, no problem, they have a separate bus entrance on the far side. The SANS Institute has run over 20 events in the San Diego area since year 2000 and this is my favorite property. Here are the particulars:

• One Market Place, San Diego, California, USA 92101 , USA
• Phone: +1 619 232 1234

The Gas Lamp District, in general, is a good location for a conference. It is clean and safe, and both the Marriot and Hyatt conference hotels in the area remain booked. With either the Marriott or the Hyatt, you have markets, dry cleaners, tailors, wine and liquor shops, and plenty of restaurants. Both properties are right on the waterfront. Other San Diego conference hotels we have used include: Town and Country which has a resort feel and convention space, and the Sheraton Harbor Island, which is a bit isolated, but is very convenient from the airport and has great on property restaurants. They are all fantastic hotels, but the Hyatt Manchester is my favorite.


NOTE: The author has spent at least 8 days/year in a San Diego hotel property since year 2000 and receives no financial compensation of any kind from any of the properties.