Jamul Casino Resort raises the bar with a new luxury hotel experience

Jamul Casino has a new last name: Resort. It’s been ten years since the gaming destination opened under the Hollywood brand. Now with new upscale lodgings, Jamul Casino Resort moves up in the ranks with almost all the other tribal gaming properties in the San Diego County region.

I’ve made day trips to Jamul since the casino opened a poker room in 2019. It’s a 30-minute drive from downtown San Diego. Spa aficionados may have passed the property on Campo Road (SR 94) if they drove toward the Mexico border within the past decade to visit Rancho La Puerta.

Now, all of us — the gamers, life’s high-rollers, and those curious about the latest high-end hospitality offerings — can stop into Jamul Casino Resort and spend a night, or a few, in pure luxury.

The 16-story, 200-room tower opened in August. Everything in the hotel is high-end. There’s a full-service spa. The rooftop Starlight Pool offers panoramic views. Smart rooms are equipped with Alexa-powered technology. An elevated buffet restaurant does lobster-dominant seafood spreads twice a day. There’s even a “secret” Roaring ’20s-themed speakeasy called Fly Room. For me, a quasi-regular for poker tournaments in the adjacent casino building, the addition of a resort shines an entirely new light on the property. 

My wife and I spend two nights in an 870-square-foot Mountain View Suite. The room’s floor-to-ceiling window views are inspirational and unspoiled. The surrounding scenery includes the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve. It’s protected land that can’t be developed. The suite’s color palette mirrors the earthy tones and warm neutrals on display in the reserve. 

Concurrently, AI technology coexists in-room with Alexa voice commands. During our stay, when we ask “her” to turn off the light or turn on the flatscreen TV, Alexa’s success rate is high-percentage. In-room bonus: There’s a TV over the bathtub. I soak while watching the compelling in-house mini-doc about Jamul tribal history. It’s a must-see.

One of the first things we do after a late afternoon arrival is get seated in the new, airy Jamul 23 buffet, which also has floor-to-ceiling windows. One of life’s traveling joys is the post-pandemic return of self-serve buffets. Jamul 23 does a premium World-Famous Lobster Brunch and a VVIP Endless Dinner Experience Featuring Surf & Turf. After making the rounds, I find myself sitting at a table and marveling at my plate. Two kinds of lobster tails (fried and butter-broiled), jumbo prawns, scallops on the half shell, baked mussels. My wife indulges in server-carved smoked salmon. At the end, somehow, there’s room for ramekins of crème brûlée.

A new day brings a fresh start and our first morning is spent atop the resort at the 11,000-square-foot Starlight Pool. Panoramic views and a private cabana ease me into a state of reflection. My wife listens patiently while I recall my “bad beat” poker stories from last night. What she really wants to do, though, is scan the pool menu. That’s actually a much better idea than recalling how my aces got cracked. I go for a trio of Ahi Sliders and a side of hearty Sidewinder Fries. My wife orders the Mediterranean Platter. It arrives at the cabana on a two-foot-diameter wood board filled with mixed vegetables, baba ghanoush, hummus, toast points, pita bread, mixed nuts, crackers, and the biggest bowl of cornichons you’ve ever been served. 

The pool day is split in half by a visit to the Jamul Spa. The facility offers a wide range of massage, body, and facial treatments, as well as manicure and pedicure service. There’s also a barbershop setting for men for facial hair shaves. My wife and I get kneaded into a state of Zen via signature Swedish massages (which stack up with any we’ve received over the years). Spa bonus 1: Pre-treatment, my masseuse puts my robe in a warmer. Afterward, it’s a cozy cocoon. Spa bonus 2: Fresh-baked brownies in the relaxation room. After I casually comment to a staffer how delicious these apple/ginger snacks are, she wraps a half dozen of them for me to go.       

This is a good time to mention the friendly, unpretentious team members working at the resort. Front desk, bellmen, security — everyone. You might chalk up the welcoming spirit to the property being new, but it’s obvious the staff is being trained to high-end standards. I was half expecting to run into Fantasy Island’s Mr. Roarke directing, “Smiles everyone, smiles!”

For breakfast on our last morning, my wife and I head back to the spa. No, not for a get-away treatment. We want to try out the spa’s Juice & Coffee Bar. There are a surprising number of options. You can order coffee, tea, smoothies, mimosas, or Bloody Marys. Spa bites include more than a dozen options, such as Fancy Shrimp Cocktail, Charcuterie, and a J23
Wagyu Burger. 

I’ll dare mention the New York Style Cheesecake, but, no, we’re back here at the spa for breakfast smoothies. The Banana-Berry Anti-Inflammatory mixes up blueberries, strawberry, banana, turmeric, milk, pomegranate juice, and vanilla plant protein — yum! Before we leave the spa, the spa receptionist recalls we’d been in yesterday. She disappears and returns with more brownies wrapped for us to go.

Smoothies (and brownies) in hand, we take a last tour of the casino. It’s a no-play goodbye spin around the poker room, table games, and slot machines. We revisit Loft 94, where we had sushi on the patio with a view of the front lawn; Emerald Chinese Cuisine, which does excellent takeout and dine-in dishes; and Tony Gwynn’s Sports Pub, which honors Mr. Padre with an impressive collection of his memorabilia.

Jamul Casino Resort is a hit. Put it in your lineup of new, impressive prospects to discover. jamulcasino.com