Garden Court Hotel

Fantastic location right in the middle of where you want to be in Palo Alto. Although the Hotel was undergoing renovations, they were extremely accommodating regarding being helpful at checkin and during our stay. The staff was pleasant and went out of their way to be gracious. Coffee is served everyday on each floor - when I went to get some at the end of the serving time for the day, a staff person who happened to be walking by noticed that the coffee was gone - asked my room number and brought up coffee himself immediately. Everyone we encountered asked if we were enjoying ourselves or needed anything- very nice. The room was extremely comfortable and the bathroom was great; we would look forward to another stay there again.

Our family stayed here last month to attend a wedding. I generally do not stay at boutique hotels because the consistency of service is unpredictable. We decided to stay here because the hotel was the wedding venue and we had children who would need to go to sleep immediately after the festivities. We were very happy we decided to stay here. Despite the fact that the hotel was undergoing renovation which had the front entrance closed off, we did not find it to be an inconvenience. Because we were staying in a weekend, the parking in the adjacent city lot were free and there was always a person available at the temporary entrance to assist with luggage. The rooms are very well appointed and clean and each room seems to be unique. We had two rooms and the room arrangements were different from one another (a good thing). The hotel is not large. There is an Italian restaurant on the ground floor called Il Fornio which is affiliated with the hotel and food can be charged to the room. Each morning, a continental breakfast with coffee, tea and pastries is served in the elevator lobby of each floor as well as the main lobby. It is replenished regularly throughout the morning. The event area where the wedding reception was held was intimate which was just the right size for the wedding we attended. The event space opens into the hotel courtyard which gave guests plenty of room to move around. The hotel is located in downtown Palo Alto. Stanford University is close by but unless you have plenty of time, it is not in a reasonable walking distance if you are rushing to get to a campus office. I do not believe there are any hotels adjacent to the campus given its layout. I think downtown Palo Alto is as close as one can get. Overall, this is a very nice upscale boutique hotel and a very good venue for a small to medium sized wedding reception.

Recently visited...this place is charming. It is clean , well appointed, and has a welcoming feel. It is expensive, but worth it. The room was large and the king bed comfortable. Thanks for the great stay!

Just like any place in this area the hotels are not a good value; The lobby renovation is still going on; at the front of the hotel, construction vehicles everywhere; finding parking painful; we have stayed here a few times before, great courtyard! However...some elements are not attended to; the balconies and chairs could be cleaner; elevator can use a coat of paint; small details..

Hotel was in a very central area close to various stores and restaurants. Room was nice with high quality amenities, great mattress. Front Desk Supervisor Khatera was amazing and made my stay extra comfortable. She even left a cute personalized card! Would recommend this place to anyone that's looking for a hotel that's intimate but luxurious.

We thought this hotel would be a good match for us because it is a luxury boutique hotel with charming Spanish architecture, stylish updated rooms, and a good central location. All features that appeal to us. Unfortunately we were not happy with our deluxe king room. While very attractive looking and spacious, it came with a hard firm desk chair and a firm bench at the end of the bed. Neither one was comfortable or positioned to be a place to relax or watch TV. While the bed was very comfortable, it is not a place we use during waking hours as a sitting area. Thus our classy looking room was not a great place to relax in despite having the space to fix the issue. And that desk faced a wall which was not optimal given there was a nice view out the French doors to a very small balcony with two chairs. The room also had narrow drawer and closet space. Although the bathroom was small for a luxury hotel, it made up for it with all white marble and tiles plus a nice walk in rain shower. Both rooms had very good and attractive lighting. Our room over looked the center courtyard of the hotel with an Il Fornaio chain restaurant below with outdoor seating. The first night of our stay it was noisy at 9 pm but quieted down quickly, the second night it was not noisy at all. The restaurant acts as the fill in dining spot for the hotel and it happens to be one of our favorite Italian restaurants. Even the turn down service did not work for us. We like chocolate but not if it has a strong coffee taste and on the second night there was no chocolate left behind. Inconsistency is something else we do not like. Both very minor points, but part of the overall love hate theme of this review. There is a small but nice gym, and the hotel’s location just off the main street of Palo Alto is ideal for restaurants and shopping, not to mention taking a walk past the homes of Silicon Valley power players. Of note, the hotel is currently creating a lobby on the first floor which is only a minor inconvenience but a small investment in some better lighting at the elevator entry point would be wise move until the new lobby is ready. The original and current lobby is on the second floor and is actually quite charming just as it is. It is here that the hotel has flavored water available and a nice broad selection of daily newspapers. In the morning coffee and some baked goods are available near the elevator bank of your floor. If we had some comfortable seating in our room, our impression of this hotel would be much more pleasant. It really has a lot going for it, but a hotel room needs to be a relaxing place to retreat, not just look really good. Other rooms in online photos seem to have what we wanted so maybe we just had bad luck but this hotel is not cheap so we are not sure we would take that chance again. We could have asked for a different room or could make a special request if we did decide to return, but that is really not our style. We base our reviews on what we get, not what we ask for.

Way too expensive at $500 per night... Yet, it is in central Palo Alto. It has a Spanish colonial style with a courtyard with lot's of flowers, small trees and a fountain. This grows plenty of mosquitos and I had one in my room. I asked but they had no repellant to borrow from the front desk. Kindly enough, they supplied it for me the following day. There is an air extractor in the toilent that runs 24/7, it rants and makes noise at night. My bed was prepared with a heavy hot winter duvet in spite of the very warm temperature outside, what is the purpose? For the price of the room I would expect a duvet during winter and a lighter blanket in summer. A/c is incredibly noisy even at min speed, had to use earbuds all night and it was too hot to sleep with A/C off. No coffee maker in the room, though there is a self-service table with hot coffee and freshly baked pastries near the elevator but I won't get out of my room in my pijama to get fresh coffee.

We stayed 9 days in Suite 319 of the Garden Court recently. It's a really great room with a lovely living room and a spacious bedroom/bathroom. The location, of course, is terrific. Walking to restaurants in downtown Palo Alto is very enjoyable. There are several really nice ones, Tamarine, Tai Pan, Osteria. The hotel offers a coffee and pastries bar on each floor in the morning. Very convenient. We both had numerous conference calls in the morning, and being able to just walk down the hallway and get breakfast was wonderful. Il Fornaio, downstairs, is a reasonable breakfast/lunch/dinner option as well. All in all, for a working stay, this was perfect.

I stayed here for a Stanford function and a business meeting. Fantastic hotel with an exemplary staff. Food was very good but I only had breakfast in the hotel. I love that it is right in downtown and you can walk around. Not cheap but it’s downtown Palo Alto.