Sonesta Simply Suites Silicon Valley Santa Clara

I frequent hotels for work (about 1-2 weeks per month), but the Sonesta Simply Suites Silicon Valley Hotel is by far the worst I have experienced in the Santa Clara area. I booked my 6-night trip through Chase Travel Rewards for $724.44 which included $109.44 for hotel taxes/fees. I also brought my dog and paid a $75 pet fee. These fees were expected, but what was not expected was the $7.50 a night parking fee. In addition to the parking fee, I was also charged $8.78 for state and city taxes, even though I had already prepaid $109.44 in taxes/fees. When I asked for an itemized receipt upon check out, I was told that the printer was broken and that I would receive one via email around noon (an hour after checkout at 11AM). By the way, there is free street parking around the parking lot of the complex the hotel is located in. Additionally, there is a CalTrain parking lot next door to the hotel that is only $5.50 for 24 hours, so this parking fee charged by the hotel felt like a complete rip-off. The room itself was clean, but it had a musty smell to it upon arrival as you can see was mentioned in other reviews. While the room was showing it's age & use, it had a little coffee maker, microwave, dishwasher, and a 2 burner electric stove. The room I was in was located on the side opposite the parking lot on the first floor. It was quite noisy. I could hear trains late into the night and people walking around upstairs. You will also commonly find people smoking on the bench directly in front of the hotel entrance that has a sign stating no smoking should occurs within 30 feet. Ha! Overall, I had a terrible experience at the Sonesta Simply Suites Silicon Valley Hotel. The hidden fees and lack of transparency made me feel like I was being taken advantage of. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone and really wish I read the reviews before booking this hotel. It is really situations like this that had made the AirBNB business expand so fast. The entire purpose of me writing this review is that I see that the hotel reads all of the reviews. I hope they change their practices and work more on customer satisfaction instead of nickel & diming the customers (which has been mentioned in more than one review). I will addend this review with the response from the hotel regarding the double dipping of the taxes taking place. I am also more than happy to provide the receipts of my stay if it would help anyone prevent unexpected fees. UPDATE: I submitted a complaint to corporate Sonesta which got forwarded to the assistant general manager, Carlos Donald, of this location. He said I was at fault for the parking charge because it was listed on Priceline's website. (I didn't book through Priceline though. I booked through Chase travel. The information is not the same between the two sites.) Moreover, I asked why did I have to pay taxes twice. This is the verbatim response from Carlos, "Pet fees are taxed in the city of Santa Clara. Some hotels have it already included with the rate. Some hotels do not. It is up to each individual hotel or their chain. On how they wish to proceed with that." So they the option to include the taxes within the pet fees you pay; but, they would rather nickel and dime the customer and make them pay extra fees on top of the extra fees they are already paying.

The building looks nice on the outside but inside it appears old. My room smelled musty when I first opened the door even though the AC had been on. The room didn't have much lighting so it appeared dark even with all the lights on. There's a rail road close by and multiple trains are heard throughout the night. I've stayed at many Sonestras before and most are modernized. This one is quite run down and they charge you $7 for parking/day. Pros: it has a little kitchenette that comes with silverware, a dish washer, 2 oven ranges, a full size fridge, microwave and coffee maker. Lots of office space. It's really close to Santa Clara University. There's a B of A within walking distance.