Hilton Santa Clara Hotel

Elite '08

95

280

Isabelle K.

Austin, TX

So backwards! The TV still looks like a old monster. Please change it to plasma TV. At least two other hotels (Embassy and Hyatt) I stayed in Santa Clara have plasma TV in room.
No Refrigerator. Isn't it the basic equipment in hotel room? I asked the front desk why I don't have a refrigerator, they told me they don't provide the refrigerator in the room, if I need one, I can rent one $10/day. Ridiculous! When did you go to a hotel and rent a refrigerator?BTW, I paid $175 per day! But no refrigerator.
The room is so small. I have claustrophobia after staying one week here. Can't wait to go back to Embassy suite.

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Elite '08

333

462

Joanne V.

San Jose, CA

I've had the pleasure of staying here at the Hilton last year because of a sister in law's wedding.

NOW I'm hosting my reception for my wedding here...The staff is amazing when it comes to catering and event support.  They are always prompt to return your phone calls as well as helpful, kind, and friendly.  

It's definitely a place I recommend for anyone who is considering getting married in a smaller venue.  165 guests at the most, I believe.  The food is pretty good and the size of the hall is small and intimate.  

The lobby of this hotel is beautiful.  I don't think you would've expected that from such as small Hilton.  The beds, are definitely comfy, there's not a real view, then again its Santa Clara, so I guess if you think Top Gun from Great American is a view, well you got your self the right hotel.

My fav part of this hotel is the fact that you can host a small venue here, and just a small venue.  You can be sure all the drunk people wandering through the lobby will be guests of your party and not someone else.    It's kinda nice knowing that, especially cuz some of my Filipino family can get out of hand with their San Miguel Beer!!

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12

46

Rocco R.

San Francisco, CA

Hated it...why is it that Paris can remain so glamorous while her hotels suffer? Its the day of the boutique hotels I tell you! ...in other words don't stay here.

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3

96

Anton N' Kiwi H.

San Jose, CA

Truly a nice hotel!

Great location, great staff, nice rooms... I've never had an issue with this place.   Price wise... decent.  Try Priceline or other websites like that, and you'll find cheap rooms here.  
But when it's a "cheaper" room, the view from your window is a view of a roof top of the hotel.  haha

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9

25

Kirsten A.

Long Beach, CA

Stayed here for Business Travel for over a year. Really nice hotel, SUPER nice staff.

I ended up switching to the Sheraton in Milpitas because the Sheraton has better breakfast, better Platinum/Diamond lounge (unlimited free wine... Hilton only gives you coupons for two free wines), and better TV (Sheraton gets E!, MTV, Comedy Central whereas the Hilton gets pretty much only the networks plus 24 news and sports.

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12

118

Chella G.

Santa Clara, CA

Stayed here for one night on 8-25-07. Booked the Great America package ..you get a king sized room and two day tickets to the park. The room was clean, the bed was big and comfy. Front desk was helpful. Will stay here again. =)

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Elite '08

10

340

Dan Y.

Santa Rosa, CA

This is an above average Hilton, beautifully decorated, with super comfortable beds, quiet rooms and all the amenities you expect in this price range. I booked through Priceline so the rate was an incredible fifty buckinos a night. Free parking, easy access to all Silicon Valley attractions, what's not to like. So, you ask, why only four stars? This hotel lost one star because, although the quality was there, the supernatural was sadly lacking. Let me explain. When I pulled this place up on TripAdvisor, I read a review from a woman who said that during her stay at the Hilton, she was awakened in the night by a GHOST pulling down the blanket and feeling her breasts. I'm not kidding, if you don't believe me go to TripAdvisor and read the review. So I booked a room here fully expecting that during the night, a ghostly form was going to materialize and pleasure me right there in my hotel room. Unfortunately that didn't happen. All I got for my fifty was a good night's sleep, nothing more. I read the review again and noticed that the woman who got serviced from the spirit world was in a suite, so I thought maybe this is something you only get on the executive floor, maybe with frequent flyer rewards or something. Who knows. So if you stay here, and you want some other wordly companionship, be sure to ask for an upgrade.

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Elite '08

4

75

Tom W.

Sachse, TX

Overall a pleasant hotel.  The bed was very comfortable and I was pleased to see a duvet instead of a bedspread.  

Prior comments regarding Internet access are no longer valid.  I had both wired and wireless access in my room, at no additional charge.

My only real complaint is minor.  The trashcans were designed more for form rather than function.  They are very narrow, which look very cool, but you can't even put a 32 oz McDonalds cup in it, it's way too narrow.  I had to leave much of my trash stacked next to the can rather than in it.

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2

20

Christine S.

Sunnyvale, CA

I have very mixed feelings about Hilton Santa Clara.

A year before my wedding, I had visited the Hilton Santa Clara and then booked another hotel (which I thought was cheaper) 6 months before the wedding, that other hotel announced renovations and told me to find someplace else. Nele Taufutee at the Hilton Santa Clara was wonderful and honored their prices from when I'd originally looked there. They were really a godsend. Our tasting was nice and Nele is great about e-mails. They were quite accomodating to our requests, but sometimes I had to really ask for what I wanted. They set up the room just as we had requested. Food service was good and there didn't seem to be any lags and all food seemed to be of the right temperature. One dish wasn't really what I remembered from our tasting, but it was still good.

I would have liked more service for us during the reception (I don't know if this would have been different if Nele had been able to stay the evening)...when I wanted more soda, it was sort of hard to find our waiter, but I was busy and it didn't really matter all that much. They did offer to put our entrees in to heat since we were trying to get in table visits, but I was afraid I wouldn't get them back. DH never got to his sorbet until it was all soup, so would have been nice if they'd kept that on ice, but I couldn't see the waiter to make that request. They also never cut our groom's cake. We didn't do a special formal cutting of it since it was the same cake so I guess they didn't know to cut it but they didn't ask. I also don't know if it was needed (it was supposed to add to the slice count of the main cake) but some slices seemed really thin even for wedding cake. Basicly, communication between us and the staff during the reception could have been better.

We should earn Hilton Honors points for the whole reception, but it seems to not be done automatically so I've had to ask Nele to look into that again.

The room block is handled by Dan Romero and I found it difficult to deal with. #1 they don't give a good rate for the room block. It was cheaper to book with your AAA card (and much cheaper to go through travelocity/expedia) than book in our block. He also would only let us block like 5 rooms a night...he was supposed to keep moving more rooms into the block as we booked but I had to keep e-mailing him after guests reported that the block was full and that they'd had to book outside the block. This meant most of our guests booked through expedia, etc because it was much cheaper to go that way. As I was planning our OOT boxes, I realized there were very few people in the block. I ended up e-mailing my guest list to Dan and he went through their whole guest list cross checking names and found most of our guests. Comps have also been difficult to get. #1 you have to have like 20 rooms for a comp room. After the wedding Dan had told us he'd look at the numbers and credit us. We waited. Finally 3 weeks after the wedding I e-mailed and found we qualified for 2 comps. I asked for the credit. So far we've been credited for one night, but not the other. I've put in another e-mail and I'm still waiting.

The bottom line: It's a nice place and the reception was really a good deal, but you have to be a bit of a pest and keep tracking down every detail.

PS: The rooms were nice but the breakfast buffet was awful the next day.  Order off the menu.

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Elite '08

224

201

Tiffany T.

San Jose, CA

An intimate and welcoming lobby will not fool me!

Internet access is only available in the lobby and there is no complimentary breakfast; those 2 should be the basics at any hotel.  

The room was clean and aesthetically pleasing; it didn't have some basic necessities like a mini fridge and an iron/ironing board.  There were dishes in hallway, which were not cleaned up from the previous morning!

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Elite '08

159

1009

deb n.

Palo Alto, CA

Pros:
For my out of town guests, this hotel is great.  I have gotten this 4 star hotel for as low at $45 on Priceline on a Friday or Saturday.  The beds are very nice and the linens are high threadcount.  Free wireless in the rooms.
Cons:
Mind you, when you check in, they give you the smallest room at the end of the hall but still is a 4 star hotel.  It is next to Great America and the Santa Clara convention center and not much more.  You definately need a car or someone to drive you around that area.  The business center is always crowded and only two computers, so tough to print out your boarding pass.  The pool is small and the Starbucks kiosks never seems open.  The housekeeping staff cleans, late, around 4pm.  There were trays of used plates in the hallway.  The hallway carpet is worn and puckered.

But if you want a nice place to sleep and a great price online and have a car, it is worth it.

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