Four Seasons Silicon Valley with Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts

Four Seasons Silicon Valley with Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts

Last November there was an amazing sale on the Four Seasons Silicon Valley in Palo Alto.  On select dates they were offering rooms for $35 (+ tax) down from a standard $300/night.  I’m not sure if it was a pricing error or just some sort of flash sale to get some press.  Either way, I booked a Saturday night through the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program.

When you book the Four Seasons Silicon Valley with the Amex program, you get the following benefits (I crossed out the ones that didn’t apply to my stay):

  • Noon Check-in, When Available
  • Room Upgrade upon Arrival, When Available
  • Daily Breakfast for Two People – a total of $80 credit at any of the restaurants or room service for breakfast
  • Guaranteed 4pm Late Check-out – I checked out at 11am anyway, but I’m sure this would have been available if needed.
  • Complimentary Wi-Fi (basic wifi is free for all guests, I would have had to pay for premium internet)
  • $100 Spa Services Credit

I had no need for the stay, but figured I could always make good on a weekend in the Bay Area.

Location

The Four Seasons Silicon Valley is in East Palo Alto, just off Highway 101.  And I should say, it is JUST OFF the 101.

View from the hallway.

There is nothing within walking distance.  I imagine their standard clientele are people doing business with a tech company or at Stanford University.  Half of the rooms look right out onto the highway.  The property is in a modern office park.  Across the highway is IKEA.  The neighborhood around the hotel is lower/middle class apartments and single family homes.

Despite the curious location, the hotel is nice.  It isn’t a Four Seasons resort property (like the Four Seasons I stayed at in Scottsdale).  But it does offer luxury that you would expect from the name.

Check In

I checked in around 3:00pm, the standard check in time.  Despite the benefit of being able to check in early, my room wasn’t ready.  Instead I was offered a hearing impaired room, which besides a flashing doorbell, wasn’t any different.  I was told there were no upgrades available, so another benefit that didn’t help.  It is possible if I had paid a higher rate I would have been offered an upgrade.

I self parked my car which was a $12 fee.  Valet was also an option but double the price.

Four Seasons Silicon Valley

Room

I was assigned room 617 with a view of the office park courtyard rather than the highway.

The rooms at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley are spacious for a standard room.  As you enter the large bathroom is to the right while the rest of the room is straight ahead.

The decor is nice but is showing a bit of wear.  But very clean.  There are a lot of lighting options and everything is set up in a very intuitive way.  It always surprises me how many hotel room light switches don’t make sense.

Against one wall is the desk /table combo and TV.  Under the coffee maker is the mini fridge.  Two bottles of water (for the coffee machine) are provided and replenished during turn down service.

Four Seasons Silicon Valley

While a very small detail, I was surprised by the lack of “smart” thermostat.  It is a basic dial control with switch to control the fan speed.  It works, but nothing fancy.  Maybe Four Seasons has found that guests prefer the old school device.

The wifi, while free, was rather slow.  I was surprised considering this was Silicon Valley.  You could pay to upgrade to faster internet.

Bathroom

I find that luxury hotels stand out when it comes to the bathroom.  The Four Seasons Silicon Valley is no exception.

The dressing area has a closet as well as luggage stand with storage.  A pocket door can close off the dressing area from the rest of the bathroom.

Four Seasons Silicon Valley

A double vanity with deep sinks is along one wall.  The other wall has a soaking tub and shower.  The toilet is across from the shower and can be closed off with a pocket door.

Four Seasons Silicon Valley

The shower offered good water pressure; perhaps too good.  The drain couldn’t keep up with the flow and I ended up standing in an inch of water during my shower.  The shower head is basic; no rain shower or hand held wand.

The bath products are all L’Occitane’s Mer & Mistral line.  They are highly perfumed but I was provided perfume free products (not L’Occitane) when I called down to the front desk.

Four Seasons Silicon Valley

A Four Seasons rubber ducky was working on his laptop next to the tub.

Pool/Spa/Gym

The pool is small but well staffed and lots of available seating.  It bills itself as a rooftop pool, but in reality it is on floor 3.  It doesn’t feel like you are on the roof of the hotel.  There are also cabanas which seemed to be free to use.  The hot tub was under renovation — the wall you see in the photo with the 4 planters is a construction wall.  The staff were very friendly.  They set up your chair for you with towels and brought water.

I booked a 60 minute massage.  It is $165; minus the $100 credit I had.  I was impressed by the massage and the spa area is very relaxing with a steam room and jetted showers.  Guests can use the spa facilities without booking a treatment.

There is also a gym with plenty of equipment.  Disposable ear buds were provided to listen to music or the TVs.

Dining

My massage didn’t finish until 9pm so I was hungry when I got back to my room.  I ordered room service; they have some good options.  I was charged $5 for delivery and $5 for tip.  Not sure if that was a percentage or flat rate.  Room service is always over priced; I got a chicken wrap with small side salad and fries for $25.

Four Seasons Silicon Valley

In the morning I ate at Quattro.  Again, quite price; I ended up using $50 of the $80 breakfast credit on French toast, strawberries, orange juice and sparkling water.  It was a delicious breakfast, but $50 would have been painful if it hadn’t been covered.  The tip was even covered by the credit.

Four Seasons Silicon Valley

Overall

In the end, my entire bill for the stay was $159.61.  That included the room, parking, massage, two meals and all taxes and tips.  In an odd accounting issue (which MilesToMemories also had), instead of adding tax they subtracted the tax.  Meaning my room ended up only costing $24.37.  I didn’t realize it until I left, otherwise I would have pointed it out for them to fix.

As Four Seasons doesn’t have a loyalty program, there is no way to stay at the property on points.  So I think I got about as good of a deal as I could have.  Had a skipped the room service dinner and massage, I would have spent about $40 for the room + parking.

Had I not received the amazing rate, I would not go out of my way to stay at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley.  While a very nice hotel with great service, it wasn’t over the top luxury and the location is terrible unless you have a reason to be in the area.  If you do, it is worth checking the rates through Amex if you have a Platinum card.

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