Hotel Valencia San Jose, CA is only for the idle rich
by A TripAdvisor Member
First thing when you check in you must sign an agreement stating that you will be quiet and not "party" in the rooms or hallways. The Hotel has a "zero noise tolerance policy". WAY TOO UPSCALE for me. Nothing but unexpected UNPLEASANT expensive surprises. Not for the budget conscious traveler in any way shape or form. No coin-op laundry. No laundromat nearby. No reasonably priced shopping nearby. Valet services to wash your clothes for you charges $3 per piece minimum. $7 to wash a pair of jeans! Service charged me to death on everything. Unexpected 10% room occupancy tax for city of San Jose totally caught me by surprise. Costs AT LEAST $15 for a taxi or shuttle to or from the airport. Taxi couldn't find the hotel and drove around the block several times. Tivo-like entertainment network in every room is WAY over-priced. $25 to surf the web or check email in the room on NEXTV network. $25 to watch an in-room movie. CRAP picture quality on TV due to all-digital NEXTV (Tivo-like) data compression of the entertainment network. $25 to have the mini-bar REMOVED from your room in order to resist temptation of drinking or eating sky-high priced snacks and drinks. I could go on all day... AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE unless you're really rich and spoiled.
Come for the room, not the service
by TripAdvisor Member mcallender
Stayed at the Valencia on Valentines Day for a special evening...to propose. I had seen the rooms before and the bar on the top floor so I picked that place.
Went to yahoo travels before they merged with travelocity and picked out a great package. Deluxe room with champagne and 2 flutes. Turns out none of that happened.
We arived at the hotel and had to wait in a line of about 6 people which you wouldn't think would take long but it took 45 minutes because they had just one person working the counter and one person in training. Just before our turn at the front desk a lady came over to ask a question and was pretty rudely told she had to wait her turn. I didn't mind so much because she was cutting in to my turn, but turns out that's how the people that work there are.
Guy was very abrupt with us. Gave us the card key and didn't even mention where the room was until we asked. No mention was made of the champagne but I heard him mention to the people next to us they were running late getting it in the rooms. Ok with me.
We get to the room and while the inside of the room looked great it wasn't what I paid for. It didn't have a view of the inside square, in fact it had no view at all, 8 foot walls all around the balcony. No champagne in their either. I had made the reservation 3 months in advance so my girlfriend asked about the room and the champagne. She was VERY rudely told that was the room I was getting and that the reservation I made didn't say anything about champagne or any kind of view. Even when I showed them the page I printed they wouldn't honor it saying the other people paid extra for what they got and that I was lucky to get the room at all for the price I was paying!
Went up to the bar on the roof at 9pm and it was closed! So much for getting some wine to propose!!!
Later we ordered room service there at 10:15pm and it didn't arrive until 11:45 and was cold.
Worst service I have ever experienced at any place, even a holiday inn could do better. Still if you don't have to talk to anyone there and just get the room it was great...at least now while it's new, I doubt they will maintain it and I wouldn't go there a couple years from now.
Loved the Valencia
by A TripAdvisor Member
Great hotel and great service!!!!! From the personable staff at the front door to the really cool decor and great food - this hotel ROCKED!
I have stayed at a lot of hotels in the area and not a single one offers the product and service that the Valencia does. Great pool, great workout at Club One across the way and a Starbuck's out the back door - talk about a hotel with everything!
STAY HERE IS YOU FEEL LIKE BEING TREATED LIKE SH*T
by A TripAdvisor Member
PLEASE SAVE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR NIGHT!
Nice hotel in a nice location, but be WARNED: The Workers are the most arrogant, least helpful, and incompetent service people you will ever run across. You will spend a lot of money to be treated like third class citizens. I swear. If you feel like relaxing and want a drink, V-BAR (Hotel Valencia's Bar) has the RUDEST BARTENDER AN MANAGER. I cursed out the first service preson in my life at V-BAR. Don't even bother talking to the manager-- they don't care.
Scammed out of $400
by A TripAdvisor Member
Please anyone who stays at hotel Valencia do not give cash I had stayed on my wedding night and gave them a credit card upon check in and on checkout i gave them cash I thought ok that's it everything's fine right? wrong I go to use my credit card a few days later and I am denied due to the hotel charging my card $400 in addition to taking $400 in cash from my wedding money. I tried to resolve the matter with the accts. manager and general manager and he said sorry nothing I can do . I told him all he has to do is check his video camera he refused. there is a major scam going on down there. please be aware all consumers
OK Hotel but the Service is horrible! Gave me a headache! Literally...
by A TripAdvisor Member
I hesitated to post my review since I thought things might just change at this hotel but with the recent postings it is obvious they haven't.
Greetings, this letter is in regards to my recent visit to the Hotel Valencia at Santana Row on February 14th, 2004. The following is a detailed description of what occurred between the hours of 10:00pm and 11:00pm.
At around 10 p.m. my 7 months pregnant wife and I arrived to check in to the hotel. Our close friends who had checked in earlier that day, invited us to join them for the evening. They had reserved an extra room and invited us to stay the night. My friend advised me that the room was reserved under his name.
We arrived at the front desk and told the only clerk working there at the time we were checking in. I stated that there were some rooms reserved under my friends name and we were checking into one of them. The clerk started to check us in, took my credit card and my wife asked to confirm if the room was paid for by my friend. The clerk stated that it wasn’t. At this time I called my friend on his cell phone to tell him of the situation. During my phone call the clerk then tells me of the rooms reserved only 1 was paid for. Then as I am talking on my cell phone, the clerk addresses me with a rude and frustrated tone, “Sir, I am not going to continue with this reservation unless you confirm payment for this room with your credit card.” Immediately surprised at the clerk’s tone I notified my friend that he needed to come to the front desk. As I waited for my friend to show up the clerk had an, “oh well, whatever” kind of attitude with me. He turned away and told me I can’t help you. A few minutes later my friend showed up and the clerk confirmed that in fact he was checked in to the hotel and proceeded to tell him that the other reserved room had not been secured with his credit card. He then took my friends credit card info and applied it for room payment. He then placed my credit card info down for any hotel incidentals.
The clerk then assigned us to room #622, gave us our keys and tells us with sarcasm, “Enjoy your stay.” After this long 20 minute check-in ordeal my wife and I finally proceed to our room. As we are walking down the hall of the 6th floor to find our room, we were surprised to come upon our door already open with another couple inside and the bellman who was just leaving the room. My wife and I couldn’t help but think had we been delayed another minute or 2, who knows what we could of walked into. The bellman looked at our keys and then called down to the front desk to clear up the predicament. The desk clerk advised the bellman for us to just swap room keys with the guests who were in room #622 and informed the bellman to take us to Room#612. The bellman, which was friendly, apologetic and helpful then walked us to room#612. We swipe our keycard and with the green light activated we are ready to walk into and enjoy our romantic Valentine’s Day suite. As we walk in we noticed the rose petals at the threshold and that the lights were off. I thought to myself, all right we’re finally here. As I looked for the light switch our eyes started adjusting as we then noticed that the bed sheets were pulled back a little more than usual. We then noticed that there was a used food service cart in the corner by the window. We now began to see all the clothes that were lying on the furniture and on the floor everywhere. Thank God that there wasn’t anybody in there at the moment but had there been, may I say again, who knows what we could have walked into. We immediately walked out and to our dismay and frustration we were again in an occupied room. Why the desk clerk didn’t know that these rooms were both occupied I don’t understand.
It is now 1030p.m., we are very frustrated, my pregnant wife is tired of walking and we have to go back to deal with the front desk clerk. We get to the front desk and there are now 2 clerks working there. We proceed to talk to the 2nd clerk since the original clerk who helped us was busy on a phone call. We told the 2nd clerk that we just checked in and that we were sent to 2 rooms that were already occupied. Without any apology the 2nd clerk tells my wife, “I’m taking care of the problem, Ma’am.” The other clerk then steps in and now they are both looking at their screens, mumbling, trying to find a room or something. My wife then grabs a comment card for us to fill out. The 2nd clerk notices and says sarcastically, “I will gladly turn in the comment card to my supervisor.” At this time my wife asks the clerks for their names and the 2nd clerk responded and said his name was Angelo. I then asked the first clerk what his name was. At the same time the first clerk tells me, “I’m Jerry,” while Angelo (The 2nd Clerk) says, “That’s Mike.” Puzzled I then asked them which was it, was it Jerry or Mike? The first clerk says again, “I’m Jerry,” as Angelo looks over and says, “Oh, that is Jerry. I was confused and thought it was another one of my co-workers.” It became obvious that now these 2 guys are lying to cover themselves.
It’s now 1035p.m. and Angelo gives us keys to our 3rd room. My wife then stated, “And in regards to our inconvenience?” Angelo then said sarcastically and rudely, “Oh, we’ve given you a free upgrade.” We get in the elevator again and now arrive in room #712. To our surprise what feels like a smaller room with 2 double beds, no rose petals, no cider, no upgrade. My wife called the front desk and talked to Angelo and he said, “I will take care of the problem and call you back.” A few minutes later I answer the phone and Angelo tells me that this was the best room they could give us and that there was nothing else they could do. My wife then got on the phone and explained again the situation that this was the 3rd room we’ve been sent to, it’s been 45 minutes of wandering around and that we’ve NEVER been treated like this in any hotel. She told Angelo that for our inconvenience we wanted something done. Angelo didn’t seem to care as he told my wife, “Ma’am don’t raise your voice at me or I am going to hang up.” May I say at this point, yes she was upset and spoke sternly, but never did she yell at Angelo. As she continued to speak to him, Angelo stated again, “Ma’am don’t raise your voice at me or I am going to hang up.” He then just hung up on her.
In total disappointment and frustration we grab our bags again and go back to the front desk and immediately asked to speak to a manager. Angelo then tells us, “Please wait a moment, let me get him,” when earlier they stated that the Manager was unavailable tonight. He then went around the pillar that is next to the front desk where 3 employees were standing. We motioned over to see who he was talking to and saw that he was whispering and pointing at us from behind the pillar. My wife then walked over to the gentleman Angelo was talking to and asked if he was the manager. Angelo then says to us rudely, “Excuse me, wait over there!” My wife said no I want to speak to him. Matthew then addressed himself as the manager. We proceeded to explain everything that had occurred in the last hour and for the first time that night someone actually apologized for all the chaos we had been through. Matthew then went behind the desk to try and help accommodate us. He told us at this point he was unable to offer us the accommodations that had reserved and the only thing available was double accommodations. He said the hotel was pretty much all full.
Now I know you could imagine how tired, frustrated and disappointed my pregnant wife and I are. Our romantic night was completely ruined, we’ve been wandering around for an hour and we are tired. We declined to stay and thanked Matthew for his apologetic attitude. We told Matthew that not once did Angelo or Mike(or Jerry) ever demonstrate any care, apology or concern for the situation. Matthew once again apologized, asked me for my email address and said he would contact me.
Being an avid traveler I understand that things happen, especially when hotels have busy nights like this. But this type of treatment from some of your staff just cannot be justified. Never have we ever been treated so rudely. I sincerely feel that had Angelo or Mike(or Jerry) demonstrated any care, maybe the night wouldn’t have escalated to where it did. Once again I am sure you can sympathize that our experience was a total waste of our time that only left us angry, stressed out and frustrated.
