I am still dreaming about our perfect Labor Day weekend getaway. My son and I found the most…read moremagical, art-filled historic home that instantly felt like a warm hug. Think lazy afternoon naps while catching the coastal breeze, slow mornings, brunch, shopping, and chasing the prettiest golden hour views at the Berkeley Marina. If your soul needs a cozy, inspiring place to reset, this hidden gem is absolutely it!!

B-Love's Guest House is an oasis that is hard to write a review for. Nestled in the heart of West…read moreOakland, "B-Love" hosts a part-hostel, part-private accommodation that seems to be able to meet any need, and has met mine for 1+ month in multiple stays now. In the two times I stayed here while commuting through the Bay Area, it was a gamble who I could share my kitchen or bathroom with.. but I always felt at peace as soon as I arrived. The "vibe" is curated as much as the artist hosting the space. "B-Love" stays around the home sometimes like a caring manager rather than an overbearing landlord. It was always good to see her around to update her on the house supplies, or just to hang out. She is a wealth of knowledge and history that comes along with the guest house and beautiful garden. However, she is also not in your business overall so if I ever wanted to ask for an accommodation in my room, or a question about the house, she was readily available on email or phone and happy to answer, as well as the other workers who are around regularly to clean up and help. The home sits in the heart of West Oakland, which might not have the best grocery stores, but you will encounter 3-story murals of the Women of the Black Panthers on the way to the Black-owned co-op grocery store (Mandela). You can also learn what a "food desert" is when they close at 8pm if you're carless, but you can also learn the goodness of local shopping when you hit the local liquor store (Sharif's) that makes sure to have your avocados and tortillas all the same. I would stay at B-Love's again and again. I miss the garden when I stay miles away visiting the Bay Area. Thank you for always catching me in my travels!

Honestly, I thought I'd be mugged here, but I didn't haha. There Cal and non-Cal students living…read morehere. Quite a few actually. The living conditions to my standards are horrible but that justifies the cheap stays. Only reviewing so y'all know this place still exists. Have fun~ P.S. call and ask for the real address when you arrive (which is on the same block just different house, it's a security measure they use to prevent crazy party goers from entering the house late and waking everyone up)

Location is excellent. North Berkeley Large Bedroom near U.C. Berkeley (3-blocks), parks and the…read moredowntown, in a good neighborhood within walking distance of Trader Joe's, Gourmet Ghetto and Public Transportation (BART subway transportation to SF). Many nice cafes and restaurants too. Close to the Berkeley Theater District and shops. It has studios, shared and single rooms. The place has large bedrooms with desks and kitchen and bathroom privileges. Great location with parks at the corner and some of the best restaurant including the world famous Chez Panisse Restaurant and Cheese Board a few blocks away. Hardwood floors and tiles. Location is hard to beat. Idea for young entrepreneurs, visiting scholars and students. The spacious rooms have a great deal of natural light and there is a nice backyard to enjoy.

Ok it's been confirmed, that guy who checks me in after 5pm is lowkey passive aggressive. I had a…read moreroom blocked out for me (according to AM staff) and when I checked in, he told me the only room available with A/C & windows that open is 235. The rest don't have A/C. I took his word for it & took Room 235. If you remember my last review, this was the room where the key didn't work & the door was stuck - couldn't even open it. Well all that is fixed now, but the bathroom is horrible. When I saw the custom sign affixed to the toilet not to flush items down the toilet, that should have rang alarms. Turns out you can't even flush toilet paper down this toilet. Yep. All I can do was Pee. The shower was peeling, burn marks on the bathroom counter & the lighting was just horrible. I'm only here for one night I told myself. The smell horrible. My travel air filter didnt make a difference. The smell aggravated my sinuses & lymphatic system because I never wake up with puffy eyes. How do you explain one puffy eye & the other one wasn't? But this girl is prepared because I always pack my serum, my Geshua & my facial brush to smooth out the lines. Keep in mind I always travel with my silk satin pillowcases too & I still got the puffies on my face. When I checked out, I saw the normal AM staff and she told me she blocked off a different room for me and asked why I got Room 235. Boom, See I knew it, I knew it! When he asked me again if I was coming into town for a concert and asked me if I wanted company and I politely declined...oooo that must have pissed him off. Dude don't you know you can't be approaching customers for the date. I don't know what is going on in the backroom on the first floor but the ladies of the night and their scantily clad bodies be taking the men back there. Hey I mind my business, but all I can think of is the germs, the bacteria, the fungui, and the parasites being exchanged. See and that's why I be wiping everything down things when I travel. IDK maybe next time, it would be different.

What a dump. The lobby smelled like weed. The hallways smelled like weed. We were in a "king…read moresuite". The dresser had collapsed and was unusable. The lampshade on the right nightstand was splattered with something, might have been blood. There was no lamp on the left nightstand. Curtains wouldn't close and were falling off the rod. The TV was disconnected from the DirectTV box, and once I reconnected it, volume could only be controlled from the physical button on the bottom of the TV itself. We had to ask for towels at the front counter because there was only one in our room. The thermostat above the bed was missing its cover and was unusable. Scary stains on the carpet. Baby cockroach in the bathroom. The only plus was that the bed appeared clean and was comfortable.

THE CITY CLUB BAR…read more John treated me ! Thanks Johnny boy!! I started with a Gin Martini 2 olives & a twist on ice ... Unfortunately the ice wasn't in cubes so the flavor was so watered down that I couldn't taste the gin at all...We then were served some great little warm breads with delicious butter YUM! The split mixed iceburg lettuce salad arrived which was a generous portion & well dressed with some notes of tarragon ..nice! John ordered the braised short rib & he subbed out the mashed potato/roquefort for the fried potato disks that came with the rib eye. Good spuds! My beef bourguignon had wonderful toothsome wide egg noodles but weirdly, chunks of green pepper & undercooked pearl onions? The beefy gravy was perfect on the pasta BUT the beef's texture was terrible.. mushy without a smidgen of bite! YUCK! When John had me taste his beef the resuts were much the same... too soft & textureless.. then the opposite...the pretty split carrot halves were too hard & undercooked on his plate to bring out their sweetness....I assume these 2 long cooked meats styles had been sitting for god knows how long I left most of the dinner to take home & see if I could repair the dish... (I'll probably eat the noodles and use the beef in a taco?). so my suggestion is to order the rack of lamb (if I return....which John had had & recommended) & stay away from long cooked items (except beans)

An absolutely stunning venue for an intimate wedding. My husband and I had the pleasure of…read moreattending a wonderful ceremony and reception here. The outside space for a wedding ceremony is so beautifully designed with all the plants. The historic interior added such a timeless look to our friends' reception and we really enjoyed the food provided too. Would definitely recommend as a venue!

Their cleanliness, the room smells like piss and shit. There were yellow stains on the bottom of…read morethe pillows some sort of residue on the mirrors there were bugs, crawling around on the sheets covers. The air conditioner was dirty There were frequent visits of hoes in the middle of the night. I couldn't get any sleep altogether truly terrible experience.

I stayed at this hotel on July 7, 2022. I checked in with a woman around 9:30pm after a long day on…read morethe road. The first room they gave me seemed decent enough at $99 until I was lying on the bed and started feeling like I was being bitten. I saw a small bug and smashed it into the sheet it was walking on. Then I was going to bed and pulled the sheets back to find this bigger bug crawling through my sheets! I took a video and went to the front office now after midnight and rang the bell. A man answered and he came to my room to look at the evidence of the bugs, took his own pictures. I wanted to leave the hotel but it was too late to try to find another one in Oakland at that hour. He made no offer of refunding the room. He was not horrified or sincerely apologetic and it was as if he knew the rooms had bedbugs. He moved me to a room a few doors down which I did go to because it was so late and I was already in my pajamas, but I slept fitfully feeling the crawlies all night long.

Stayed here one night, for a concert at the Greek. Cool old…read morehotel, with enough charm to counter the negatives. Pros: It is an historic building, built in 1928. I checked in at about 6pm, and there was still parking available. Being Hilton Gold got me a $55 food credit, Skittles, and bottled water. The room was cozy. The hot water got very hot instantly. The bed was comfy. Cool decor in the room. Booked with Hilton points, so only cost me $68 for parking and taxes. Cons: Most ridiculous bathroom sink ever. With a faucet that was too big for the tiny (8"x12" maybe) sink. You could not wash your hands without getting water everywhere, and washing your face meant soaking most of the bathroom. No place to put your toiletries, other than the tiny glass shelf with the extra roll of TP. Shower not intended for people over 5' 8" A little noisy, but they provided one pair of earplugs. Lights in hall would go out, but I believe they had a motion sensor. No nightstand on one side of the bed. I was not informed of the charge for parking ($40). Food credit hard to use as restaurant closes at 10 pm and 10am. But overall, not bad. I would stay here again.

I'm not usually someone who leaves negative reviews. If you look through my Yelp history, I'm much…read moremore likely to call out a great experience, and if something goes wrong, I usually try to handle it directly with the business rather than post about it publicly. In this case, I tried that, and the way the hotel handled each issue is actually what pushed me to write this. I booked through Travelocity and specifically reserved a top-floor room with a king bed. At check-in, the front desk didn't mention that they were giving us something completely different. We went upstairs and discovered we were on the second floor, near the elevator, with a double bed. When I went back downstairs to ask what had happened, the response was basically that they don't really see those details from third-party bookings, they were sold out of king rooms and the room they gave us was technically more expensive, so we should be happy with the upgrade. That missed the point entirely. If the hotel couldn't honor the room I booked, I would have appreciated someone simply saying that at check-in: "I see you booked a king on a higher floor. Unfortunately we're sold out of kings tonight. Here's what we have available." Instead, we weren't told anything and then were made to feel as though we should be grateful when we questioned it. Then came the bigger problem: at around 2 am, the AC unit started making an incredibly loud, repetitive thumping noise. It was impossible to sleep through. When I went downstairs around 5 am and mentioned it to another front desk employee, the reaction was again surprisingly dismissive. I was told that it's an older building and that there were earplugs next to the bed. There was, in fact, one pair of earplugs in the room, which made me wonder if the hotel already knew that particular room had a noise problem. What bothered me most was not even that something broke. Things happen. It was that there was no real acknowledgment of the problem. No "I'm so sorry." No "We'll have someone check that." No attempt to make it right. Just essentially, "Yes, it's noisy. There are earplugs." If an AC unit is making enough noise that guests need earplugs to sleep through it, that room probably shouldn't be rented until it is fixed. I honestly would rather have been told that the hotel was overbooked and that we needed to find another place than spend the night awake in a small bed in a noisy room. The biggest issue here was the service. Both situations could have been handled very differently with a little communication and basic hospitality. Instead, the front desk staff seemed unprepared to acknowledge problems, explain what was happening or make any effort to address them. So unfortunately, here I am writing the negative review I normally try very hard not to write. I hope the hotel takes a serious look at how its front desk team handles situations like this, because the problems themselves were frustrating, but the response to them made the experience significantly worse.

After spending two previous weeks in a Best Western, we came to this one so that we could catch our…read moreflight out the next morning. They actually had a room ready and let us check in one hour early. To keep this review brief, I decided to just give the pros and cons and add informative photos. Pros: comfy king bed, big closet, large safe, microwave, fridge, keurig, quiet room, open balcony, San Francisco Bay Trail below our balcony, large bath with separate shower, Exercise room with no free weights, Quench water machine, EV chargers, snack/drink machines, morning breakfast/coffee served (worth skipping). Cons: No USB ports in the room?! Hotel is fairly close to the sketchy side of town (homeless camp 200 ft from hotel). No cold bottled water for rewards members, no pool, no airport shuttle, carpeting instead of laminate flooring, paid parking, our thermostat was really glitchy and would not work. Added benefit: your hotel key gains you access to the Executive Inn and Suites next door. There you will find a small pool/hot tub. There's also a small bar that opens at 5pm (happy hour 5:30-7:30) and you can order food as well. A Monday night stay was $325 and they charge $17 a day to park in their lot next to Hwy 880, not in a garage. I thought the rate was fairly high considering it's not the closest hotel to the airport and it's in the sketchy part of town. Check out the photos.

Really pleased with this hotel. The staff is kind, room is clean and comfortable. Loved walking on…read morethe path as the sunset and hearing the horns from the naval station across the bay.

This hotel is cool if you are on a budget, need a break but don't want to go to far, for a hook up,…read moreor hide for a weekend. It's 2 and a half stars, so that tells you right there what you are working with. Room was clean and my King size bed had fresh sheet. Plenty of Towels with a fist hole behind the bathroom door. There was some in the front but, they patched it up. I had a mini fridge and microwave that was in working order. BAM ! I'M GOOD TO GO !! One thing you need to understand is, your not in control of your neighbors. So that might be a problem for some. One night it was like live cable out side my door. Don't worry, it wasn't News worthy. Just a girl tired of her leaving her all the time. We had a moment and she shut up back in her room. :) Few parking and WiFi. You might need to sit close to the TV for it to work steady. Oh , I almost forgot, THE CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST! WOO ! It not the the typical breakfast with bacon, sausage ,eggs ,pancakes, freshly-made waffles ,with some fruit and maybe some yogurt, coffee and all the fixin's. NOT HAPPENING HERE, SUGAR PIE ! You get coffee, boxed cereal and a piece of white bread. Hey ! It's Free ! I'm old school, so brought my on food. With all that being said, I will come back for another weekend. The staff was great , helpful and courteous. That's all I have to say. Keeping it Real ! Smooches

Please stay away from this hotel…read more My experience at the Econo Lodge near Lake Merritt was extremely disappointing and concerning. On my first night, I developed a large rash. After becoming concerned, I inspected the bed sheets and found two bed bugs. I immediately brought this issue to the manager's attention. Instead of taking my complaint seriously, I was told that I was exaggerating and that he could not be sure whether I had brought the bed bugs into the room myself. I found this response very concerning, especially given that I had just discovered bed bugs in the bed. I was given a second room for my second night, but the manager refused to inspect the new room before I stayed there. When I checked the room myself, I found that the bed sheets had multiple holes in them. Overall, this was an extremely unpleasant experience. Finding bed bugs in a hotel room is a serious health and sanitation concern, and I was very disappointed by the way my complaint was handled. Based on my experience, I would strongly recommend that travelers consider other accommodations. If I could I would give this hotel 0 stars.

Way over priced for a piss in the sink room. Crack was sub-par. Desk 'staff' is comically…read moreincompetent. Feh, you've been warned, just read the other reviews. Room on 6th floor, 'elevator is for staff use only', etc. ffffffuuuuuuuuu!!

I'm not surprised that this place doesn't have any reviews. Its not even really worth it to review…read morethis place. But hopefully, this review will help those make a better decision before staying here. I'm only staying in this hotel since my living situation went to shambles. Until I found a new place to call home, I started looking at hotels that had cheap weekly rates. I chose Empyrean Towers because its super close to where I work. That is the only pro I give this place. My cons are as follow: 1. When I reserved a room, I booked from their website and chose a premier room with a private bath. I chose this room for the bathroom and the fact that it came with a microwave and refrigerator also. On the day I was coming to check in, I got a call from an employee who wanted to let me know that there was a problem with the room and I couldn't stay in it from the night. Instead, he moved me to a double room and knocked off 2 days 2. I had no use of the elevator. It works, but only management and staff are able to use it. I had to lug my bike up 6 flights of steps. 3. There was no hot water on the 6th floor. Since I wasn't in my private room, I had to use the shared bathrooms which looked iffy. As in they weren't cleaned very often. There are 2 bathrooms on each floor. On my floor, one of the bathroom has this really disgusting stench like something died in there and the other had absolutely no hot water coming from the shower head. In order to take a hot shower, I had to travel down to the 4th floor. 4. Not only did I have to go to the 4th floor to use a shower room with hot water, but the door didn't close properly. You had to push the door open to get in, but the lock that was installed on the door was meant for a door that you PULLED OPEN. So my showers lasted only 5 minutes as to prevent people from walking in on me while I was naked. 5. At the time of this review, I would have stayed in this hotel for 4 days. I never saw a single housekeeper during my time here. The trash cans in the hallway are overflowing with trash and it smells so horrible in the hallways. 6. Also......I RARELY EVER SAW ANYONE WHO WORKED IN THIS HOTEL!!!! This place isn't worth staying at. It was horrible and just upsetting. P.S. I actually wrote this review some time ago.