For the first night of our trip to San Francisco, ATX Jr. and I headed down to Sunnyvale where Mrs. ATX was working for the week. I ended up spending one night at the Aloft Sunnyvale before we headed into the city.
Booking
Since Mrs. ATX needed to be in town for work, she booked the hotel via her company travel portal which gave her a discounted, but still pricey rate. I checked on Marriott.com to see what a typical rate goes for and a king room is retailing for a whopping $394 per night.
Aloft Sunnyvale Location
The Aloft Sunnyvale is located on South Sunnyvale Avenue, a block away from Murphy Street, a pedestrian only street lined with shops, bars, and restaurants. The hotel is also a short walk from the Sunnyvale CalTrain station that runs between San Jose and San Francisco.
The hotel itself could be mistaken for an apartment building and the entrance is located in the rear, sharing a parking lot with a neighboring strip mall. There was no signage visible from the road that I could see during our visit so keep your eyes peeled. If I didn’t have Mrs. ATX in the car with me, who had been there for a few days, I would have missed it.
The primary entrance, located in the rear, is marked with Aloft and wxyz Lounge signage.
Aloft Sunnyvale Lobby and Check-In
The lobby entrance is at the end of a small courtyard, which is surrounded by guest rooms. It reminded me somewhat of a New Orleans courtyard. While I didn’t see anyone using it during our short visit, the weather was great and this could be a nice space to work or enjoy a beverage.
The check-in desk is located just inside the sliding glass doors at the end of the courtyard. We were already checked in to our room but the staff at the hotel were extremely friendly during our interactions throughout our stay.
Elevators are located just past the check-in desk with the main lobby area off to the right. While everything was clean during my visit, this property is starting to show its age, it opened in 2015 as the first Aloft conversion ever done. The building dates back to 1960 and was previously known as the Pacific Inn.
The ceilings are low and the support columns make this a darker space, even in the middle of the day, as the natural light is almost nonexistent.
There are 2 booths with tables in the lobby, each with an individual TV. These can seat 4-6 guests each.
Three, two-person, cafe tables are located between the Re:Fuel and wxyz Lounge (more on those later).
Finally, there are two seating areas with couches, tables, and armchairs, that surround a central fireplace.
Aloft Sunnyvale Guest Room
When Mrs. ATX arrived at the hotel earlier in the week, the property was completely sold out. Since she was on her own booking, and only holds Marriott Bonvoy Silver status, we were assigned Room 103, a king room located on the first floor just off the lobby.
Full disclosure, since our room had already been lived in when I arrived, I asked the hotel staff if they had an unoccupied room I could photograph for the purposes of this review.
I asked towards the end of our stay to ensure that the rest of our experience wasn’t compromised. The staff couldn’t have been nicer and allowed me to use the adjacent room, Room 102, for these photos. Nothing was done to the room prior to my visit as I was taken straight to the room from the front desk after making the request.
Upon entering the room, I noticed that it was on the smaller side. This wasn’t surprising given the part of the country we were in and the fact that Aloft properties overall tend to have smaller rooms. The bathroom is located to the right and the room primary area is directly ahead.
The bed is flanked by nightstands that are built into the wall. Lights are located above each side of the bed for reading/mood lighting.
The nightstand on the left has the alarm clock, which includes a built in radio and USB-A charging ports. Standard 12V plugs and the overhead light switches are also located here.
On the opposite nightstand is the coffeemaker. It is an old school Mr. Coffee machine with individual pouches for use. Tea, sugar, creamer, and stir sticks are also available.
A large flat-screen TV is mounted on the wall opposite the bed. A small, narrow shelf is located below which is good for holding keys and the remote but not much more.
Against the back wall is a small desk space with a phone, lamp, power outlets, ice bucket, and a couple bottles of water.
A small mini-fridge is located underneath the desk. I managed to keep things cool, but not cold.
There is also a small window though, on the ground floor, we only had a view of a ivy covered wall. It can slide open slightly should you want some fresh air.
Back next to the entrance is an armoire with has hangars, a luggage rack, iron, ironing board, and a safe.
While the room itself is small, the bathroom has plenty of space, including a decent sized vanity.
Drybar branded toiletries are the standard at Aloft properties and this one was no different. Body lotion and soap were present at the sink.
The shower is a decent size but has a funky footrest type thing inside. It’s too low to be a bench so I assume it is hiding some of the plumbing of the property.
Toiletries are mounted on the wall in reusable containers and are also drybar branded.
Overall, the room was fine but underwhelming for the price point.
Aloft Sunnyvale Food and Beverage
The Aloft Sunnyvale has three two food and beverage outlets that are all located in the lobby. Re:Fuel is the property’s breakfast cafe and has a small selection of breakfast items that can be ordered off of the menu along with pastries, coffee, and beverages.
The breakfast items are only available in the morning while the beverages and pastries can be purchased at the front desk.
Adjacent to Re:Fuel is wxyz Lounge. Given its size it has a surprising selection of beverages and the bar stayed busy during our stay.
Finally, there is a small snack counter located next to the check-in desk with a variety of snacks. The items were on the pricy side so check them before going on a shopping spree.
Aloft Sunnyvale Fitness Center
Given the size of the property, the fitness center is surprisingly large. Branded as Re:Charge it has multiple treadmills, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes along with free weights and weight machines.
The gym overlooks the main road in front of the hotel and gets a good amount of light thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
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Aloft Sunnyvale Business Center
There is a small business center located on property which has a single computer and a printer. It almost seems as if it was added as an afterthought as it is in the hallway just off the elevator on the second floor.
Summary
Overall, I found our stay at the Aloft Sunnyvale to be perfectly adequate. The property isn’t the newest out there, especially considering the original building is 65 years old, but it has been well maintained. The view isn’t anything to write home about either but the staff were extremely accommodating and friendly and the location was great.
While I didn’t mind my stay at this property, with the high prices, I’ll likely shop around for another property on my next visit to the city. One of my favorite hotels in the area, the TETRA Hotel, can be booked for roughly the same rate with enough advance notice though it’s trade off is the location.