Originally Posted by
boolean64
In terms of property and location, lodge is vastly superior to napa marriott. In fact the only reason i can think of to stay in the Napa Marriott instead of the lodge is because you want to be based on the napa side...the two valleys are, IMHO, inconvenient to bounce back and forth between. As others have said, Napa Marriott is off side of highway and not walkable to town. Nothing special about it. Lodge is walkable to sonoma square and you can easily get to other parts of southern sonoma.
The Westin Verasa is walkable to downtown Napa, but as others have said, experience can be hit or miss.
I echo that I almost always end up at the hotel trio. Rooms are very much standard residence inn rooms (although the hotel is still relatively new). But proximity to the restaurants and wineries in healdsburg makes this hotel my go-to for a weekend getaway in the marriott system.
I had a great stay at the Westin Verasa with an upgrade to a corner two-bedroom executive (IIRC) suite on the top floor. It's an easy walk to the market but rather far to downtown Napa. For that the Hyatt property (Andaz) is better but some of their suites are small with awkward floor plans (such as a sitting room that's not much bigger than its large sofa).
I also remember Sonoma Mission Inn which was a bit disappointing with small rooms, but it's a iconic historical property. It was independent but I think it became a Fairmont. Another independent property which is nice is the Auberge, although it's recently grown into a microchain. I also remember an inn with rooms in a historic house that had wood burning fireplaces and a very good restaurant, but it seems to have gone out of business.
IMO a lot of the choice depends on whether one wants a walkable location with a choice of nearby restaurants, etc., or more of a wine country countryside experience, possible with vineyard views or even located at a winery.
Yet another option is to stay close to wine country but not actually in it. I've had fairly good experiences at the Sheraton (which then had a good club lounge with free wine but this was preCOVID-19) and also at a Hyatt (Regency?) without a lounge that people on FT seem to hate.