Four Points by Sheraton San Jose Downtown — Hotel in San Jose

For what we were in town for, the location was perfect, within walking distance of the venue we were going to. Room was comfortable, not enough outlets close to nightstands to charge phones, etc, had to unplug their "old fashioned" phone in order to charge my phone.

The worst part was that the service at the front desk was the most horrid we ever experienced. We arrived at 5 p.m., after "check in time" and were told the room was not ready because someone checked out late. The woman who initially took care of us was very kind, she got us drink tickets and stored our luggage while we waited. She went ahead and ran our credit card for the usual expected deposit for incidentals. Then, we went to wait in the bar - thankfully, it was still quiet.

After a half hour or more, no one came to tell us the room was ready or anything so I walked back over to see and I wish I had gotten the man's name as he was so rude. "We already told you it was not ready yet ....." and THEN he looks at their computer and says, "Oh, it's ready ...." No apology etc. THEN, he asks for my card again to "run the deposit for incidentals" , I said the other woman already did that. He argued that it was not done yet. I pulled up my account on my phone and showed him the "pending charge" to Four Points Sheraton for 100$. He said, "That's not charged yet, it says "pending", we need to run the card..." I told him and showed him that the 100$ had been deducted already and "on hold", he kept insisting that it had not been charged yet and then finally said "Whatever" and treated me dismissively.

THEN, he yelled at the other young woman working there to get the other woman back (the one who had nicely helped us already) - loudly, in front of us and other guests, "Go get her back in here before I fire her!! I work in a customer service job, I don't care what kind of day you've had, you don't DO that EVER in front of paying customers/guests.

First woman comes back to finish our check-in process. He must have told her some nonsense and she asked for our card again, I said she already did that and she said, "Yes, they need to do it again so that it shows up on their end ...." That made NO sense, since it had already been subtracted on our end!

GUESS WHAT - now we had TWO charges for 100 on our card, listed as pending, BUT the money was deducted on hold. So now we have 200 dollars LESS available to us instead of only 100.

We waited until check out the next day to mention the double charge even though I knew that the money would go back in a few days, I just wanted them to be aware of the mistake! The original man SAW me and rolled his eyes. He sent another man to speak to me - he treated me like an idiot, explaining how banks and "pending charges" work - I KNOW how a bank works, I wanted to know why they had to charge us twice for the 100$ hold. He just kept repeating how the money would be back in 2 to 3 days. I said, "I UNDERSTAND that, but it should have been only 100 put on hold to us, NOT 200 ..."

It was not correct, they were very rude and what I really expected was an APOLOGY - like "sorry, we made a mistake and ran that deposit twice, sorry for any inconvenience"

NEVER encountered such rudeness at ANY hotel. It was appalling. It's sad that the Marriott name is attached to this location. I wish I had noted their names but I didn't expect them to be so rude and condescending and that caught me off guard. It put a bad mark on our entire experience over all.

Others beware of their attempts to charged the deposits...

We booked the room for $136 for the night and told parking was $42. Ten minutes after checking in I happened to check our bank account (paid with a debit card) and found a hold of $286.34. When we inquired they said there was an incidentals hold added to the room charge that we had not previously been told about. We checked out yesterday. Today, I still have the hold of $286.34 plus a separate charge of $136.34. Effectively, they have tied up more than three times the cost of the room I reserved on their website ($422.68). I understand, and was ok with, the hold of $286.34 and figured they would deduct the room and parking charge from that and just return the $45 extra they held once we checked out with no damage to the room. Just know if you rent a room there to expect that.

Our room was mostly clean, but did have trash left behind the bed from someone previous. It is definitely an older hotel but semi updated and the elevator smelled heavily of marijuana and cigarettes. The restaurant was completely empty most of the time we were there. They advertise live music so we went down to check it out. It was a large group of people gathered around a small stage more like a private event. My husband and I found a menu and looked over the options for a few minutes waiting by the check in desk for someone to come take us to a table. No one came to greet us or even looked in our direction so we left and went to another restaurant.

I called to discuss the hold on my card with the lady who was extremely rude and kept interrupting me. I inquired about a price breakdown for the room. We were not provided with a receipt, and although we waited for a few minutes, no one was at the front desk when we left. She told me on the phone today that parking was not $42 as the sign posted out side, the website and the guy who checked us in all told us, but said it’s actually $45.95 including taxes and fees. I’m not real worried about the additional $3-$4, but just another thing they don’t tell you up front.

For the price we have stayed in much more modern hotels with many more amenities on the same block that did not include such high holds on a debit card. In fact, a hotel across the street asked if I’d like to put the hold on a CC instead of my debit so it didn’t put a large hold my available finances. That is customer care/service. I would recommend trying a different hotel if you...

The property is nice. I appears clean and welcoming from the outside. The lobby is also clean and well kept up in appearance.

The room where I am staying the furnishings are nice. Some of the furnishing appear to be brand new.

Four separate rooms and a patio / balcony Over looking the parking lot and outwards towards the hills.

Two large flat screen TV's I did not watch any television.

Small kitchenette, microwave, coffee maker, sink and mini fridge.

Bedroom with large with desk, sitting chair, bed, night stands, storage for clothes, hanging closet in the sink / mirror area.

Open living area with kitchenette, toilet and tub/shower are separate from the sink and mirror area.

However a few of the furnishings appear to be treated with disregard by prior guests. Scratches, water rings, wood grain finishes flaking off or peeling off.

The bed is large. However the fabric sheets are a bit rough. Thread count on the sheets are not very high. However it is still nice.

The paint and wall paper in the room need some attention.

The doors and door frames have chipped paint.

There are holes in the walls that were repaired but not finished off completely.

It appears a TV was hung on the wall, moved and the holes were repaired with a dark yellow spackle.

The hotel is located near the freeway and it is easy to access if you have a rental car.

There is a grocery store and other retail and dining just over the freeway. Makes it easy for getting basic items you may need during your stay.

The noise level is something that one will have to contend with at any hotel. Other guests are sometimes not aware that they are very loud.

However the noise from people walking on the floor above me sounded like a heard of elephants. I have a room on the second floor and the when guests are walking above it sounds like they are stomping on the floor.

It is a nice place, I would not hesitate to return but there are a few elements that I would like to see upgraded to meet with the Starwood branding and quality.

For the price I paid for the room the overall size of the room was a great value. However it was just shy of hitting the mark when it comes to meeting the Starwood brand and quality.

I would encourage others...