DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Jose — Hotel in San Jose

My stay here was lukewarm, but the response I got (or specifically, the lack thereof) to my experience was the real disappointing part.

Let me tell you the whole story. I was staying here for one night while attending a convention nearby. I showed up early to my reservation, and my room was ready, which is totally fine and expected. The front desk gets me set up with a key card so I can get into parking. The front desk person at this time was helpful and welcoming. They got my phone number so they could contact me once my room was ready, which was expected around 3PM. They gave me very specific instructions on how to use my temporary room key to get into parking.

I drive up to the parking gate and follow the directions provided to have it read my card. Nothing. Try it a few times, and just nothing is happening. Try slapping my card all over the machine, nothing. I hit the call button, and I'm buzzed in, though no one says anything to me. Weird, but whatever. According to other reviews this has been a known problem for quite awhile, so I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned at the front desk.

I park my car, and take a shuttle to the convention center. Afternoon comes, and I notice I still haven't been contacted about my room. Odd, but I'm not super in a hurry, whatever. I end up heading back around 7PM and head to the front desk to ask about my room. I explain I was supposed to be contacted when my room was ready, though this front desk person sort of brushes that off without comment. I present the card I was given for parking, and they were very confused as to why I was given a card at all, like this is super abnormal.

The room I was given was unfortunately on the complete opposite end of the hotel from where I had parked, and the parking lot was now filled so moving my car closer was difficult, but oh well. The room itself, as other reviews mentioned, is very outdated. This doesn't really bother me as long as everything is clean and in well working order, but this didn't seem to be the case. I'm not sure if they just don't dust often or if the older room is contributing to higher dust or what, but some of the furniture was very dusty. A couple of the light bulbs were out. The toilet seat was dangerously loose, flopping around uselessly on the toilet. One of the ceiling tiles (like those square tiles in office buildings and schools and stuff) over the closet/bathroom sink area was pushed into the ceiling, leaving a big, dark, dusty hole in the ceiling. The bed and bathroom seemed clean, but the maintenance was definitely off.

I think the most disappointing part of the room itself was the bed, which unfortunately, is probably the most important part of the room to me. While it was a king size, it was incredibly uncomfortable. It felt like there wasn't much between you and the springs. I tossed and turned and woke up with a sore back. This was super disappointing because Hilton/DoubleTree specifically make a point advertising their high quality beds, even going so far as to selling them should you want one. Supposedly, these mattresses are manufactured by Serta.

Offhand, I would guess this hotel used to be under another name or brand, and switched flags to DoubleTree at some point in the past, which is Hilton's strategy for expanding the DoubleTree brand. They usually offer some reduced cost for remodeling when this happens, so I'm guessing the downstairs and lobby area saw most of that renovation with the rooms receiving little to none.

When I checked out the morning after, the staff were short. I don't think I've ever checked out at a hotel and not been asked how my stay was until this. Bummer.

None of these things alone warranted a low rating, but put together, I became more and more upset with the stay, especially considering the price ($179 a night plus ~$30 for parking). I received a survey several weeks ago asking me about my stay, and included all this information, and heard nothing at all. Disappointing.

All in all, I do not recommend staying here and will not be...

Another sad Hilton property that's missing the mark.

My family and I traveled here for my kids hockey tournament. We had to book four nights Tuesday to Friday.

I've had considerable brand loyalty for Hilton for a long time. I've always enjoyed consistency among the different Hilton-associated properties. I do have to admit, it seems like consistency is not a priority anymore. This hotel is no exception to that thought.

We arrived on Tuesday and found the room was ready early. The hotel's exterior looks "sad" to say the least. Tan in color, dirty and moss growing around most balcony's.

However, and like with most hotels in the Hilton empire, they've spruced up the lobby quite a bit to make it look luxurious and nice. It's very impressive, but an obvious dupe.

At check-in, I walked toward the front desk. Three women were standing at their respective terminals. None, including any other staff in the lobby there had any greeting or hello or welcome. I ended up walking to the one female who didn't have a mask on and wasn't burried in their computer screen. Shiela.

During the process, I asked for a different room type that could fit my whole family. I told them I was happy to pay for the upgrade, as I was just looking for a nicer and larger room than typical. I let her know I had requested this earlier too, but was told to talk to her upon checking in. Shiela told me it would be $125 more a night to make that change. This was about double what our room rate was, and not anywhere consistent to what I was seeing online either. I passed.

I also asked Shiela if I could remove my last night of four from the reservation. Without hesitation, Shiela tells me I can, but it'd have to pay a $75 penalty. Now. I get a last minute cancellation, but I've never seen a penalty like that under those circumstances. Especially toward a HHonors Elite member. It was like I was trying to take the money out from her own pocket. I let her know I'd talk to my wife about it.

Beyond the luxurious lobby is where we found that growing trend of older hallways full of musty smells and dim lights. We found our way to our room (741) and we were less than impressed. The room had a musty-urine odor, the beds were lumpy, receptacles and switches dirty, the furniture cheap and littered with stains and knicks, the walls were beige and full of knicks, the ceiling had water damage and was split open above the sprinkler, and it didn't look like anybody had cleaned the patio window in months.

I had literally just left a Hilton Garden Inn in Napa Valley where I paid the same amount of money per night. The hotel there in Napa was far superior than what Double Tree put us in. Honestly, it was sort of offensive. To boot, they charge you an additional $30/night for parking in an unsecured lot that anyone can walk onto.

I ended up talking to a different front desk lady. I was advised each room at the hotel was the same, but I could see another room to see if we liked it any better. I then went to room 767. On the way there I had the opportunity to meet one of the resident cockroaches (see photo).

Then, in the elevator, I got stuck! Haha. After entering, I swiped my card and pressed 7. The doors closed and nothing happened. After about 30 seconds I was brought up to the 8th floor. Door remained closed and none of the buttons on the panel worked. After about five minutes, someone on the 7th floor hit their button and it took me down and doors opened.

Room 767 was cleaner, no smell, but still looked neglected and sad. I ended up just wanting to leave.

I spoke to Gabriel, the manager at the front desk. He was kind and friendly. He admitted the rooms were all the same and said the hotel was getting a refresh soon, he just didn't know when. Gabriel was willing to let us leave with no penalty.

My family and I promptly packed up and went across the highway to one of the new Hiatt's (same rates and fee's), but breakfast included and brand new, very...

Many options near San Jose airport, choose another hotel!

I work in the customer service industry myself and understand the extreme mental and physical toll the hotel staff endure in a very busy hotel. People will make any complaint and throw a fit to try to get their stay for free. With that said, I think that the hotel manager and his staff have lost any sense of customer appreciation or taking care of them.

During my booking I confirmed that with the room I selected I could have a rollaway bed. I asked over and over if I booked the correct room to be able to have a rollaway bed. I was told yes and also that with putting the note in now it would not be a problem. Then I called the hotel two days before my stay to confirm about this rollaway bed. Finally before checking in I had a hotel employee text to confirm arrival and if there is anything I needed. Once again I confirmed the need for a rollaway bed.

Was never told no or that they could put it in the notes but it wasn’t guaranteed. Not once with three different staff members. ... So when I arrive the hotel is insanely busy and the desk check in staff are very snappy and frustrated. I wait for the line to calm down and it doesn’t so I go up to the room and call in to a different department to get the roll away bed. They tell me that it is against fire department protocol and they cannot do that. I explain to them that I think there is a misunderstanding because I had confirmed it so many times with different people. She gets very flustered and angry and transfers me to the manager. ... The manager of this hotel should not be interacting with customers. I told him how many times I had confirmed the roll away bed and he had two responses. Well IF that was said to you, IF you really did confirm that, IF you even asked that it cannot be done in our hotel in that room. He was irate, condescending and did not care in the slightest about how his staff confirmed it that many times with me. His other response was that maybe he could talk to people so they don’t do this again. Maybe? It isn’t my responsibility to make sure numerous staff members are trained to deal with normal requests and knowledge of the hotel they work in. He was not apologetic and just stated the policy over and over. Which was never told or mentioned to me previously, which obviously he did not believe. ... He offered me a 30 dollar parking credit after I asked him what could be done so this doesn’t happen again. I slept on the floor for three nights and the thirty dollars sure didn’t mean anything to me. I watched the hotel staff the entire weekend be rude, overworked, condensing and just plain angry the entire weekend. There were many events going on and there was no parking to be found, the hotel did not get cleaned like it should, and our room was really beaten up and was not comfortable. ... CHOOSE ANOTHER HOTEL FOR YOUR SAN JOSE AIRPORT NEEDS! DO NOT HOLD EVENTS HERE! ... PS Had to come back and edit this after our very last experience before we checked out. Check out is at 11am and at 915am "Security" is knocking on all of our doors on level 3 to tell us "Security....knocking...Security...knocking....please answer or I will open the door....opens door....check out is at 11am" He has done that to us and every single door down...