SENZA Hotel — Hotel in Napa

There is no doubt that SENZA is a beautiful hotel in a picturesque setting. The decor, from the public areas to the guest bedrooms is heavenly. The rooms have everything you need, the linens and toiletries are of very good quality, the views from the room are romantic. Why then am I only giving the SENZA 4 stars? There’s just something I can’t put my finger on .. the set up is a bit strange - there is a ‘restaurant’ of sorts but it doesn’t feel like a restaurant, the lighting is off - needs to be more subtle and welcoming. There didn’t seem to be any designated kitchen or waiting staff, more so you just need to approach a member of the hotel staff and tell them what you’ld like to order from the menu. We didn’t really see many guests eating in the ‘restaurant’. We did order some food to eat by the pool one evening which we enjoyed. There is a terrace to eat breakfast but when we were there it wasn’t being used as it was cool in the mornings. The pool was cold when we were there despite the temperature being set to 78degrees. We mentioned this to the staff and a very helpful maintenance person set about trying to warm the pool up. By the next day it had warmed up somewhat. The hot tub is very warm. There were plenty of clean laundered pool towels and we had no trouble finding a lounger, there are also day beds in the shade. Our first night was very noisy, a family were staying in the room above us and there was a lot of footsteps and banging ( not their fault of course ) we mentioned this at reception and we were kindly moved to an upstairs room the next day which was much quieter and with a fabulous view over the vineyard. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding about breakfast which was a disappointment- the hotel advertises a credit of $40 per room for breakfast. However, you can only benefit from this if you book directly with the hotel, not a third party site, although this is not made clear on the hotel information ( not that I could see). I queried this with hotel staff and the ‘rules’ were explained to me. It was somewhat disappointing and considering the ‘upmarket’ feel of the hotel and the high nightly rate, I would have expected some sort of a breakfast offering, if only a pastry and a croissant. We also saw mention of complimentary cheese and wine tasting but this was not offered to us.. maybe only for certain guests? SENZA is located a little out of Napa on a busy road therefore there is road noise when sat at the pool or on the balcony however during the evening it’s peaceful. You would most certainly need a car if you’re staying here. The only restaurant within walking distance is Bistro Don Giovanni, we ate here one evening. Although the hotel was able to recommend a bike rental company, it would be an idea to have bikes to use from the hotel or to have an arrangement with the local bike rental company such a pickup/delivery, discounted rates etc. On the whole we enjoyed our stay at SENZA it’s a special place with the potential to be extra special with a few small changes. Thank you to the friendly staff and housekeeping who kept the rooms...

We enjoyed our stay back in 2019. We had a really nice experience. We loved the complimentary breakfast and mimosas in the morning. The staff were accommodating and friendly. Because of this, we decided to rebook with the thought that we would have a similar experience. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

With the new management, we have discovered there is now no complimentary breakfast or mimosas. The afternoon wine that was offered in our past stay is no longer available.

The pool was not cleaned and had a lot of debris and bugs floating around.

The front desk staff were not welcoming when we checked in nor when we checked out. It seemed as though the front desk staff were not trained.

They emailed us a week in advance asking if we wanted to check in early once we arrived. I emailed them back and said yes, but never received a response. I called a couple days later and they said to call at 10:00am the day of our stay. I followed their instructions and called at 10:00am sharp to see if the room was ready, but was told that it was not. I then asked them if they could call me when our room will be available. To our dismay, they never called us.

We arrived at 3:00pm and were given our room keys to a king suite with a pull out bed. When we walked into our room, everything was in order except the pull out bed was not made. This was upsetting because when we made the reservations, we informed them that there will be 3 adults and 1 baby. It was crucial to have the pull out bed ready because our baby needed to nap after the long drive. We called the front desk to once again ask that the pull out bed be made. After waiting for some time with a very cranky baby, no one showed up. So we then walked over to the cleaning staff ourselves and asked them directly, they said they would come right away and they did.

The cleaning staff were very friendly, thankfully.

We were so disappointed at how different our stay was compared to how it was when it was under the original management.

I would not recommend this hotel. It is not worth the $750 to $1000 price tag. There are several other places in Napa/Yountville that are more worth that price and a way better bang...

1. We received no warm welcome, it was supposed to be a pampering boutique hotel, instead we have been treated like at a fast food restaurant. The check in atmosphere was the one of a 2 star motel.

2. We have been given the worst room, no view, ground floor, close to the parking, definitely not worth $800 that we paid. A shame. Even worse we booked through Amex Platinum Travel. We asked for a better room, they said it was the last one, unless we wanted to upgrade for $150 more to one at the first floor, with no view.

3. We got to the room and there was no cold water. We asked for help, but they couldn't fix it. Another guy told us actually there was another room available, facing the pool, but the first person didn't offer us that room. It happened just 20 minutes before. Although that other room was still ground floor, and as our daughter just fell asleep we decide not to move room. Considering it was 10pm already, we would have expected at least to offer the free upgrade to the first floor room. Nope, it didn't happen. Any other hotel would have offered it.

4. 7:00 am on the following morning, it was Sunday, the front desk called us waking everybody up, to ask if they could share our information to our travel agency for marketing purposes. I was furious, I even explained the reason why I was upset and that they could have been more sensitive and maybe call later in the morning or ask us at check out. They did not apologize, actually they said they just executed a request of somebody calling in. I was speechless.

5. Check out process was barely "OK", but again, beyond cold experience, same experience you usually have at a 2 star motel. No apologies for the cold water (still not fixed), no apologies for the useless and disrespectful 7:00 am, not even offered a discount for all the issues.

The hotel was clean and modern and the pool was nice, although very noisy as the hotel is on the Napa Valley freeway, the main issues we had was about how we have been treated by the staff. WE WILL...