AC Hotel Santa Rosa Sonoma Wine Country — Hotel in Santa Rosa

Overall, a great hotel, great location (to both "downtowns", they have two, one on the other side of the highway, fear not, it's easy walk past a mall, and the other real old downtown), so lots of eateries and shopping. Our room (we splurged on a King Suite with sofa and balcony, more on all that later) was very spacious. The hotel is brand new and all amenities and fixtures are modern. Overall, the staff is super nice, a shout out to Jeff the manager, Maria on the front desk and Erica at the buffet.

Parking: annoyingly enough, AC Hotel has no self-parking available, only 30$(!!!)/night valet (are we NY Boston SF downtown? :) We cracked the parking code in Santa Rosa, the most metered parking city in the whole United States, I never seen so many 2h-3h-4h metered streets! But here's the trick: park under the highway, 30ft away from the hotel from 6pm to 9am for free, then 9am move your car another 400ft to the adjacent mall - overnight parking is not allowed there but free during mall hours! You just saved yourself 30$/night - that's a lot of wine-tasting!

Which brings me to: Gaby - she assigned us the wrong room (a much smaller, almost half size room) and when I asked for the correct room, she kept insisting that a) that's the correct room we got and b) the listing is incorrect and c) the hotel will update the listing. And then stared at me, unblinking, hoping the annoying guest just goes away and leaves her alone. Indeed, the next morning, Maria identified the problem, went out of her way to assign us the correct room - Jeff offered a points-refund for the wasted one-night overpayment. What a mess: Gaby might be a fine employee but spectacular unfit for a customer facing position. (attached the picture of the suite with sofa-bed, what it should have been, and the one Gaby assigned to us. See how the chair almost looks like a sofa...

AVOID!!!||I should have read the poor reviews, both on Tripadvisor and Marriott's own website, before staying at this hotel. ||Since I am a Titanium Elite with Marriott Bonvoy, I usually receive an upgraded room. Even the upgraded room was terrible. The HVAC noise made it difficult to sleep. I even took a video of it to show the staff - and they all agreed the noise was unacceptable. Luckily we were in one of the few rooms away from the freeway, so that noise was not an issue.||The real problem with this property, and why I will never stay there again, is the overcharge and the unwillingness to resolve it. We were overcharged on our bill and they did not deduct the $20 per day for food and beverage charges that are included with my elite status. When brought to their attention at checkout, they promised to adjust my folio for the overcharges and issue a credit. Instead of a credit, they actually charged me again! I logged into my credit card account and saw the original amount, which included the overcharge, and then days later a second charge. When I called and finally spoke with someone who claimed to be the manager, however the manager's name on the voicemail is different, I was told the credit was misapplied as a "reverse credit" therefore making it an additional charge. This manager, Jeffery, was rude and argumentative. He continually interrupted me when I attempted to explain my perspective. I highly doubt he is the manager due to his attitude; I would hope Marriott Bonvoy would train their managers better.||This property is located in a fun and historic part of town. There are MANY options for hotels in the area, and all are probably better than this place. When I return to the area in a few months, I will certainly be staying...

The location is great, right in central Santa Rosa. There's a mall, plenty of nice local mom & pop restaurants, and of course the famous Russian River Brewing all within easy walking distance. ||The place is spotless and the staff is probably the friendliest I've ever seen. ||The only parking is Valet which is $30/day but they bring your car super fast whenever you need it. ||There are a number of quirky things you either have to figure out yourself, or ask one of the friendly staff to explain. ||1) Contactless room key. It's very touchy, and it took me a few times to figure out exactly where I had to place the key to make it open the door. ||2) Coffeemaker. It's random whether or not the cups they provide you will fit the coffeemaker in your room. Mine were fine, but in some rooms all the cups are too big to fit. ||3) Shower. There's an enigmatic column with two posts sticking out that controls both the overhead shower and the handheld sprayer. The front desk people had to explain to guests how to turn it off. ||4) Ice machine. For one thing, be aware that the room with the ice machine isn't labelled "Ice". It's labelled "Hydration Station". ||The ice dispenser is motion-activated, but the black plastic buckets provided in the rooms won't activate it. ||The friendly front desk guy explained that you have to use something white to activate the dispenser. So I wrapped a white hand-towel around the black bucket and the ice dispenser worked fine. ||My suggestions to the management are:||1) Make sure that all the coffee cups provided in the rooms fit the coffeemakers in the rooms. ||2) Get white plastic buckets so that the ice machines will dispense ice. ||3) Put a small sign in each bathroom explaining how the shower...