Residence Inn Palo Alto Los Altos

Worst hotel in town, dirty carpets and sink, surly help. Skip this place, I will not be back.

Room I booked was really nice and spacious. Really clean. It’s a bit pricy but there was a full sized bed with a large living room area with a sectional. The sectional was also a pullout sleeper. There was also a full kitchen!

Have stayed in many Residence Inn facilities (as well as Courtyard, J. W…) all over USA and must say this one is not so great. Paper thin walls, you can literally hear everything. We stayed on 2^nd floor of the 3-​story main building and the people upstairs were so noisy it was impossible to sleep (weird how parents with young kids feel there is no need to control unruly kids running/​screaming full throttle at MIDNIGHT when they should OBVIOUSLY be fully aware there are other guests directly below/​around them!!!). We could hear LITERALLY every move of the cleaning staff too. Food was decent and coffee excellent, but if you can’t sleep what is the point? Also, rooms are showing much wear and tear, sheets on pull out bed were torn, and carpet looked dirty and icky. Expect MORE from ANY Marriott facility, period. We will NEVER stay at this location again.

JoJo, who works the front desk, has made our visit terrific. She has great energy, super courteous and focused on customers first. Thank you!

They try hard to make Marriott elite guests feel special. The staff is really great and they take good care of you. Currently they are under construction and it can be a bit loud, but I definitely recommend staying here.

meh. i’d give it 2.5 stars i guess. i’m a marriott rewards member b/​c i like that i can usually rely on a certain standard with them. this property did not meet that standard.
rooms & furniture could use some updating/​upgrading to match the price-​tag to stay in this property. beds were very comfortable, but everything else was sub par. the area is fine, but there are better places of comparable brand to stay in the vicinity for the same price or less.
cleaning staff was hit or miss — literally. some days they’d come and other days completely skip the room. the rest of the hotel’s staff was nice enough. grounds/​landscape clean & in good condition. not enough parking, but at least it’s free. breakfast is usual «breakfast included» fare of eggs, greasy breakfast meats, hot cereal (oatmeal, cream of wheat, similar) & assorted dry cereals, OJ, coffe/​tea, toast/​muffins/​bagels/​pastries, etc.
basically this property is quiet, safe, and relatively comfortable. it’s not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. but it’s definitely not great either. i grew up in the area… and if i’m going to pay to stay somewhere when i go home for visits rather than stay with friends/​family, i’d want better than this.

This hotel was a terrible experience. I had a confirmed room and when I showed up they had given my room away. They were sorry (didn’t help me) and put me up across street in the Aria (a 2-​star hotel at best). Be very aware that a confirmation number doesn’t mean you have a room here!!!

Stayed here on business. Rooms spacious, clean, nice kitchen area. Pics posted by Tim K looked like same room I was in. Overall decent stay. Paid $ 300 a night. I guess on par with area. Breakfast was good. My only complaint was that I was on 3^rd floor of one building and I went to every vending machine on each floor and couldn’t buy a soda, all sold outa. Ended up finding one in the main building across the parking lot. Also the 3^rd floor vending area had a terrible smell in that area the whole stay.
Nice looking place that is near many shops and restaurants.

(2.5 stars) We have stayed here several times. It used to be quite nice. The rooms are clean. The breakfasts are good compared to other places we have stayed except for No orange juice, greasy bacon and greasy tater tots on this trip. Tater tots!!! REALLY!!!. Staff are friendly and usually helpful. Some of the staff in the breakfast room don’t understand English.
This location has changed the room décor within the last year. Their website still shows the old furniture. Instead of being homey and comfortable it is now sterile and office like. The furniture looks like something bought at K Mart and glued together. One light fixture is missing. No coffee table, to put your feet up after a long day, but a white TV tray, a «C» table, sits in front of a 1950’s style couch which the covering is already stretched and wrinkling. Why do you need a couch that seats 5 – 6 in a room for two people? The long work station covers the balcony door, so if you want to open or close the privacy curtain or the door itself, you have to squeeze behind the work station. If you aren’t thin good luck. The legs on the office chair protrude into the traffic pattern to and from the couch. We both stubbed our toes on the chair more than once. If someone is working at the work station you can only see the TV from the right half of the couch. If you have back problems you won’t appreciate the now too soft mattress. The headboard over the bed is almost identical to a Holiday Inn Express we stayed at recently. There is a table lamp that blocks the thermostat. When the lamp is on it heats up the thermostat and the A/​C runs excessively. Over all the suite looks much smaller and no longer worth the price.
This may sound like nit-​picking but none of these furniture problems existed a year ago. We talked to General Manager Evelyn. She apologized profusely. The bottom line is that they are a franchise and had to do what was dictated by Marriott corporate. Evelyn suspected Marriott used the exact same furniture in all rooms not realizing that all rooms are not physically the same. Note to Marriott: One size DOES NOT fit all.

The staff here is great and it is located close to food and shopping. I’ve stayed here many times and you get what you pay for. I’ve stayed at other motels close by when there is no availability here, but I always try to stay here :-)

The room was huge. The bed was comfortable. The water pressure was superb. We did not make use of most of the amenities– the pool, gym, kitchen, popcorn, social activities, and grocery list purchase service. Finding HBO as a standard channel on the tv was a wonderful surprise. If I were having a wedding in the area, I would definitely recommend this place as a pleasant affordable option.

This is nasty also. Computers don’t work and the gym SUKS.

Great Marriott Residence Inn! The grounds are beautiful. Tucked away behind another large building so not directly on the road. Nice pool, fire pit, and hot tub. They have a large mall of grass that leads back to a sport court and some cute small gardens. Free parking, and the rooms are great. They have all the appliances you could ask for and was definitely was impressed. Oh and did I mention FREE breakfast and WI-​FI !

I am surprised to see this place has only averaged 2.5 stars. We find it to be a great location when taking our mom to Stanford for medical treatment. Lots of restaurants in the area including great Vietnamese a few doors down. Plus the prices are very reasonable compared to other hotels in the area. Service good, breakfast good, nice pool, nice grass area, lots of parking, rooms are clean/​modern, and all in all this is a great place!

Don’t bother with this glorified, roadside motel. Shabby rooms that face a parking lot like you find in motels that are much less expensive for what you get. The photos don’t show these parts of the hotel.

A solid Residence Inn in a good location. Comfortable rooms. Bed was very hard, but that’s actually okay for me.
Only one BIG problem: I’m on a low-​carb diet so I really count on getting a high protein breakfast at Residence Inn. That means eggs, right? Well, the artificial liquid egg product they use at this place creates a «scrambled egg» substance that’s grainy and disgusting. Come on, I expect better from a Marriott brand. How about some nice chilled hard-​boiled eggs? That would be fine.

This place can easily be missed as their is only one driveway on the side of a business building.
The interior corridors were clean but somewhat warm and humid like. The staff were very nice and always greeted with a hello.
The hot breakfast buffet was a treat. They had 3 juices, milk, coffee, hot cocoa packets, tea bags, fresh whole fruit, hot oatmeal with variety of toppings, array of breads, muffins, danishes, yogurt, parfait, fresh cut fruit, then came trays of scrambled eggs, sausage patties, a potato side and a bread type dish (French toast, biscuits/​gravy) and then a make your own waffle station with condiments and lastly a cereal bar are. Saw many guests enjoy the breakfast with a few trips. Some also grabbed a tray and brought breakfast back to the room. They also have a mini-​mini snack area for purchase in the lobby. But found it strange there was beer in there.
We stayed during a hot spell in the bay area, so just the AC alone was a treat and the room was clean, the kitchenettes area and fridge were clean, comes with dishes, utensils, bowls, pots, rags, soap, etc. We walked in and the AC was already on. YAY
A negative thing is the hard candy in the candy jar was old. It melted to the wrapper and i assume previous guests left some unwrapped ones in the jar… YUCK.
The vanity area also did not have glasses for tooth brushing needs. I suppose we are to grab glasses from the kitchen. Complimentary bath soaps were nit sudsy and thin like.
Also, no view of scenery. You are behind a business building on a very busy main thoroughfare (El camino real)

There are better places to stay in the area.
But if you are looking for extended stay, extra space, kitchen, etc — this will do the trick.
Breakfast is nice ever morning but don’t expect to find much for the health conscious.
The gym I found to be small (but what I would expect) with all the necessary basics. Always full so ask the front desk for an outside trail.
The shampoo/​soap products are very nice. I was impressed with the quality.
Pool area was nice and I wish I was there for a bbq since the hotel has a beautiful grill that I would love to use.

Not the easiest place to find and the parking is underground. There are many rooms which makes it like a maze… it took awhile to get to my room. The rooms are decent and styled well. The staff was helpful. A bit on the pricey side for it’s akward location. I don’t think I will be returning.

While I like the other nearby Residence Inn better (the Mountain View location), this one is ok. The Mountain View location has direct entry to units from outside (more california style); this location is more like a standard apartment building.
The location is a bit awkward — the hotel is actually behind the old abandoned Rambus building and not obvious to find at first. Because of this, they had to do underground parking, which isn’t ideal (takes a little longer than it should to get from your car to your suite)
One annoyance here was mentioned by another reviewer — cable selection is crap (and no HD even though the TVs can handle it). Also, their card readers are annoying as hell. The slots are really narrow and seem unreliable — you end up having to slide them multiple times for them to work. Not a big deal for short stays, but this gets annoying after days and days.

I’m the first to review it as a resident. We were relocated to this area, so stayed there for 6 weeks, yes, 6 weeks!
Overall, great place to stay, especially for extended visits.
We loved it. Let me break it down:
+ The people who work there were all super friendly. Friendly to us, friendly to our kids, friendly to our dogs!
+ The breakfast is very nice. you get tired of it, but there’s plenty close-​by for when you want a break (e.g. Peets, Good Morning)
+ The dinner happy hour is great. A beer and some snacks are real nice. it was better for the kids, but no complaints here
+ The pool is heated and very nice. our kids loved it
+ The sport court is great — i loved that!
+ underground parking is convenient and safe
+ the internet is fast and works great
+ they have a bbq for all to use! we used it often.
+ the housekeeping is great, such nice folks
+ walking distance to quite a few places
the few dings:
— the fitness center isnt bad, but the a/​c barely works, so the gym functions as a sauna
— the tv selection is ok, the remotes suck. no HD content, but they spent on HD flatscreens, a pity.
— no unlimited local calling, that’s real lame for a long-​term place like this