We are locals and needed a place to stay during a quick home renovation project at our house. We considered many places in the San Mateo/Foster City area and the Crowne Plaza met our needs, great location, right price, safe, clean, and comfortable. Out of town visitors might find it helpful to know that this hotel is within walking distance of Bridgepoint Mall, restaurants, and Costco. The hotel is right off the 92 freeway between the San Mateo Bridge and 101, about 10 minutes away from SFO airport.

The hotel lobby has a cafe/bar and a restaurant set amidst a large waterfall and fountain display with glass elevators. One can access the indoor pool area which is well lit with natural lighting and glass panels. Nice business center, gift shop, Japanese restaurant, and a bar/nightclub around the corner. We ate at the Japanese restaurant, Tokyo Village, a few times because it's so convenient and because we know the owner and staff from another local restaurant. Plenty of free parking. There is a gym on the skybridge that connects the main part of the hotel to the executive tower, where we stayed.

We booked an executive level room and it was quiet even though the room faced the freeway because there were two sets of windows. The furniture and features of the room were modern and updated with a large desk, plugs everywhere. The room included a drawer safe and a mini-fridge that works. The black out curtains and drape clip (I usually leave a clothes pin in my luggage for this purpose) were very helpful to allow us to sleep in and take naps as needed.

The executive level rooms include Crowne Club breakfast on weekdays. It's an upgraded continental breakfast with typical pastries, toast, cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit, Starbucks coffee, Tazo tea, and juice as well as scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage. The lady did a great job of keeping the food stocked, tables cleared, and it was a lovely start for each day. We didn't have a chance to try the breakfast during the weekend.

I was very impressed with the attention to details. The hotel had a local food bank come pick up their donations. Every morning a maintenance worker swept the parking lot instead of using a noisy leaf blower. We happened to stay over the Easter weekend and they put on a fabulous brunch that is quite popular.

The only caveats or areas of improvement is that the toilet seat shifts and will need to be replaced soon and the maid left 3 bath towels for our family of four everyday. The tiles on the bathrooms are older styled which doesn't affect the functionality of the room, but doesn't match the overall upgraded appearance. I left some jewelry (including my wedding band) in my suitcase (total failure to use the safe) and now the pieces are missing. Lesson learned, USE THE SAFE! I'm disappointed to lose my wedding band due to the sentimental value, but we were safe, happy, and healthy and that's all that really matters. We would stay at this hotel again.