Sonesta Es Suites Sunnyvale

“A very nice and quiet hotel!”

I have stayed in this hotel many times before, but that was mostly under previous ownerships. With the change to the Sonesta chain, actually not much has changed and I still consider this hotel to be among my favorites. The recently completed renovation is a big step forward. Everything looks very… more

I have stayed in this hotel many times before, but that was mostly under previous ownerships. With the change to the Sonesta chain, actually not much has changed and I still consider this hotel to be among my favorites. The recently completed renovation is a big step forward. Everything looks very nice and modern, but this hotel still has the cozy family kind of atmosphere that I've always enjoyed. The rooms here are more like apartments. Mine was spotlessly clean, had a living room, a full kitchen, a separate bedroom, a bathroom with a bathtub and shower integrated, plus a walk-in closet. There is definitely plenty of space to store your belongings and thanks to the kitchen, including a large fridge with a freezer compartment, it is very suitable for an extended stay. This includes cooking your own meals, as I've done several times. The outdoor pool area is lovely. There is plenty of seating in the courtyard area, but my favorite place was to use one of the chairs next to the pool to relax and read a book. Another thing that stands out is the complimentary breakfast! This is very extensive with high quality and fresh made food items that also vary across the weekdays. It is totally unlike the typical complimentary breakfast in many hotels and it is a true joy to enjoy this at the start of the day. One of the outstanding differentiators are the people though. Across the board, the staff was very friendly and helpful. They really make a difference! Having said all of this, is there nothing to improve? I think there is. To start with, the way the self laundry is organized is overly complex and very inflexible. I've never experienced something like this and hope it can be improved. It already starts with the need to install an app, yes just because you want to do your laundry. As it is, this app requires a US phone number though. If you don't have one you can't use it. Luckily, the reception is there to help, including the sign up sheet to schedule (!) your laundry. On top of that you pay $US 4 for a wash and $US 4 for the drier. In itself, I don't mind paying for this service, but $US 8 is too high. You also need to pay for parking. It costs $US 9 per day, with a maximum of $US 45 per month. Given this hotel is in a secluded area with sufficient parking capacity, I find this silly. It also used to be for free under the previous ownerships and I don't see why this had to be changed. The seating capacity for the breakfast is not sufficient on busy days. In particular on the weekends. Also because with 2 hours, the breakfast time is not that long. It can easily happen that there are no seats available. I think that there is enough headroom to increase the capacity and hope that this can be improved. Having said all of this, I will definitely return to this hotel whenever I'm in town!

less