Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa

This is one of my favorite hotels! My wife and I live locally and we come here few times a year just for a little staycation. When you go through the doors you feel like you are transported to somewhere in France. There are several aspects to things we love about this hotel, so I am going to break it down in sections.

Parking: 5/5
Parking is very easy. They have some outdoor parking right around the hotel and smaller 1 floor garage. The elevator from the garage is close to any parking space down there. Parking is $25 for a night/day with in an out privileges.

Rooms: 5/5
The rooms are very nice. They have nice furniture, comfortable bed and are very spacious (Much larger than a standard hotel room). The rooms all have a mini fridge that you can put your drinks or leftovers in as well an area to make drinks, coffee, etc. They also include 2 bottles of water of their own brand for free. They also have a wine bottle opener to use at your leisure. There are 2 very nice spa robes for your use that are stored in the closet. The cool thing is that if you like the robes or any of the accessories such as the wine opener, you can simply take them home with you and they will include the charge to your bill. (The pricing for these items is listed in your room).

Accommodations: 5/5
The accommodations include a heated pool, hot tub, fitness center, party room, event room, relaxing courtyards with seating areas and tables, spa treatment area and an attached restaurant (The Park Bistro and Bar). The pool and fitness area are just so beautiful and relaxing. The hot tub is always at a good temp and the pool is always warm. They have plenty of seating and loungers with umbrellas. There is also a beautiful large gas fireplace area with tables and chairs in front of it. Perfect place to hang out and read a book or enjoy your coffee. The fitness center and spa area are both facing the pool courtyard. There used to be a sauna right next to the hot tub, but it looks like they have shut that down now and use it for storage unfortunately. Even without this though, it's still a 5/5. They also have pool towels that are accessible and a large water filling station with cups in the area. They also offer a pool day use pass if you just want to enjoy this area without staying in the hotel.

Service: 5/5
Every time we have stayed, we have received excellent customer service. Most of the time, we have received a complimentary room upgrade upon check-in. The staff is always very friendly and greet you with a smile.

Price: 5/5
Prices range from $200-300+ depending on the day of the week, the type of room and if they have any specials going on. They seem to run several deals throughout the year. So it is worth checking their website from time to time. But, on average we have paid about $230-250 for a 1 king bed standard room when we have stayed, and we always feel we get our money's worth for what we get with the room.

Area: 5/5
This is walking distance to downtown Lafayette which has several shops, restaurants, cafes and grocery stores. It is also very close to Bart (short Uber drive or about a 15-20 min walk.)

This hotel is great if you are not from the area and want a great place to stay and still have easy access to SF or anywhere else around the Bay Area. It's also great to have a romantic or family/friends staycation or event.

We've driven past this legendary Bay Area hotel for the past two decades and always tried to imagine the luxury within. We've been lucky enough to have stayed at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa (a sister property) several times and always felt like it was the total splurge in elegant California hospitality. So finally we had a chance to spend one night, and it not exaggeration when I say praise jebus it's only one night.

Let me put it this way, we haven't even gone to bed or checked out yet and we wish we could get a do-over on our decision to stay here. It would have been better to maintain the illusion in our minds of the hallowed "luxury."

The general take away is how dated and in need of a facelift everything seemed. From the wood floors outside the elevators, to the old elevators, to the room carpeting, to grandmas stained and worn room furniture and furnishings, to the not really big enough for bathing in bathtub, to the not even cool enough to be retro sink fixtures. All of it is just kind of shabby and nowhere near the quality you would expect from the cost of a nights stay here.

The bed was also disappointing. First glance it looked like your standard hotel bed with crisp sheets, duvet, and all hospital corners. But after 5 minutes reclining I found my body sinking unevenly in some places while feeling supported in other spots. My head felt lower than my torso, like I was lying head down on a slight incline. So much so that I had to stuff the ironing board under the mattress to try to even things out.

The irregularities persisted the more we looked around. Or sniffed around. The first impression of the room was a general musty odor. Like the room needed an airing out or dehumidifier. Again, a grandmas house vibe. When we opened the windows for some fresh air, we also noticed there were no screens in the windows (we're from the East Bay and can speak with authority on our mosquitos and flys). And I'm not sure if there was supposed to be one, but our room had no directory book or room service menu. Also, was the toilet tissue holder with the opening facing the direction you pull so that the roll falls off every time you pull installed by a sadist?

I'd like to note that the interaction with staff on checkin was professional and pleasant. So no complaints there. Likewise, we did not eat or have drinks at the hotel, so we can't comment in that regard.

I'm not trying to beat up on the Lafayette Park Hotel & Spa. We really wanted this stay to be great. We went into this short stay with every expectation that we would be striking gold. Unfortunately, we struck out instead.

This is like a common old fashioned cute hotel. The hotel is big and nice although it isn't in the best location the space makes up for that. They have all the amenities you could want and the rooms are very big.

The bathrooms are a decent size and there are a bunch of lotions and moisturizer samples. The shampoo are in big containers and have nice scents. The shampoo is mint, the body wash is lemon grass and the conditioner is also mint.I personally love those flavors but the mint can sting min your eyes and isn't great for babies or younger kids. The water pressure is light which I like but some people might not.

The beds are nice and have nice backboards but are a little soggy and uncomfortable for two people. There is a nice elegant desk and chairs as well as the room bring a very big size with tall ceilings. The closet is the perfect size for someone who is staying for a week and there is a TV in the room but it doesn't have cable TV which is annoying.

The food I didn't get to try because for the room service the person was coughing and she said the wait was at least an hour for the food.

Clean, quaint and quiet with comfy beds and all the toiletry extras you need. Great breakfast and service too! Just what we needed after a long travel day.

Had the BEST time for Valentines Day at the Lafayette Park Hotel! The service from April at the front desk was especially superb, she catered to all my needs and deserves all the recognition! She truly made our stay the best time. The room was gorgeous, location is perfect with easy access to downtown. The amenities are clean and well kept. Like a slice of heaven in my hometown. I can't believe I'd never been. Parking was easy and all staff was very friendly and helpful. You didn't see one face of any employee not smiling and greeting you anywhere you go. I would absolutely recommend this place to friends visiting the area. So calm and serene.

The ambiance of the hotel is lovely but I found it really lacking when it came to hospitality, at least as far as the front desk goes. We got zero warmth upon arrival -- in fact I would go as far as to say that it was one of the worst receptions I've ever received ... it wasn't hostile, it just felt like I was walking up to a window of the DMV, not checking into a really pricey suite at an upscale hotel. The suite we stayed in was super underwhelming despite it supposedly being one of the nicest suites in the hotel. There were some nice touches, such as a couple complimentary things but it was super disappointing. The next day we had a nice experience at breakfast, as all of the servers and food service people were very sweet and super professional but here's what happened next: the hospitality took a serious nosedive when, as we were getting ready to check out, I got an episode of Tacychardia. I had my daughter call the front desk to explain I had this condition and couldn't really move until it passed but she was told that the manager had told them under no circumstances to let anyone stay past checkout. Here I was -- my heart rate was past 200 and I had to stress about getting out of the room before it converted. Ultimately, my brother and daughter spoke to someone in person and they said I could stay longer but at that point I had already dragged myself out of the hotel room, barely being able to breathe as I slowly made my way out. Did anyone ask if I was ok or offer anything during this time? Absolutely not. What happened next is a cosmic joke: I have an electric Mercedes and I locked my keys in the car with my phone. I was unable, despite trying over and over again in the garage, to get my car open. I spent four hours dealing with Mercedes to deal with it (luckily my brother took my daughter shopping during this ordeal and literally no one except for the bell hop (who was amazing) showed me any sympathy or even offered me anything. They didn't even bother to acknowledge me at all. I am not one of these people who thinks service people are slighting me left and right -- in fact, it's extremely rare for me to find problems with customer service but I almost felt like I was in a Soviet bloc hotel circa 1980 with the indifference and lack of hospitality I felt. Seriously. Again, the pool area and general ambiance were lovely but wow, they need a personnel overhaul. The other serious ding is their shoddy WiFi set up. It's unsecured and super weak and there is no excuse for either of those in this day and age. Invest in better routers and boosters and set your system up so that guests actually have to sign in. This hotel is in the SF Bay Area, not Alabama!
I would never return here because my experience was pretty much the opposite of what you would hope to receive at any hotel/spa. You want to be nurtured and given respite and warmth. This is what the hospitality industry is all about but other than the servers and the bell hop I did not find that here.

It's been a while, we went after Christmas in a Tuesday and it was packed at the bar, we made reservations via Yelp earlier in the day. Tasty food-good service. Not particularly fast but we enjoyed it.

This was the best hotel i've stayed at with friendly service and a very clean executive like suite. The view outside the window of the water fountain and bistro area. Our room had a "at home" feel to it, very relaxing.

i was one of the first clients in the morning. the ambiance was great and rooms were clean my massage was really relaxing. We had lunch there and food was good but I wasn't crazy about all the options.

Everything was great! Friendly and attentive service, how quickly the food came out, and the drinks and dishes were delicious.

Standouts were the appetizers: delicious and tender grilled octopus and the tomatoes and burrata salad was amazing.

The mains were ok: braised short rib was a bit dry and salty, and the salmon was not as memorable. The fries were good!

My husband was a huge fan of the creme brûlée and we were fans of the specialty drinks with local gin as well!