Hotel Citrine, Palo Alto, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel — Hotel in Palo Alto

We pulled up to the hotel and did not see anywhere to self park. When I asked the valet, he confirmed that they only offer valet, which was fine. I asked if they had electric car charging, and he said yes, it’s included with the cost of valet. I confirmed that I wanted my car charged overnight. ||Inside, we were greeted by a friendly and accommodating receptionist, who checked us in and asked if, as a platinum member, I would prefer breakfast or 1,000 points. I asked if there were vegan options and she said there were many, but I was welcome to decide if I would prefer points or breakfast in the morning. ||My six year old and I went up to the room which was more spacious than expected with beautiful furnishings and a huge balcony. In the bathroom, one of the lights flickered so much that I couldn’t use that light at all. Since it was fairly late, I got my son into the shower and toweled him off. He was cold so I put the room robe on him, until he complained that it was covered in hair. Upon closer inspection, I saw that there were, in fact, a ton of curly black hairs stuck to the fabric. He took the robe off and had more gross black hairs all over his body. I cleaned him up and then I put him to bed. ||When I climbed into bed, I noticed that the sheet smelled like a normal hotel sheet but the pillow case smelled unusually floral. I swapped it for another pillow on the bed, but I am not convinced the pillowcases (and maybe even the sheets) were clean—maybe it was a previous guest’s lotion? I don’t know. I wasn’t sure if I was being paranoid and, since my son was sleeping, I covered the pillow with an extra shirt to ease my mind in lieu of calling the front desk for new linens. Needless to say, I did not rest well wondering if I was lying in someone else’s dirty sheets. Additionally, one of the bathroom lights would turn on randomly throughout the night, so I would have to get out of bed to turn it off again. Super frustrating. ||The next morning, I found a small chunk of wadded up paper (looked like toilet paper) in the sheets. I am hoping that the sheets actually were laundered but who knows. Edit: on reading another review, another guest mentioned their room was “heavily deordorized.” Perhaps that is what I smelled, thinking the sheets were dirty with a previous guest’s scent. However, I don’t know. ||Since we were only staying the one night, I showered and decided not to mention it to hotel staff. My son and I headed to breakfast. The service in the restaurant was mid—one order was wrong, my food was fairly good, and there was some confusion about the breakfast tickets the front desk had given me. When I asked if the meals we had ordered were covered the tickets, the server did not respond and just left the bill on the table. I assume the tickets were fine because I didn’t see a room charge for breakfast. ||At the end of our meal, I checked my phone app to ensure the car was charged to see that it was still at 43%. We were supposed to be leaving the hotel in a few minutes to hit the road. I went to the front desk to ask, but since neither the morning receptionist nor morning valet had been working the night before, there were no answers as to why the car wasn’t charged. She said the current valet would plug the car in, but I could see in the app that no one ever did. Seeing as they probably have a slow charger anyway, I requested the car so I could go to a fast charger and get on the road. ||The valet apologized and assured me he would tell the hotel not to charge me for valet, which was appreciated. ||Obviously I am disappointed with my stay, thanks to the hairy bathrobe, suspicious sheets, and car charging issue. The hotel staff, for the most part, seemed friendly and helpful. It does seem like a really nice hotel with potential for our frequent trips to Palo Alto, but I’m not sure I’m willing to risk another...

In the interest of full disclosure, one of my childhood friends is married to someone who works at Hotel Citrine, and I'd gone there to have brunch with her (and talk about the latest goings-on in her life), so I can't testify as to its rooms or any service that deals with staying at the hotel. I can only speak about the service at their restaurant (Wild Onion? Gosh, I can't remember the name! Though I do remember it had something to do with food and that I thought it was a cute name for a restaurant).

Okay, so, I arrived. First, they do have valet parking, or you can park on the street. And the guys at the valet were very helpful. (I'd never been before and didnt know my way around at all.)

So I walked in the direction he said and passed a pool area that was pretty packed with sunbathers and kids in the pool. From my location, the pool didn't look all that big (don't expect to do laps or anything), but it looked super-inviting on a hot day and a great size for kids.

I headed into the lobby, and, when my friend came, we went to the restaurant that overlooks the pool (and the entire wall was open, I think, so that there was nothing blocking access to the pool area. Or it could've been that there was a wall of windows and doors, and the doors were opened. I didn't really look that closely and sat with my back to the pool area. But my impression was that there was nothing between us and those at the pool, which was kind of cool. It made the restaurant feel resort-y and not a hop, skip, and jump from Highway 101!).

We were greeted by a sweet man (and, no, I didn't get his name, but he was very friendly and attentive--and that wasn't because he knew my friend; I was aware of his interaction with other customers, and he was just as cordial to them). He seemed to be at the table to fill up water or remove plates without being asked. Very good service!

As to the food, well, I went with their chicken Caesar salad, which was HUGE and REALLY good. We're talking LARGE portions of grilled chicken, extra-large gourmet (i.e., homemade) croutons, a great dark-green leafy lettuce (not your typical iceberg or romaine or whatever), and other additions that made this a very unique grilled-chicken Caesar salad. My friend ordered the hamburger, which looked VERY good (and I sampled her fries, and they WERE good). It came on this rectangular wood platter, which gave it a rustic presentation that was both chic and unexpected. (Yes, in this case "rustic" and "chic" go perfectly well together! 😀)

So that was my Sunday brunch, and it was a good day with pleasant company in an agreeable environment...

I've been looking forward to trying out this hotel. At first, I had planned to stay here for several long term stays but decided to try it our first with a short stay before I committed, I'm glad I did. First off, the hotel and rooms are nicely designed, food in the restaurant delicious, nicely equip gym, the bed very comfortable. What I disliked about this hotel was the lack of in room amenities that I expect from a hotel at this caliber, there was no in-room coffee/tea and refrigerator. As a business traveler who stays in a hotel for 7 to 10 days at a time this is a huge inconvenience, who wants to constantly replenish your ice bucket to chill your drinks or snacks or get dressed to go down to the lobby to get your morning coffee!!! On top of this the ice machines at this hotel were difficult to use, the sensors are all messed up. But... what frustrated me the most with this hotel was the lack of service from housekeeping to the front desk. Upon my first shower after a few squirts, I ran out of bath gel!!! All wet and angry because I needed to run off to an event, I scramble to find soap!!!

Parking, if you want to save $20+ there is street parking, but I noticed lots of broken glass, so you risk having your car broken into parking on the streets nearby. Most rooms do not have a view, they overlook the AC hotel next store, industrial parking lots or San Antonio Road.

The hotel does not have a real pool. What they have is called a cocktail pool, it’s a compact scaled down pool about the size of a spa. It's a bit baffling why a hotel in Santa Clara County where it’s sunny 300+ days a year, 60 – 80F 10 months out of the year offers a pool like this???

In the end, I stay at hotels often, about 100+ nights a year. This was my 50th night at a hotel in 2022 and the most frustrating. I was expecting an easy hassle-free arrival so I could get a workout in, shower and then run off to an event. Instead, I wasted time with the front desk about the room I was assigned, fighting with the ice machines on the 2nd and 3rd floors and looking for bath soap!

I would return for the food in the restaurant but strongly hesitate due to the issues I share in...