For those of you who go to the San Francisco Bay Area for glamour, wine, nature, culture and luxury, this destination chain hotel may not be your first pick, but so often, even those of us who travel for pleasure often end up in the same location for a conference or business reason. Enter San Jose, CA, roughly an hour from San Francisco and slightly less from the San Francisco Airport, there are numerous chain hotels (mostly mid-level) in the San Jose area, some of which are better picks than others for a myriad of reasons. The Hyatt Downtown San Jose is a stone’s throw from the San Jose Airport and is a super convenient stay for any events happening downtown (which is often) or even if you have an event in the peripheral area.
Set in downtown San Jose, this fairly standard, no frills Hyatt is 4.5 miles from Santa Clara University and 7.6 miles from Raging Waters water park, worth noting for those family travelers among you. They offer suites (first image below), good sized kings and queens with an area with pull out couches and desk space (great for business travelers), and WiFi is free for all guests. Like most hotels in this category, there are coffeemakers and mini-fridges. Suites offer separate work spaces and/or additional bathrooms.
Below, a more standard king with a pull out sofa included, which was the category of room we stayed in during our late Fall stay for an event we had in the area.
It was a bit of a whirlwind stay and unlike 99.9% of our hotel stays, we had very little time, so can’t speak to the restaurant for dinner, the fitness room or frankly, even the reliability of the wifi since we were there for such a short duration. That said, we can speak to location and convenience, which is one of the reasons we were keen to explore the property.Complimentary hot breakfast is available for guests and other amenities include a 24/7 market cafe, a coffee/cocktails bar and a 24-hour fitness center which we wished we had time to experience. As noted earlier, they are also close to the San Jose Airport, so if whizzing through for a conference or business meeting, it’s a convenient choice. While we’re on business ‘stays,’ it’s worth noting that they feature more than 12,000 square feet of flexible meeting/banquet place.
If you read us often enough, you know we’re big foodies over here and tend to try to review hotel restaurants as part of the experience which we didn’t do here, but we did take in Kitchen Skillet briefly for their morning offerings, which included an array of teas, coffee (medium roast and decaf) and a buffet breakfast. If you’re traveling with kids, it’s a good choice since at least in our experience, it was very family friendly and there were more families dining in the AM than business travelers although it was definitely a mixed crowd.
Given our limited experience, we’d advise for it for a short business stay and/or a short family stay without more time and/or more exploration of their options for deeper offerings. The adjacent sofa sleeper in many rooms makes it a good family choice if you’re passing through or in the Bay Area for what I’d refer to as “mixed travel” – business meets pleasure meets we’re here on business, but have family or a meeting or an event. There’s SO much to do in the Bay Area that it can make a great launching pad. If you’re into luxury and upscale pampering however, you will likely want to venture further up the peninsula or extend your stay and head to Marin, Sonoma or Napa.
Below, a few random shots I took of the breakfast bar….. not for the vegans and organic peeps among you and while they did have yogurt and fruit, this really is the better choice for a business or family stay. If we ever stay here again, we’ll try to provide more insight into their restaurant and fitness offerings.
DETAILS:
Hyatt Downtown San Jose
282 South Almaden Blvd.
San Jose, CA 95113
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
