Hotel Avante - JDV by Hyatt — Hotel in Mountain View

OPEN LETTER REVIEW- HOTEL AVANTE If you have taken the time to research other travel and social media posts you will find a trend in the review of your facility. Your property has a repeat theme of it being "dated" and/or needing extensive upgrades to it's older facade and interior spaces. While this is a truthful analysis it should be noted that this issue can and is frequently overlooked with well-placed attention to maintenance of the common and/or priority areas of any property. You may ask: "What would be a common and/or priority area of maintenance?"

So, when we arrived to the hotel there were no visible and clear signs anywhere to insure the health and safety of the guests. The outside premises are what we call "curbside appeal", it is the lack of this that will not assist in client retention as well as the disregard of the state and local laws protecting nonsmokers from being assaulted with second-hand smoke that was the "first impression" upon entry.

Your elevator must be inspected regularly to comply with local laws as well, and yet- by way of it's mind-numbing screech to lift people to their respective floors it does not appear to have a recent inspection receipt in it or for it. Very scary and unappealing ride. The stairwells are not clean and well-maintained either- which is the other method to exit.

Upon entry to the room, you have a strong and unpleasant odor arising from the carpet. In the 21st Century many cutting edge methods to maintaining a sound barrier as well as clean non-allergenic floor surfaces are being utilized to keep both clients and the corporations budgets happily intact. Sufficed to say if you replace and redesign all other areas in the guest rooms but neglect the "priority concerns" the money is wasted. If you take a poll, you'll find the most important aspects are room cleanliness and maintenance of the plumbing, bed quality and wifi service with 3 major amenities (mini -fridge, microwave, a/c). The room had to be aired out first and cleaned with "Clorox hand wipes". We couldn't open the window because it wasn't maintained properly and was stuck... but we finally got it open the following day. The TV/drawers/fridge console area was cluttered with hanging/disorganized cords. A place had to be cleared for desk-work and the battery charged antiquated phone could not be utilized because the hand-set was broken. The mini-fridge honor bar- had to be emptied so that it could be used for necessity items: i.e. medicine and supplements. Upon our exit -all items for the honor bar were put back in the fridge, but what a cumbersome and frivolous unnecessary add-on. The toilet which was a well-renowned "Toto" did not have a well-maintained flushing capacity and the shower head was not as advertised. It was a clean bathroom - just badly designed in the way of functionality. People are not interested in a pedestal sink as much as a proper and adequate pressure for the sink and shower and the ability to access all areas without awkward turns and adjustments.

Lastly, and far more important than possibly anything else in the room are these 2 items:

a} Bed/Sleep Quality- The bed was neat and cleanly presented, however the mattress was a spring form mattress with an inadequate "mattress pad", which made the bed uncomfortable and far too bouncy. Putting an inexpensive bed and/or bedding ensemble in a room that has been redesigned to impress is like putting a work smock over $2k evening gown and saying :" Did you have a great night out?"

b} Complementary Wifi- Ahhhh, the "ole bait and switch"! What you really mean is ---as I do this review you give me "3 hours of sub-standard connection speeds -designed to cut off way before I check out tomorrow morning at 11:00 am. Needless to say, for people who are here on business - that is unacceptable. It is just petty and impractical to limit your guests wifi for any reason... just too many other choices for hotel memberships and service to be "nickel and dimed" out of reliable and...

This is one of the bad hotels I have stayed. I should have picked something in Milpitas in hindsight because all hotels were booked in the area (thanks to Apple event). I paid $387 for a night at a very dated hotel room. There’s a mushy smell all through the building, probably from the carpet and walls. They mentioned they renovated recently but trust me when I say a non-renovated Quality Inn is better than this. Please see the photos for a virtual experience. The work chair was super worn out (was this missed in renovation?), bathroom ceilings have weird spots. The bathroom itself is crammed and the shower head is so small. I usually take shower in 10mins but it took me almost 30mins because the water coming from this shower head was low. One weird thing I noticed was the placement of shampoo, conditioner and body wash. They are placed near the sink, and not in the shower. So you are supposed to carry them in the shower and then put them back. Very weird, I haven’t seen this ever in a hotel. The other inconvenience during my stay was the AC. It wouldn’t stay on and I was hot. I set the temperature to 65 and it wouldn’t get to that temperature. It kept turning on every 10minutes and turn off in 10mins without cooling much. The bed itself was also very firm. I couldn’t sleep all night because of the discomfort from bedding and room temperature.

Overall, I’ll never stay here again. I hope Hyatt takes notice because this definitely was a bad investment. The leadership at Hyatt should probably stay here and judge for themselves.

I did rate the service high because front desk staff is welcoming and shared amenities and related information very clearly. They were the best...

A maddingly inflexible and callous operation; avoid if at all possible.

My company uses Avante very regularly, and I had a week's stay booked in advance, but on the way to Mountain View I lost my ID at the airport. I didn't have another official government ID on me, so after a long day's work, when I finally went to the hotel to crash, the front desk wouldn't let me in, as an official ID in-hand is an absolute requirement to check in.

I had work-issued IDs, credit cards, pictures of my passport and driver's license, and had stayed at the hotel before, but it was not enough. I offered to make a cash deposit for the room; no dice. The hostess refused to call management or help me figure out another place to stay.

So at 2 AM, after a 16 hour workday, I was turned away. The hostess said "its not her problem"......and she was sure to inform me that my company would not be refunded the cost of the reservation.

I slept in a borrowed office space while my expensive room lays empty.......do not book travel here if at all possible to avoid. The hotel is okay, but in the off-chance you lose your ID, or its stolen or whatever, they will not, under any circumstances, try to help you.

The irony is that the airline I flew with found my ID and sent it to the hotel, it should arrive very soon.............but at least I'm the first person to work this morning! I suppose all this is a great opportunity to relive my army days, where sleeping in an office chair was a welcome treat.

This was perhaps the most callous service I've ever experienced, and I've traveled to dozens of countries on almost every continent, under many different circumstances. Avante is simply the...