Hilton HHonors - Santa Clara/San Jose with family question

We are going out to visit relatives for four nights in Santa Clara, CA on 8/28. I have not travelled with my family out there, but my kids like a good pool and we usually stay at an Embassy Suites or Hilton Garden Inn. I see no hotels out there seem to be part of the 3Q promo. We could stay at a Doubletree or other concept as well. We can stay several miles away, I am just not sure of the condition of some of the hotels. Does anyone have a recommendation for the best hotel for us?

Thank you in advance.

We are going out to visit relatives for four nights in Santa Clara, CA on 8/28. I have not travelled with my family out there, but my kids like a good pool and we usually stay at an Embassy Suites or Hilton Garden Inn. I see no hotels out there seem to be part of the 3Q promo. We could stay at a Doubletree or other concept as well. We can stay several miles away, I am just not sure of the condition of some of the hotels. Does anyone have a recommendation for the best hotel for us?

Thank you in advance.

milpitas hampton inn is a non-starter. i think the place is sketchy at best and let's face it - hampton's suck.

milpitas embassy suites is taking part in the promo - but is very hard to get a good rate at...commute can be painful.

the downtown san jose hilton is taking part... but it's a nightmare to commute there... but the options downtown for dining might make up for it. i have always gotten an excellent room here, last time a suite. has a lounge too....

homewood san jose airport is a nice little property, but it's not taking part... and damn near impossible to get into at a good rate (location/location/location....)

embassy suites silicon valley i give up on --- last 4-5 trips i have not been able to get in. (not in promo btw)

hilton santa clara is also VERY tough to get a good rate at - so much so that in 5 years of trips to SV, i have NEVER gotten in at per diem. (they are not in the promo either btw)

doubletree silicon valley/san jose is a pretty dumpy property. I have never had a good stay here. typical "convention" pimp-palace.

hilton fremont = NO GO AT ANY PRICE. Very dumpy property. ultra cheapo pimp-palace for off-the-norm conventions....



hope that helps


doug

I haven't been to all the properties, but...

I'm assigning something like "values" based on what I typically pay on a AAA rate, Thursday through Monday. It's just context - your rate may vary.

HGI Milpitas ($60) is or the edge of a mall, so there's food and stores nearby. It's also at a major freeway junction - easy in/out. The property is fairly new and well-maintained. Frankly, I don't recall the pool.

Hilton Santa Clara (($97) has a nice pool, half covered, (and gym), fantastic lounge staff/fare. Lots of kids, since it's basically in the Great America (amusement park) parking lot.

Embassy Suites ($121) I've been to a few times. I hate ESs, so I'm not going to be a fair judge. (On the other hand, I like Hamptons, so there.)

Doubletree San Jose ($113) is an airport hotel. Okay pool, but you'll pay for parking (which can be tight on weeknights). It's got a decent restaurant, but service can be really bad. It's also worn out - carpeting, hallways, most rooms... And there's not much nearby other than industrial parks. Not recommended.

There's a fabulous fairy-tale Hilton in Scotts Valley, dreadfully expensive, except when it's cheap. It's really one-of-a-kind. Not perfect: there are two elevator banks that require a hallway walk in transit, for instance (obviously a cobbled together building). There's a nice pool in the back, and the setting is NOT like anything else in the area. It is, however, 30 or 40 minutes from San Jose, over a (scenic) highway. Love this place.

At the other end of the spectrum (price/geography) is the strictly utilitarian Hilton Newark ($99). It's on the periphery of another mall, but it's run on-the-cheap, so just about everything is on the edge of decrepit. But it really does still work. There's even a serviceable lounge. And there is a pool that I've passed by, but never really seen.

I have stayed with he family twice at the freemont hilton and we actually thing its a great value, we can ususaly get sat night for about 65 with the mvp discount, have always been placed on exec floor on the 7th and they even give 2 drink coupons + appitizer coupons for the bar since the lounge is closed. the staff here is really friendly. the breakfast is just okay, and the hotel looks very plain but for overall value we have been very pleased.

Stay away from the Hampton Inn San Jose. Across the road from a deserted fairground, miles from anything, inconvenient and weird.

What is the mvp discount?

What is the mvp discount?

Happy reading.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/932556-hilton-family-mvp-rate.html

Thank you for explaining the mvp discount. I now have a number, don't they ever check to see if you are really affiliated with this? When I check in do I have to show something?

Thank you for explaining the mvp discount. I now have a number, don't they ever check to see if you are really affiliated with this? When I check in do I have to show something?

There are two numbers, check them both. And the only affiliation needed is being an HH member.

I have stayed with he family twice at the freemont hilton and we actually thing its a great value, we can ususaly get sat night for about 65 with the mvp discount, have always been placed on exec floor on the 7th and they even give 2 drink coupons + appitizer coupons for the bar since the lounge is closed. the staff here is really friendly. the breakfast is just okay, and the hotel looks very plain but for overall value we have been very pleased.

I am travelling for business in the area and staying now for the third week in a row at the Hilton Newark/Fremont, it's my favorite in the area for price, quality and convenience.
Rooms are VERY large, they have 2 decent-size pools (one could be a heated jacuzzi tub, never went down to try), free parking and no noise in the room form the nearby freeway. I think as well it is a nice place, if you understand that there is nothing around it, except freeway and lots of parking spaces. You have a mall 0.5miles away too. Breakfast never swiped me off my feet, but was better than the Hilton Santa Clara...
Weekday rates can go as low as 99$, weekend rates go for ~75$.

The Hilton downtown San Jose is right on the light rail, which can be useful:

http://www.vta.org/schedules/lr_interactive_map/lrBusMap.html

I have an odd fondness for the DT San Jose because I used to work a convention there (since moved to Hyatt Santa Clara), so I know it inside and out. The steakhouse is good last I tried it (last year).

My favorite is the Hilton Santa Clara though -- best location for family, I think.

Stayed in Fremont most recently, like the function space, but not so crazy about the rooms. There are some drop-dead gorgeous Indian weddings there, though, which is worth it all on its own.

I've stayed in most of the others and most aren't worth bothering typing about (though not necessarily bad, just unremarkable).

We stayed there Thur, Fri, and Sat. We wound up using the pre-pay AAA rate which a think was $72 per night. It was so much cheaper than the other hotels mentioned (for that combination of nights) - really it was a total of about $100 less than other choices. I thought about switching hotels each night (to get more stays) but it was not worth about $100 more. For some reason Thursday night was very expensive and Friday and Saturday nights (of the holiday weekend were very cheap). For some reason I was able to get the cheap weekend rate for Thursday night too as part of the 3 day stay, but the other hotels would not do that. This is the first time I have ever looked on Yelp and Trip Adviser, but the dozens of comments were mainly accurate. For example there was consistent dislike of the San Jose Doubletree for being dirty and charging for parking. The comments about the Cupertino HGI kept mentioning about the staff being friendly. I never care about the staff because I am someone who goes straight to my room and usually leaves early in the morning. Well because I had my family with me I decided to stay at an HGI because it is a little nicer than a Hampton and would have stayed at a Doubletree, Embassy Suites or Hilton - but the combination of the super cheap room and the positive review made this choice a no brainer. It turns out the staff was really nice (I sort of hate to admit the reviews were accurate) which made a difference for my family. The waitress talked my son into some special pancakes which were in the shape of Mickey Mouse. She also suggested I try the Japanese breakfast which included a great piece of salmon. Everything about the hotel was great. The only negative was the small pool, but we never had time to try it.

We spent Wed. night at the Hilton Fisherman's Wharf. Thanks to you guys telling me about the MVP rate because its saved me $30.

Thank you!