T_Martin_Boston

I am flying into San Francisco on the back end of a honeymoon in early August of next year. The plan is to spend a Friday, Saturday and Sunday (fly out early am) in the city and wine country. I noticed that Marriott has a hotel in Napa and a resort in Sonoma. Any information / experiences anyone could share on these hotels would be greatly appreciated. Our priorities are to stay in a nice hotel that is convenient to several vineyards.

Thanks.

jjj

The Lodge in Sanoma is great. I stayed a few times there and as a platinum I was upgraded to a suite everytime. They gave me a nice full bottle of Chardonay apon arrival. It is about a mile from the town.
I would recommend the Ravenswood tour (especially if you like full body reds). They are one of the few that do tastings from the barrel.
I would also recommend "Girl and the Fig" restaurant. Great Food, Great atmosphere and Deserts (Profiterals mmmm). There is an Italian place as well but the name eludes me. Started with an S. I would not eat at the hotel.

This is one of my favorite Marriotts in the states.

DJ_Iceman

Concur about the Renaissance Sonoma Lodge. I have stayed more often than jjj and don't have a 100% upgrade rate (and I assume by suite he means an upgrade to a cabin room), but the service, ambiance, and restaurant there are phenomenal. DEFINITELY have a dinner in Carneros, the hotel restaurant. It's so good, locals come there for dinner.

My two experiences at the Napa Marriott were quite the opposite, though other posters here who've been more recently have given better reviews than I would. My impression was that it was a pretty dumpy place with indifferent service and exorbitant rates.

GoCubs

I haven't stayed at the Ren, but we stayed at the Marriott in Napa for a few days on our honeymoon as well. They have a concierge lounge there, which is always nice. The bar is nice, and we got some great winery tips from our bartender. We didn't eat any other food at the hotel, with the exception of a nice room service breakfast one morning. Very nice spa is next door.

I think it all really depends on where you want to go for wineries. The Napa Marriott is really close to the Carneros region, which is great if you like Pinot Noir.

HereAndThere

I stayed at the Napa Marriott last fall during a meeting. The hotel is somewhat like a cross between an upscale motel and a Marriott hotel. The rooms are fairly typical Marriott rooms but have those motel-like heating and air conditioner units. At least that is what was in my room. As part of the hotel there is a central outside courtyard area with grass and pool, etc.
The images on the Marriott Web site are reasonably representative of what it looked like.
The concierge lounge has a nice patio area outside and they offered free wine along with the hors d'ouevres in the evening. The lounge also had a big breakfast with eggs, breakfast meats, etc.
There are plenty of vineyards nearby and good restaurants in Napa.
The place is well-maintained and pleasant, but not what I would call a higher-end resort like the Camelback or the JW Marriott in Phoenix.

Life_Platinum

We stayed at the Napa Marriott and enjoyed the stay. I think at one time the hotel belonged to another chain such as Holiday Inn, but uncle Bill stepped up to the plate and invested significant funds to build up and upgrade the property. Parking was adequate, and my wife loved the spa. The hotel was confortable, and we would stay there again. Make sure you go to the CIA (Greystone) where we had a fabulous wine tasting and dinner with 7 vinters as well as Copia.

DENROC

Have stayed at both--Sonoma Lodge would be my choice for any future stays.

pinniped

Has anyone ever stayed at the Residence Inn in Vacaville, about 15 miles from Napa?

schutzdl

I had the chocie of both a few months back and ended up staying at the Napa Valley Marriott because they had a concierge lounge and it's open on the weekends. Every night they featured at least two different wines (free) in the lounge and the breakfast was very nice also. Personnaly I will always choose a property with a lounge over one without anyday. The spa at the Marriott is very nice as well.

venice4504

Vacaville is NOT where you want to stay. It's definatly somewhere where you drive through to get some place else.

pinniped

Can you elaborate? Is there some problem with the town itself or is the Residence Inn the problem? Just looking for a 2-bdrm suite near the Wine Country...potentially for the Napa Valley Marathon weekend (yeah, I know it's an hour away from the start of the race, but it's the only RI in the region and there are no Homewoods or comparable places nearby where I could burn points).

If Vacaville itself is dull, that's no big deal for me...it's just a place to crash. But if the property is skeezy, then yeah I'd love to know that ahead of time! Thanks...

venice4504

Vacaville as a town in a dump. Don't get me wrong, there are probably worse places in the country...If you are only going to be there when it's dark you'll probably be OK. I have no knowledge of the property.

Unicorn123

Born and raised in Napa, nothing wrong with Vacaville. It is a 20 minute or so drive from Vaca to the South end of the Napa Valley. Have not stayed at that hotel since I am a local though. Also, there is a Budweiser plant there and the tour is worth taking if you have 1-2 hours to kill. There is no cost and after the tour you are given two drink coupons that you can use to select a beer or other drink. The Jelly belly factory is near by also, even without kids I find it an interesting tour.

As for the Marriott Napa, it is about 1 mile from where my parents live and although I have never stayed there myself, my parents do recommned it to others. This may or may not be a good thing- but the Oakland Raiders stay there during their summer training camp. If its good enough for Al Davis..

Greg P.

Yeah, I think I have about 4 or 5 weeks at the Residence Inn in Vacaville this year alone. Really it's not that bad. I didn't think Vacaville was a dump. The location of the Residence Inn is close to the premium shopping outlets. Also, location wise, you are 20-30 minutes from the town of Napa. Provided of course, that traffic isn't bad.

If you stay in Residence Inns frequently, as I do, I think you will find the Residence Inn Vacaville to be similar to most, though on the lower end compared to other Residence Inns.

My complaints:

1. It could be me, but the rooms seem to be just a little smaller than most other Residence Inns.

2. The "Happy Hour" is one of the worst I have seen at any Residence Inn. The food they put out reminds me of high school cafeteria fare. And no beer or wine either, which is surprising, since you'd think with close proximity of the wine country and an Anheuser-Busch brewery right down the road in Fairfield, you'd think there'd be a great opportunity to showcase the local products as some other Residence Inns do.

Otherwise, I think you'll find clean rooms, a relatively friendly staff and a pretty decent breakfast.

For wine tastings, some of my favorites are Grgich Hill, Merryvale, and Caymus (reservations req'd for tastings there).

If you want to have some fun, and check out the Vintner's Collective in Napa. They are a multi-winery tasting room that carries wines from a lot of the smaller wineries in the valley that don't have their own tasting room. It's a good place to begin your day as the folks there are very knowledgeable and can give you some tips on other places to go. http://www.vintnerscollective.com/

If you want to take a winery tour, I think that Mondavi offers one of the best in the Napa valley. You'll want to make reservations for that.

For dinner, consider the Martini House in St. Helena. It's my personal favorite, though there are certainly tons of great restaurants there.


Good luck and have a fun time!

jsporing

Earlier this year we did a quick cheap trip out to the wine country. We stayed at the CY in Santa Rosa and was upgraded. It is not as nice a prop at a Mar or Ren, but it was cheap (left me more to spend on the wine). We did drive a lot, we we did Sonoma, Russian River and a nice drive down Rte 1. It is a bit far from Napa, esp considering the traffic. But during the week it was not too bad.

There is a nice restraunt a couple blocks away from the CY called Shiraz. Also some one mentioned the Ravenswood tour--one of my favorites. I have become friends with some of the folks there, and they are always willing to share the good stuff and were very helpful in telling me which other wineries to visit.