Hotel Nia, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Menlo Park

We had an odd time trying to find a hotel of the weekend of 8/1-8/3 and settled on Hotel Nia. I have several benefits with my credit card when I travel, and this hotel was part of the Amex benefits. The hotel has valet parking at $40 per day and there is no self park option. There is a restaurant on site, however if you are traveling with a family with an average 6 and 8 year old we were hard pressed to find something on the dinner menu that was going to be worth spending the $$ to feed them. There is a cute local food area that served amazing pizza, and a bakery that made The hotel is nice, hip as you would expect for the area. They have some fire pits in the evening and plenty of outside seating in the courtyard that is very nice. The pool is heated, and plenty of seating. All in all an as you expect visit to any Marriot Sheraton (which we have stayed out and always enjoyed ourselves) property. This one was on par with that, but uncharged without any additional features. ||My first surprise is that the valet service is not part of the hotel, so the hotel credits that are provided are not able to cover parking. They end up being credits for food since the are no additional services offered at this hotel.||My disappointment really is with the food service area. Our Amex benefit covered breakfast for 2. No disclaimers were provided at the time of check in, and there is not a limit, or have ever been a limit on the breakfast that we have received at other hotels. We ordered two entrees and two regular coffees, and two items off of the kids menu (with the expectation to pay for the kids items). After 45 min, three of our items arrive, we have no flatware, our coffees we had to go and ask someone for, and never got a refill. One of the items my kid ordered (ham and cheese omelette) just came out as scrambled eggs and toast, no butter and no jam. My husband watched us eat and after they cleared the plates my husbands meal arrived. ||My husband was not amused and didn't want to eat at the restaurant the following day, even though it was "covered". The following day I go down with my kids, and we decided that we would just order two meals and share. We are sat down in an odd area that is walled in on two sides between two larger dining areas, and have to ask after waiting for 15 min. if someone is going to take our order. The server was surprised we were there. We have our order taken, two entrees and nothing else. Since my kids didn't enjoy the meal the first day we walk over to the cafe and are going to use our $100 hotel credit. We get some pastries, two to-go sandwiches for the roak, a fruit cup and three coffees. We close out the bill it comes just under the $100 hotel credit. We go back, the kids start eating, and eventually our food arrives. We eat, we sign our check and we go to check out. ||I ask the person checking me out if my credits have applied as expected, I am told yes, I am not shown folio, but I swipe my card (my fault) with the expectation that I am just paying for the valet. I ask for the receipt, and see that I have been charged $161 for food. Turns out that the breakfast credits were not applied. I was told they see the credits, and will fix it later. I get a new folio emailed to me and the breakfast credit has been reveres. I check my credit card and I have an additional charge of $78. The next day I call and ask for this to be fixed. I am assured it will get fix. A week later I still have the charges, I call and a new person who was very nice hand calculated my charges and my credits and found that I should have only paid for valet, and a $40 left over on my breakfast charges. She has assured me the hotel will credit back the over charges. I'll follow up here if that occurs||The hotel is now saying that a complimentary breakfast for 2 is limited to $60 per day. Which would be reasonable anywhere else, but the least expensive item on the menu is $30 and a black coffee is $6, so even if you ordered the least expensive item and a coffee the breakfast will never be...

Read this review if you want to be convinced that Hotel Nia should absolutely be your hotel of choice when you stay in the Menlo/Palo Alto/Redwood city area.

I just finished an 8-night stay at the Nia for a huge work conference my experience here solidified where I’ll be staying for all trips to Menlo Park moving forward.

Bar/lounge/ restaurant: Ayer the steak tips, salmon, and squid ink pasta. Every one of these dishes blew my effing mind, especially the pasta. Those evenings, I was so glad I decided to eat at the hotel vs. elsewhere. The staff was super attentive and I remember Adam and Sophia most. Adam is an expert in his craft and made incredible drinks every time I or any of my coworkers stopped by the bar. One evening, I gave him two ingredients: bourbon and egg white. He whipped together a concoction that I ended up drinking for the rest of my time there and urged the rest of my coworkers to order as well (which they did and loved!). Sophia was super attentive, kind at all times, and always brought positive energy to the room and everyone she interacted with. The two of them, along with the rest of the staff, really made everyone feel part of a welcomed community. They collectively represent this establishment super well. You really can’t have a better duo in the your lines. I don’t think I’ve ever consistently tipped so high after every drink and meal. We brought around 50 people back to the Nia each night after our events for drinks and food and things really picked up for the staff. Even with the surge, things seemed to run buttery smooth. In those moments, you were able to see that Rami and Elizabeth (restaurant managers) ran a well oiled machine.

Look and feel: the vibes of this hotel are a class above many many other top tier hotels in the area. The interior is gorgeous and screams smart, modern design. The outdoor grounds were absolutely stunning and well kept. Also, there was a ton of seating and standing space. It was the perfect place to bring everyone for drinks after our events.

Rooms and cleanliness: the rooms were small but cute. I’ve been to about 20-30 hotels over the past year for work and personal travel, and I have never seen the level cleanliness I saw during my stay at the Nia. Not a single spec of dust, not a single strand of hair. Nothing that gave a sign or age or poor maintenance. It made me feel incredibly comfortable and safe. My returns back to the tidiness of the room and the organization of my items were like a love letter from housekeeping. Their consistency we really appreciated.

Location: the one con about the Nia is their location as it is not walking distance from anything else but office buildings, but that is not a problem. It only brings the hotel from being a 12/10 to a 10/10. They make up for this with their bar/lounge/restaurant.

Thank you so much to all who helped me feel at home during my stay and for providing an exceptional experience. Hotel Nia is the best overall hotel I’ve been to in a while. Anyone considering this hotel should just stop reading reviews and go ahead and book your reservations....

The hotel is beautiful. The rooms look just like the photos and have incredible lighting and art, soft mattresses, thick comforters (a rarity these days), and a big TV turned on to a welcome screen that offered for us to plug in our Netflix, YouTube, etc accounts so we could watch from subscriptions. I personally liked our view of the corporate office, park, and slight glimpse of the ocean. I also, contrary to some other reviews here, found housekeeping to be excellent and thoughtful. There were nice touches like canned water (free to keep), robes (not free to keep), and our housekeeper tucked all our combs into a cup in the bathroom and straightened our keepsakes for us. We were there for a weekend, so there was live music in the evenings. It was gorgeous to listen to from the winding stairs and gardened courtyard.||All that being said, why the three stars? First, a lack of cohesive policy understanding among staff. We called before our stay (we were there on business, so were expensing and needed an exact cost figure) and were told there would be no credit card hold for incidentals, since we were paying the entire room cost upfront. When we got there? $200 hold for incidentals, no exceptions. While we were at the hotel, we called the front desk to check when valet closes (more on that in a sec). The desk staff told us 2 a.m. We got back at around midnight and a different staff member told us no, it closed at 11 p.m.||More on valet: The hotel requires valet, which is $40/night. No self parking. No street parking. The valet staff were fantastic every time. Jumped to open the car and hotel doors, asked when we were going back out, asked if we needed anything. Appreciated our bumper stickers. And they were working insanely long shifts! No shade to them at all. It's just the fact that valet is the ONLY option. ||And, yes, valet closes at 11 p.m. (If you're late getting in, you park your car on the curb and leave your key under the front desk. If you want to leave after 11, you're SOL.) You know what else closes at 11 p.m.? Room service. You want coffee? Well, the coffee shop closes at 2 p.m. If you want coffee after 2 p.m., DoorDash it, the front desk told us. If you want food after 11 p.m., there's a fridge with unlabeled wraps and $8 yogurt cups in the corner of the restaurant. Or you can DoorDash it. There are no vending machines, no sundries shop. There are no restaurants or shops in walking distance. ||We were keeping wild hours due to attending a tech convention, and given the area this hotel is in, I expected them to have more care for people with late-night schedules. Instead, the hotel simply shuts down, and you're locked out of any self-service options. Not being able to get into your car after 11 p.m. isn't just inconvenient. It's a safety hazard. Same with no access to food or drinks other than water.||For a place boasting that it's "redefining the expectation for high-end hospitality," I was not impressed. Yes, the hotel is stunning to look at. But for half the...