Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, Santa Rosa

This hotel is worn out, run down, shabby, and poorly maintained. The upholstery was torn on the desk chair. The curtains were torn. The phone jack had no cover and wires were hanging out of it. (see the pictures I posted at TripAdvisor.com) Customer service issues: Although the hotel was less than half full, I was given the room at the end of the hallway, right next to the noisy exit door. Was it something I said? On my first night I called the front desk and was placed on hold. 10 minutes later I hung up the phone without speaking to anyone. Although I noticed that other guests received a daily newspaper at their door every morning, I did not receive a newspaper on any morning during my 4-night stay. I was promised double points for this stay by the hotel, but did not receive double points. Cleanliness issues: On my first morning I found someone else’s hair in the bathtub. If they don’t clean the bathtub, do they clean the sheets? I saw a bug in my room on 2 separate occasions. The carpet in my room turned my white socks black. Maintenance issues: The bolt lock on my door was broken and could not be locked. The room was in need of touch-up paint. During my entire stay the hot water was barely lukewarm, and the water pressure was terrible. There was something wrong with the air conditioning fan and it made a constant loud noise. Other issues: The walls and ceiling are very thin and you can hear everything from the rooms next to you and above you. I was in room 1215 but the tag on my telephone said that I was in room 2213. There was no refrigerator or microwave in the room. I have never been in a Hilton that did not have a refrigerator and microwave. The thing that bothered me the most is the fact that wireless is not free. If you want to use the internet, you will be charged 9.95 per night. I spend a lot of time in hotels, and have never been charged for the use of the wireless internet. This disappoints me more than the whole airline luggage thing. And about the name: Hilton Sonoma is more than 30 minutes away from Sonoma and there are no wineries anywhere near here. But there are definitely nicer and less expensive places to stay in Santa Rosa. This place is definitely not up to Hilton’s standards.

If you are going to party -- this is your hotel. Unfortunately that was not our intention. On the first night, we were across the hall from an all night bachelor party. We complained and were moved to the "honors" sectiion and were next door to another party--at least this one broke up at midnight. Staff is uncooperative, rooms are overpriced. If you are looking for a little R&R in the wine country--skip this place.

$10 a day for internet access? No refrigerator in the room? Those are basics. Beds were good but I wouldn't recomend this hotel.

I stayed at this property about 4 years ago and vowed never to return. I decided to give it one more try just last week and was wowed! This hotel is now gorgeous and very comfortable! It has obviously been recently renovated and is now worthy of the Hilton name. The hotel is very large and sprawled out into separate building wings with cute wine-themed names like "Burgundy" and "Chablis." Parking is ample and convenient at each building. The hotel itself is nestled in the foothills and has a real chalet style feel to it. The rooms are huge with large bay windows. Since the hotel is on a hill, you get great views all around. The decor is pleasant and very wine country-esque with the perfect combination of both space and storage. The bathrooms only have one sink, but the counters are granite-topped. The carpet is plush and soft as are the linens and bedding. There is ample room to move around -- this is one of more spacious rooms I've ever stayed in! I was also pleased to find an individually controlled thermostat in the room which was TRULY guest controlled -- no program timers or buttons that would shut off the a/c (this is a huge pet peeve of mine, but I am pleased to report that I could keep the room as cool as I wanted). The hotel is in a very safe area and as a woman traveller, I would not hesitate to stay here by myself. I felt very safe and secure. There are lots of suburban malls nearby for an inexpensive chain restaurant dinner or a quick stop to pick up forgotten items during your travels. The major downside of this property is that it really is far away from the main wineries. While it is right off the 101 (literally), to get to Napa it takes about an hour. There are some wineries that are close; Korbel and Kendall Jackson are about a 25 minute drive away. Healdsburg, the Russian River Valley and Sonoma are also quite a drive. This is more of a relaxing hotel, not a place you'd want to stay if you are planning a bunch of sightseeing (unless you want to drive and drive and drive some more). I think a first-time visitor to the California wine country would be extremely disappointed in the location of this Hilton.

This hotel was in a perfect location (north of the Santa Rosa traffic problems) which kept us within easy reach of the wineries in Russian River, Healdsburg and Calistoga the entire weekend without a hitch. Front desk staff provided us with maps and also with FREE wine tasting coupons, VERY helpful! The restaurant that night was really busy in the bar area due to a large wedding party popping in (they looked like they were having fun), but the food was delicious and the views were perfect after a day of wine tasting.

We booked a trip and found out we had to delay it a week and even though the hotel had availability the following week for the exact same amount of days/nights (just one week later) they would not move us. Told us they would not refund or move our stay. Basically they are taking our $700 and thats about it. No services rendered...People I spoke to on the phone were awful and very unsympathetic.

We stayed for four nights. The rooms were clean and very comfortable. Finally, a non-smoking room that hadn't been smoked in! I have high standards for my bathrooms, and this Hilton met it. Service at check-in and in the restaurant was excellent. The location is one of the best places to stay if you want to go to both Napa and Sonoma. Right off the highway . Nectars serves a fabulous breakfast buffet! The buffet was a little high-priced for what I'm used to, but at least the food quality matched the price. One note, we used Hotwire to get the room and paid about half-price of room rate for that week. At full-price, maybe we wouldn't have been as pleased with the experience. But, we have returned to the area and choose to stay elsewhere due to price. We paid about the same of what the Hilton was charging without nearly the same experience!

Service was ok...not friendly or helpful...Location was ok...close to freeway but not to restaurants or activites. Was fairly clean however, maid would turn air off, so when returned after long day room was extremely warm and took hours to get back down to 72 degrees. Also, would not empty the ice container. Door key did not work three days out of five. Had to go to front deak to get a new one. Was not worth the $144 a night I paid for it....stayed a week. Had to pay for interenet connection, which was 10 a day... was there on business so had to pay the high rate. Also, was not helpful with the couple upstaris from my business partner that was keep up all night...would not give another room just said they would call them....did not help, actually made it worse...

The room smelled like fish, linens where not cleaned, and everybody had a stuck up atittude like Paris Hilton. But at least you got free Vodka to drink while you drive. Waaay over priced for a sleezy hotel.

The location was average, and the ammenities were nice, but the walls were paper thin. I could here conversations on the deck below me, in the next room, and out in the hallways. The service was unlike I've ever received from a Hilton. Room Service? Too busy, never answered the phone and didn't return my messages left on their voicemail. Front desk? They seem pretty helpless. Since it wasn't one individual I had a problem with I can only assume the management which is the issue. If you can ignore all the noise and don't need room service this Hilton is pretty centrally located.