I stayed at the hotel for a conference, so hotel choice wasn't there for me in this case. I arrived at the property and was greeted by a friendly staff. Room was clean, but the building is very old. The door to get into my room wing had a malfunctioning card reader, so that meant entering through another wing and walking to mine. See the other reviews about how big the hotel is. I notified the staff and they didn't get it fixed for the five days I was there. The beds were nice with great linen. Other things of note in the room were the beautiful granite coutner tops and renovated bathrooms. Downfalls of the room would have to be the 23" Phiilips TV from what looks like the early 90's that sits so far away from the bed it looks like a 13" TV. Even lesser hotels at this price point have decent TV's.
Shortcomings for the hotel would have to start with the lack of WiFi in the rooms. This is 2009 and I can get free Wifi anywhere from McDonalds to Motel 6, so a hotel at this pricepoint shoud definately include free wifi. The option is in the room for a DSL connection, but at the cost of $9.95 a day. I swallowed the ten dollar pill because work demanded it, and was angered to see the connection speed slower than what I remember dial-up internet being in the mid 90's. It was so slow it wouldn't even connect to one of my work webmail appications. Highspeed WiFi is available in the lobby and restaraunt for free, but like I said that is a six minute walk from my room and not the place I want to do buisiness. If you are going to charge for internet it should at least be high speed internet.
The builidng itself is very nice to look at from the outside, but the interior is just old. They have new carpet down which is attractive, but it just makes the place look like a nursing home with new carpet. Wrapping a ribbon on turd syndrome. The rooms have new paint, but you can see every patch job from holes in the walls and abuse it has taken over it's long career. It is simply an older hotel that needs total renovation, not just new paint, carpet and bedding. The furniture is in such poor repair the drawers of the dresser would come open on their own in the night and bang open, waking me up.
The fitness center cosisted of a couple old treadmills, two eliptical machines, and a rack of dumbells that only went up to fifty pounds. The front desk was more than happy to refer me to a 24 Hour Fitness center that would let me buy a pass for the day for $15 because they had an agreement with the hotel. Oddly, the daily rate at the gym was $15 even if you weren't staying at the hotel.
In todays day and age, hotels are standard with free breakfast of some sort and highspeed internet. One of the conference attendees was staying down the street at a Marriot hotel and his rate was thirty dollars a night cheaper. His room came with free WiFi and had a full breakfast available every morning. Instead I paid for slow internet and a breakfast buffet was available for $15. Unsat. I have stayed at lots of Doubletree hotels around the country and I would have to put this at the bottom. I almost felt as if the hotel had been sold to a private owner who was simply running the hotel under the Doubletree name, or should I say running it into the ground.
Just to end this on a positive note, the location of the Hotel is amazing. It is directly across the street from a fantastic mall and lots of great restaraunts. Adjacent to the California State Fairgrounds too if you are coming in the summer.
