It may have taken a quarter century to develop Oceanside’s luxury waterfront hotel, but it appears the efforts have paid off: When it opened three years ago, the Mission Pacific Beach Resort was voted the No. 1 resort in the continental United States by readers of Travel & Leisure magazine.
The seven-story, 161-room hotel, which features an on-site Michelin-starred restaurant, was also named the best resort in California. The hotel beat out many long-standing establishments, including Rancho Valencia in Rancho Santa Fe, which frequently ranks highly in national rankings. The hotel ranked 11th in this year’s readers’ survey of the best resorts in the United States, but was ranked 4th in 2021.
“I think it took everybody completely by surprise,” Mission Pacific Beach Resort regional managing director Tim Obert said of Tuesday’s announcement, who also manages the hotel’s sister property, Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa, which ranked 14th.
“The people who voted for us are our guests. They are well-traveled and experienced. They know what great looks like, so we’re honored that they took the time to vote for us. We knew we wanted to score well, but none of us expected to get first place.”
“Best resort in the continental U.S. overlooks an underrated California beach and features a Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant,” read the headline in Travel + Leisure magazine’s top resort rankings.
Located on N. Myers Street, the resort describes itself as “never needing to leave to have fun, as it’s home to both a Michelin-starred restaurant (Valle serving up delicious Mexican fare) and a rooftop bar serving up craft cocktails perfect for sunset.”
The resort also includes the “Top Gun” House, a 19th century Victorian cottage featured in the original 1986 “Top Gun” film, the hotel noted.
Mission Pacific Beach also made it into Travel + Leisure magazine’s Top 100 Hotels in the World for 2024, ranking it at No. 11. The only California hotel ranked higher is Pendry Newport Beach.
Each year, Travel + Leisure asks readers to comment on their travel experiences – not just hotels and resorts, but also cities, cruise ships, airlines and other hospitality sectors – to compile its list of top resorts. More than 186,000 readers responded to the 2024 survey, with more than 700,000 votes cast across all categories, according to the magazine.
Hotels were specifically rated based on criteria such as rooms and facilities, location, service, food and value.
The two sister resorts in Oceanside have had a difficult history as the city tried to lure resorts to their waterfront location beginning in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the city began inviting developers to the two-block site bisected by the western end of Mission Avenue and bounded by Pacific and Myers streets, Pier View Way and Seagaze Drive.
In 2005, the City of Oceanside selected SD Malkin Properties from three finalists. It was the City of Oceanside’s fourth attempt in 25 years to build a luxury hotel at the site. Construction on the project finally broke ground in 2019.
“When we opened in May 2021, it was during COVID and it was a challenging time to open a hotel,” Obert said. “We started off slowly, but now we’ve got our footing and are very competitive in the market. Our occupancy rate for the year is 67-70%, but this year it will be closer to the low 70% range. Like other resorts through the summer and Labor Day, our occupancy rates are well above 80%.”
“Our owners continue to reinvest in their properties on a regular basis. They have experience in luxury retail and continue to reinvent their offerings to keep them fresh and relevant.”
