Marriott Residence Inn II Sunnyvale, CA Review

Location: 7/10 If you have ever been to the Silicon Valley area you will know first hand how hard it is to find a decent hotel. You would think with how "state of the art" the area is that the hotels would be on the same level. Sadly, that is not the case in this area, specifically the Sunnyvale/Cupertino/Palo Alto area. The majority of hotels in these areas are not the greatest nor the greatest hotels you are going to find. There are a few Hiltons around but even they are very limited and their availability is even worse. The location of this hotel is literally directly off the 101 in Sunnyvale and is directly across from the AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) US base for operations. There is another Residence Inn not far some this same location called Sunnyvale 1. The problem with the Sunnyvale 1 location is that its directly across from the 101 highway and is extremely noisy. Other reviews say they recommend that you request a room away from the highway. This location is not nearly as close to the highway as the Sunnyvale 1 location so any room should be acceptable. The location of the hotel provides easy access to all major companies in the surrounding areas (too many too list!).

The Hotel Itself: 7/10 The hotel itself is a typical Silicon Valley hotel although this location has recently been "refreshed" and is on the same level of the Marriott standard. The rooms all have full kitchens, fresh paint and refreshed decor and new furniture in the rooms. The hotel campus itself is in very good condition and is kept in good condition. The hotel staff are very responsive to requests and the check-in and check-out process was smooth with no delays. The only thing I recommend is asking for a room that is on the second floor since the rooms are stacked on top of each other the bottom rooms are going to be very noisy. I even noticed quite a bit of noise from the rooms adjoining me but not anything horrible. At night the rooms are dead quiet and you will get a great nights rest from these rooms. The only thing that could be better is the beds themselves, I found them to be slightly worn and in need of replacement, which I did mention to the front desk staff upon checkout.

There is a nice pool and outdoor tennis/basketball court that appeared to not be used very much. Even during my 2 week stay I never saw anyone use the pool facilities, but I did check it out and confirmed that it was always clean and ready for use. Sadly this location does NOT have a hot tub just a pool. I didnt have to use the on site laundry but be aware that each load of laundry is $1.50 and each dryer session is also $1.50, so bring some money with you if you plan on doing your laundry on an extended stay!

Breakfast/Coffee/Internet Access: 4/10 Part of me thinks that this should probably be even lower then a "4". The Breakfast at Residence Inn's are usually one Marriott's higher quality breakfasts, toted as the complete hot breakfast with complete buffet style options for selection. The problem? The food stinks. Plain and simple we are talking about some of the worst food you can find in a hotel, seriously I have had better food at Fairfield Inns then this Residence Inn. Very upsetting and not what I expected at all considering this is one of the highly toted features of staying at a Residence Inn. The good side of the coin, you have a full kitchen and you can go to the food store and make almost anything in the room which is much better then eating the breakfast in the hotel.

Coffee: Again…. Marriott…..Please….. its time to DUMP BARISTA Bold or whatever its called. Its just junk, its horrible, un-drinkable sad excuse for coffee. Every review I say this and maybe some day someone at Marriott Int't will listen and start getting something better. It doesnt have to be Starbucks (which isnt that great anyway) just something better then Barista Bold junk!

Internet Access: Fail. So let me explain about how the internet works at the Residence Inn and others that set up similarly to this one. Since the facility is completely outside campus they dont have access points that cover the property. Instead there are mini access points in each room, similar to your home wireless setup in each room. Located under each desk is a mini wireless router/dsl modem combo unit. At first your probably thinking, wow this is great, I get my own dedicated internet circuit and dont have to share with anyone else, sadly this is not the case. The internet speeds are horrible we are talking maybe a 1MB/256K DSL speed on a good day. Even after rebooting the system (pulling the power and plugging back in) the system was no better. I even took the liberty to call the "support" number that routes you to a center call center in India where the support person requests your MAC address and remote access webex session to test the speeds and your computer setup. Again, this is a huge FAIL. I used my Mifi device the entire time I was staying here, which by the way, the AT&T service in this area is absolutely horrible in.

Final Words: 7/10
The hotel itself isn't horrible but its not amazing either. I will definitely stay here again but not maybe not in the near future without trying another location first. There are a lot of pro's about this hotel, mostly the fact that you can cook your own meals in the hotel and not have to eat out all of the time, which really does save money in the long run. I would strongly recommend asking for a top floor and definitely a room away from the road if possible, although not a super requirement for this location. Considering the area and its options this may the best and only bet. One word of caution, this hotel is usually booked a month or MORE out, so if you have a trip planned you must book ahead of time of you are not getting a room. I booked a month out and barely got a room and the entire time I was there (2 weeks) the hotel was sold out 100% of the time.