A Review of Summerfield Suites Hotels - The Suite Life Near San Francisco

I generally choose to stay at Marriotts. The exception is when I have to travel to San Francisco for work or when I'm traveling with family and we need extra room for the three kids. One of my favorite alternatives to Marriott is the Summerfield Suites hotels. They are now part of the Hyatt chain.

I've stayed at various locations of Summerfield Suites many, many times over the years. I have stayed at this particular location about a dozen times over the past few years.

For those of you that have never stayed at Summerfield Suites, this is not an Embassy Suites or AmeriSuites type of hotel. Those are like efficiency hotel rooms with a living area and then a bedroom with a mini refrigerator and microwave. Summerfield Suites is like staying in a mini apartment. There's a choice of one or two bedrooms, a complete kitchen, and living room with TV and VCR. Some of the locations now have DVD players in place of the VCRs.

The Bedrooms
As I mentioned you can reserve either a one or two bedroom room. For the two bedroom suites, each bedroom has its own bathroom and own phone line. This is great, not only for families, but even for corporate business travelers. Multiple people can share a hotel suite and have complete privacy and cut down on the hotel expense. The bedrooms can be reserved with 2 doubles or one king size bed.

What I liked about the bedrooms
The mattresses are incredibly comfortable. They are just the right softness and are the new Hyatt Grand Bed. If I sink into a mattress, my back will ache in the morning. I usually sleep very well on these mattresses, though I wish I had my own pillows when I travel. I like a very firm pillow and these, as with most hotels, were very soft. They don't give my neck good support.

The bedrooms each have a desk with a phone (with a data port) and free high speed. The closets in the room have shelves to place folded clothes and a pole with plenty of hangers. There's also a dresser with drawers for storing clothes.

As far as the bathrooms, the toilet is separate from the shower area so one person can use the toilet while someone else is taking their shower. The hotel supplies the standard little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and hand lotion. There is a sign in the bathroom area that they try to conserve energy and water and ask that if you CAN use a towel again, to please hang it up. If you want a replacement when the housecleaning comes, place the towels on the floor.

What I didn't like about the bedrooms
It is terrific to have a separate bedroom and bathroom! What I didn't like was that space in the bedroom was cramped. If you have a large piece of luggage and there is really no place to put it where you don't have to crawl over it.

The shower has ok pressure but nothing great. I think they could have done better getting a shower head that saves water but still delivers a good shower. The temperature adjustment on these showers is a separate lever on the faucet. So you turn on the water all the way, then adjust the lever.

The Kitchen
Nothing bad to say about this! It is a kitchen with full size appliances, including refrigerator/freezer with icemaker, oven with 4 four burner stovetop, toaster, microwave, and coffee maker. The cabinets are stocked with dishware, silverware, cooking utensils, measuring cups, etc. Summerfield also supplies packets of regular and decaf coffee (it was only fair tasting), and Lipton tea bags.
Want some groceries but don't want to go looking for a grocery store? Summerfield has a grocery shopping service (no service charge). There's a grocery list on the cork board above the kitchen counter. Fill it out and drop it off at the front desk by 8:00 am and they will deliver the items on the list to your suite. The cost of the grocery items is added to your room bill.

Living Room
There's a pullout sleeper sofa (sleeps 2), ottoman, recliner, TV with VCR/DVD (I can't actually remember which it was), and a phone which has two phone lines (if you have a 2 bedroom suite). Didn't remember to bring videos with you? You can rent videos at a mini-mart in the lobby. There are the usual cable channels on the TV, including HBO.

Misc.
-- USA Today papers are available in the lobby, Monday through Friday.
-- In the lobby there is a mini convenience store open 24 hours. It sells beverages, microwavable foods, snacks, and cigarettes and personal items for cash or charge to the room.
-- While there is no restaurant in house, they serve a great complimentary breakfast buffet from 6:30 am to 9:30 am Monday through Friday and from 7:00 am to 10:30 am Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. They have a range of cereals, muffins, breads, bagels, and hot dishes like eggs, hash browns, sausage/bacon, or ham, and a variety of juices.
-- There is a pool in the courtyard that is open 8:00 am to 10:00 pm in season.
-- There is an exercise room open 24 hours a day. I did not check it out but one of my relatives that used it said it was 'decent.'

In the afternoons Monday through Thursday there is a complimentary social hour with beverages and light appetizers, in the guest house (behind the lobby).

One thing I do NOT like about this particular location is that if your room is not on the bottom floor you have to walk up flights of stairs. There are no elevators. Other locations of Summerfield Suites DO have elevators. So if there are any reasons you have a difficult time climbing steps, you should make sure you request a 1^st floor room.

Front Desk Service
The reception is usually professional, but a bit cold. Other Summerfield Suites hotels seem to have much friendlier front desk staff. These people are not Unfriendly, just not full of smiles. I think they need to loosen up a bit.

I cannot say enough good things about Summerfield Suites. When I was traveling 5 days/week during my road warrior days as a consultant for my employer, I stayed at various Summerfield Suites many times and never EVER had a bad experience.

How Suite It Is!!!