Family friendly hotels: 4 hotel reviews
Patricia Jenkins from Kango blog wrote an interesting post about “how to define a family friendly hotel“. Her list of “benchmarks” includes: free breakfast, swimming pool , two rooms, clean, central to many activities, babysitting services, television with kids’ movies on demand, room services and good value.
I don’t have a kid yet and I haven’t paid attention to most of the above criteria, except of “free breakfast, good value and clean” before. In my recent trip from Shanghai to Palo Alto California, I have a chance to stayed in 4 different hotel/lodge/inn/motel (in each kind of accommodations, REALLY!) and even at friend’s house. Here is the full list of them:
- Extended StayAmerica Hotel in Santa Clara CA: great location to access hwy 237 and less than 5 miles away from the best Chinese food of SF Bay Area in Milpitas; and less than 8 miles away from the a shopping outlet Great Mall which will please moms. This is a studio hotel and mostly for long term stays. So no pools or kids’ movie on demand, but big room with kitchen with high speed internet at $4.99 per stay. Remember to ask to stay at double digit number rooms which are away from the rails and trains. So I am not surprised that I don’t find it in the list of San Jose family hotels.
- Pacific Inn in Mountain View CA: Free breakfast everyday and light dinner on Monday-Friday. Located on El Camino Real and easy to get around MV downtown. The room is a bit old but clean. On demand movies are available, again, no pools. I will rate it as a “very good value budget family hotel”.
- Monterey Bay Lodge in Monterey CA : I knew this is a kid friendly hotel even before I checked in as I saw kids were playing in the outdoor pools so happily when the temperature was only about 15 degree celcus. The single room I stayed was very tidy and neat but small, especially the restroom. I think they have rooms for families (read more details about the amenities and reviews here) Its location is a highlight, 3 minutes walk to a beach, 10 mins to Monterey Marina and probably less than 20 minutes to Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of the best ten in the country. As I expected, this lodge is on the list of Monterey family hotels.
- Oak Motel in Palo Alto CA: This is an old motel. Everything looks fine, but I felt like I was in 1990s. I only stayed for one night and nothing bothered me. I won’t suggest you eat the free breakfast if you are not in rush. Kids would love a tall Oak tree that goes through the 2-floor building.
It is a very different aspect to look at a hotel from “family” stand point. I never know that “two rooms” is so important for a family, especially when the kids are under a certain ages that parents wants to check out how they are doing from time to time. And a good family hotel is very important for a family vacation!
What’s your tips in finding the family friendly hotels?
Kids are swimming in Montery Bay Lodge. (Mar. 2008)
Tags: budget hotel silicon valley, family friendly hotel, reviews, SF bay area motels, Travel
Grigo
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