Best Western Plus Riviera — Hotel in Menlo Park

I travel from the East Coast into Palo Alto frequently to visit my 92 year old widowed Mom. For decades I have stayed in various hotels in/around Palo Alto, from the high-end ones to the more budget-friendly ones. For my last 4 day stay, I stumbled into this hotel on the internet, and it is the best value anyone could hope for. Uber-reasonable room rates compared to other hotels in the area, which caused me to fear beforehand that it'd be dirty or run-down. But boy was I in for a pleasant surprise! It is not a fancy place, but it is very well maintained/updated. Bed was nicely, comfortable made with sheets and covers which seemed very clean, bathroom was very clean, nice big TV in there, fluffy clean-smelling towels, new Keurig coffee maker with 3 caffeinated and 2 decaf pods supplied along with various tea selections. The wall ac/heater is new and works great, with wall controls that actually seem to get it to do what you wanted to do (it was 40's at night, so wanted little bit of heat, 60's during the day so not so much). Every member of the staff, from the Samoan-American manager from Hawaii who is hands-on and proud of being his family's second-generation in hospitality management, to the sweet and diligent Mexican-American cleaning ladies who did their jobs so well and good naturedly allowed me to practice my Spanish with them and answered my questions about vocabulary and pronunciation). Last, but not least, I want to compliment the tall slender woman who on a daily basis cooks, puts out the food and with a helpful good nature makes sure everyone is kept happy and helped. The whole dining area is very clean, modern, with everything from containers with not-overcooked and fresh scrambled eggs or mini-omelets. I've stayed in a lot of hotels and sampled more than a few included free-breakfasts, but this one was amazing for the relative size of the cute little hotel. I've been raving about this place since then, particularly my three siblings who also travel to from Palo Alto to visit our Mom at a senior living facility just a short ways up Sand Hill Road. PLUS, the location is great. Almost catty-corner to the Stanford Shopping Center, and therefore easy walking distance to the Stanford campus. Walking distance to Safeway. Walking distance to downtown Palo Alto. THIS HOTEL IS THE BEST VALUE FOR MONEY OF ANY PLACE I'VE STAYED IN THE PALO ALTO AREA, OR...

I had my first (and last) stay at the Best Western.

I work for a well-known nearby tech company, and am frequently on business travel in the SF Bay Area.

The Best Western is simply the worst hotel I have ever stayed at on business in the Bay Area. I unconditionally disrecommend it for business travelers, as do nearly all of my colleagues who have stayed there. It is astonishing that anyone can charge $250/night for such a hotel.

NOISE - The rooms are so noisy that Best Western literally provides earplugs. I've stayed at several other hotels on El Camino Real and near Caltrain. I've never seen any remotely this noisy before. Simply put, this hotel isn't noisy because of its location -- but because it appears to have single-paned windows and insufficient soundproofing. I came to work nearly every day tired and sleep-deprived -- the opposite of what you go to a business hotel for.

CLIMATE CONTROL - They have really, really loud 1960s-style hotel room air conditioning system. This means you have to figure out by trial & error what position on the knob maps to the temperature you want to sleep at (you can't just set a numeric temperature and actually get it).

ONGOING CONSTRUCTION - When I came home on my third night, my hotel room absolutely reeked of an acrylic fume, like rubber cement. The smell was so strong that the hotel room was effectively uninhabitable. After conversation, the only hotel staff member on duty moved me to a room that was technically under construction.

When I woke up in the morning, all of my clothing continued to reek of the pungent acrylic fumes. When I asked if they could find a way to clean my clothing before I left for work in 2 hours, they pointed me to a coin-operated machine that I could pay my own money to remove the hotel's fumes. (It also didn't occur to their hotel front desk person - who never smiled - that as a business traveler, I might not be carrying several dollars in quarters around.)

I ended up buying new clothing to wear for the day. I also e-mailed the manager to ask for the hotel to intervene and make it right. I did not receive a reply.

If you are in Silicon Valley on business, do not try to save money staying here. Your time and sanity are...

Stayed at the BW between Menlo Park & Palo Alto for a few days. The hotel was easily accessible from the Palo Alto Caltrain & transit centre. It was across the road from a retail centre, & was a short walk to dining options in Menlo Park & Palo Alto. ||The welcome was friendly & the room was very spacious. There was a coffee machine in the room, as well as a fridge & microwave. There was also an iron & ironing board, which was really helpful. ||I liked the layout of the room as there was a connecting section between the bedroom & bathroom. This was where the sink, closet, ironing board, coffee machine, etc were which seemed sensible as they were accessible but out of the way. The sliding door also shut out any noise from the bathroom/ aircon. ||Though the room seemed cleaned, it could be improved as a quick wipe of the surfaces showed traces of dirt & dust. When walking in the room with my socks on, the underside of my socks were stained black! Also I found a toe nail in the room! Eeecks! ||Positives about the hotel: ||- responsive when I contacted them before the trip ||- loved the citrusy range of toiletries on offer ||- the waffle from breakfast was surprisingly good! ||- water coolers for your refills ||- ample charging points in the room, including USB ||Negatives about the hotel: ||- the bed & pillows were a bit soft ||- breakfast was pretty basic with powdered eggs & cold potatoes & it was fairly similar each day ||It could be improved by: ||- providing slippers for guests as the floor is quite cold ||- providing a safe in the room ||- warm, cosy lighting in the room instead of the harsher white light bulbs ||- using non disposable cups, spoons instead of plastic stirrers, & loose sachets of sugar & creamer (it was a waste when only 1 item from the pack was used - hope the rest aren't thrown out!) ||While comments about the noise have been made by other reviewers, I slept well when I put the ear plugs on. Perhaps it's coz I was really tired & was knocked out! The noise of the traffic wasn't too bad, it was more the tooting from the trains which created the most noise! ||Overall, I really enjoyed my stay & never felt unsafe. It's a good base if you're...