les p.
Yelp
This hotel is my favorite when needing to stay near Stanford. I've stayed there many times over the years. It's expensive, so I don't recommend it for anyone on a budget. But if you're willing to pay for accommodations that are almost 5-star then I think you'll be satisfied.
The good:
- Car charging stations and plenty of free convenient parking.
- Friendly helpful staff.
- Free candy and a glass of wine in the lobby.
- Free fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in the lobby at 9PM.
- Rooms are stocked daily with two water bottles and three snacks (usually chips, M&Ms, and a granola bar).
- Their food is good.
- No more room minibars, but fridges remain, which are good for keeping leftovers.
- Live music every night in the courtyard.
- Nice gym and pool.
- Other amenities as listed at their web site.
The bad (some old, some newly observed during my latest stay):
- Like more and more airlines and hotels, they play the "fee" game, and charge a daily $20 "amenity fee" instead of listing a higher room rate. Plus, the fee is taxable, so you're actually paying $22.40 a day above your room rate.
- Room service also hits you for a $3.50 "delivery charge" and 18% required "gratuity", so a $15 breakfast plate actually totals $22.91 after tax.
- The lobby restrooms have been "under renovation" for at least a couple of years.
- Free morning newspaper delivery to rooms has been discontinued. You can still pick up free papers, but for some reason they're on a table by the elevators in the north wing instead of in the lobby.
- Bathrooms no longer include scales. The floor's tile grout is way overdue for a scrubbing.
- The hotel is along the railroad on one side and El Camino along the other side, but rooms have dual windows separated by a gap of about 4", so traffic noise isn't a problem, but the gaps aren't cleaned of leaves and debris as frequently as they need to be.
- Our wing's ice machine had obvious mold, and is probably way overdue for a thorough cleaning.
- No microwaves.
- The lobby candy bowl of taffy had too many pieces oozing out of their wrappers, turning multiple pieces into stuck-together wads.
- The TVs don't include any on-screen guide of what's playing. Channels change slowly, so channel surfing takes forever.
- The front doors are classy but heavy. Doormen are often on duty, but when they aren't and you have a lot of luggage the door handicap buttons are necessary for opening/closing. The indoor egress button was reliable, but the outdoor ingress button was flakey and sometimes failed.
If they improve their checklists and catch the above, I would give them five stars.