Courtyard by Marriott Palo Alto Los Altos — Attraction in Los Altos

This hotel has become my "home away from home" the last few years that my daughter has been going to school down the street at Stanford, as long as I'm able to book it far enough ahead of time to get a decent rate.||It's a very comfortable hotel, comfortable mattresses, comfortable pillows (not very nice sheets, those are kind of scratchy and there's basically just a sheet covering the comforter), lots of counter space in the main bedroom area, as well as lots of counter space in the bathroom (as long as you're on the 2nd or 3rd floor. 1s floor bathrooms are not as nice)||The shower is nice (on 2nd and 3rd floors, crappy 1st floor bathrooms), there's ledge space in there to put your shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors, hair brushes etc, as well as a ledge to rest your foot when you shave your legs.||The parking is included, and it's underground with a gate, so you can safely leave things in your car overnight, which is important because there's a lot of car break ins in this area (not because it's an unsafe area, but because homeless people know there's a lot of wealth here, and that students and travelers tend to leave a lot of valuable items in their cars).||The front desk people are generally friendly and accommodating, but don't have the autonomy to do anything outside of what you can do for yourself online.||For example, this particular stay I had booked 2 nights during the weekend I was helping my daughter move into her dorm. I got a decent rate because I booked months ahead of time, even though the hotel ended up being fully booked that weekend.||I decided to stay an additional 5 nights, but only stayed 1 of them at this hotel. I had 2 issues when trying to do this.||The first was that the front desk has no ability to add a night to your existing stay, all they can do is create an entirely new reservation, just like you can do for yourself online or on the app. Because of this, they make you check out, and then check back in and get new keys, even though you're staying in the same room.||Then, they don't notify housekeeping that you haven't really checked out, so even if you put the "do not disturb" sign on your door, housekeeping will disturb anyway, coming to the door and telling you that you were supposed to check out. When you try to explain that you're not checking out until the next day, they don't understand because they don't speak English, so you go round and round while standing in your door soaking wet in a towel from the shower.||My other issue is that the last-minute pricing was outrageous (more than double the rate I originally booked). Even though the hotel had cleared out and had lots of availability, and I was already staying there as a guest, and have stayed there multiple times over the last few years, the front desk people had no ability to override the computer system in order to honor the nightly rate of my original booking, so I left and spent the rest of my stay at another hotel that was priced only $9/night more than my original booking at the Marriott.||Seemed kind of silly for the Marriott to prefer making $0 on a room instead of honoring the rate I booked my other nights at, but I guess the front desk people have no autonomy to make those overrides.||Both these things were inefficient and cost the Marriott more time and money, and inconvenienced me, but overall, I still like the hotel and I'll be back if their nightly rate is comparable to or cheaper than the other hotel I...

I am a fan of the Courtyard Hotel Brand by Marriott , as they are generally straight forward in that they all have a Bistro with a common menu, the layout and amenities are typically the same and the staff offer better than average customer service for this style. This particular Courtyard in Los Altos is nothing like the ones that I've stayed at in the past, (I've stayed at 9 courtyards here in the bay area) in that it is on a whole different level. From the moment that I first walked into the lobby I got the feeling that this was a energetic and lively place, with a restaurant to the right, a bar/lounge straight ahead and the front desk on my left with a couple smiling faces offering a warm greeting. The rooms are nice, complementary water bottles within, clean, and some have high ceilings, free underground parking, complementary popcorn, donuts holes and happy hour pizza. Two elevators that are both fairly fast. There were 3 bartenders manning the long bar at 9 pm on a Wednesday night, and all of them came over to say hello and continued to check to see that things were going well often. They offer 2 oz Johnny Walker Blue Label shots for $16 ea which is a very good deal and they even gave me a complimentary card for a glass of wine or beer when I checked in. I do understand that all of the above listed extras and many more are common place when staying at the Ritz or the St. Francis, or any of their other luxury hotels, but not typical of other Courtyards, its above and beyond. Which is why I'm giving this...

When I entered the room, I checked the bathroom and noted that the trash can in the bathroom room has a few pieces of used toilet paper and had no liners, which I expected to see especially in the covid-19 period. Apparently the room was not throughtly cleaned up and make sure it's sanitizered as they advertised. I used to travel for business and stay in many other Courtyard hotels. This is the first time I saw this. I was in a hurry and quite busy during my stay due that my family member had a surgery in Stanford hospital Hence, I didn't really have time to request an additional clean up or talk to the hotel staff. However it's a bad impression. Also, I booked the hotel by using the free night certificates for two nights. The 2nd night the shower room drain was clogged badly. There were only two ppl staying in the hotel room and using the shower for two days: myself and my son under 10yrs old. There is no way we made the drain clogged like that. The clogged drain stayed the same the next day when we checked out. It appeared to me the drain has not been cleaned up for a long time because we have the similar types of linear format (long rectangle) stainless linear grid shower drain in my mom's house. Additionally, one of the coffee kits with creamer and sugar in the room has been open and not replaced with a new one. I understand it's not easy for all of us during pandemic. However, I would expect the hotel at least so a good maintenance job. This hotel experience is every...