The Claremont Hotel Club and Spa, Berkeley

We had a reservation for "the best room" in the hotel. A king with a view. We got in from SFO at 9 PM. The hotel had given our room away. We go a room that smelled like bug spray and had two twin beds. We ask for a better room and we got steerage. The room looked out over a loading dock and had a rattling 1970's air conditioner for our sleeping pleasure. We left the hotel and stayed at the Fairmont in downtown SF. I can recommend the Fairmont. Stay away from the Claremont!

Do not stay at the Claremont if you are under 35, want any semblance of nightlife, or want an above average experience. I surprised my boyfriend with a stay at the Claremont that included the "Enhance Your Romance” package. $300 bought us a room for the night, the resort fee, taxes, a $50 voucher for the spa, a 4pm check out time, two free drinks at the Paragon Bar, and free breakfast the next day. The front desk clerk was very sweet, and she gave us a room with a full Bay view. The room itself was far more basic than I had hoped, and this is where our problems started. The beds were very comfortable and the room looked nice, but there was still coffee in the coffeepot from the last guests, the table the coffee pot was sitting on was cheap and stained, and there was a huge black hair in our shower. All of the snacks that went along with the mini-bar were outrageously expensive ($6.50 for Aquafina) and covered in dust. The one music station on offer only had CDs that you could plop down $10 to listen to (and were obviously not geared toward the 25-35 demographic my boyfriend and I fall into). We used the alarm clock, which was the same Wal-Mart one I had in my bedroom in the 90s, for music. We decided to check out the pool area after we arrived, and we were disappointed by this as well. The staff at the front desk was wonderful, but we were not pleased to discover that the steam rooms, saunas, and indoor whirlpools were in the locker rooms; we had looked forward to enjoying these together, but no. The pools were nice, but completely family/lap swimming oriented. The lounge chairs were comfortable and the bar was a nice touch, but the drinks were expensive ($9 for a mojito) and the bartender at the pool bar was a jerk. Definitely not the place to go if you are looking for a ‘scene’ pool. In fact, while we were leaving on Saturday a kid pooped his pants in the large pool and the staff had to close it down while they fished turds out of it. This was supposed to be a romantic weekend for the boyfriend and I, but seeing exhausted looking parents chasing their kids in what turned out to be nothing but a large open toilet was more birth control than aphrodisiac. The free drinks at the Paragon were blah, the continental breakfast we got would’ve regularly cost $18 each and included Dannon yogurt & Kellogs granola (neither of which are vegetarian!), toast, a terrible fruit plate that was mostly melon…you get the idea. They are cheapskates parading as an exclusive resort. Then the worst part of all: Betty the spa shop attendant. The $50 voucher we received for the hotel was supposedly good for both products and services, so my boyfriend and I made our way to the store after we checked out to use the voucher. As we walked around in the store Betty watched us like a hawk. At several points she interrupted us while we were trying to sample products – which were marked with sample stickers – and put them back on the shelf! We found a bottle of lotion we liked, and asked if we could get it in a smaller size. She said that she didn’t have it but the gift shop upstairs might. She made a big production out of calling and asking them, then let us know they had one bottle left. We asked if we could use the voucher in the gift shop instead, and she said no. She also told us we couldn’t use it in her shop, although the voucher explicitly stated it was valid for products. We tried to come to an agreement on the voucher, but she spelled out her ridiculous reasoning against it as if were were stupid – including reading the voucher really slowly to my French accented but English fluent boyfriend!!! We left insulted and empty handed. In conclusion, my boyfriend and I took a little walk around the hotel and happened upon a poster that listed the history of the Claremont. We discovered that the place is currently owned by La Quinta. This is exactly the level of quality to be expected at the Claremont. I will never stay there again.

i love the claremont,we visit jordans restaurant for breakfast waiters very helpful profesionals but food its overprices and hostess need to dress properly she look like she just wake up and need a new dress but over all very goog hotel

DO NOT JOIN THIS CLUB!! Lousy facility for families with small children. Kids' club is bad. Bad swim program or hardly any program exists. Swim staff/department almost non-existence. No family bathroom for families with small children. There are better club to join!

At checkin: no welcome, no explanations about the $24 "resort fee", no wishes of good stay At night: alarm clock did not work; erroneous wake-up call at 5:00 AM (!); when I called the front desk - they started arguing that "nothing was wrong" At checkout: the clerk was on the phone with her son (!) instructing him how to go to school, while I was waiting; no explanations, no smiles no good wishes Overall: NOBODY from staff smiled, nor wished anything positive I COULD NOT WAIT TO GET OUT... Advise for travellers: avoid this place!

I went to get a facial and to wax my upper lip. The esthetician did not know what she was doing and gave me first degree burns on my upper lip. I spent the next day in the Emergency Room to treat the burns. I ended up walking around with a big red scab across my upper lip for a week. My appointment was on 12/20/07 and I was promised a "refund" for this inconvenience. Now it is 1/27/08 and I have been calling them every week to find out when my refund would be posted and they keep claiming the refund was posted already in a batch. I have yet to get my money back. Go at your own risk!

We liked the gym and tennis and gym facilities. The rooms are old and dark. The service and costs were terrible. I tried to arrange for tennis in advance and after my third call, a tennis pro called me at 4:45 am (same time zone) to discuss plans! How rude can you get. The room service breakfast cost $50 and was inedible. They tried to double bill us for items so watch your bill. They need to do a lot of work on the hotel side of this resort.

My organization had a business meeting at the hotel for the entire week of May 8th. This was a bad idea in retrospect. The meeting rooms are outdated and have poor lighting and acoustics. The food is overpriced. The coffee tastes like bad battery acid; I don't think they clean the coffee urns too often. Thankfully there is a Peet's located just outside the entrance on the street below, so everyone could run out there during breaks. This hotel is not set up to facilitate a business meeting. They have poor internet service and their business center is way overpriced. Thinking about printing out a 2 page document; it'll cost you $7.00 in the business center ($5.00 min to use the computer and $1 per page to print.) I went to a Holiday Inn Express that same week and it was free to use the computer in the same way and with a color printer! Also, I never like hotels where I have to call them back to have incorrect charges removed from my credit card. I had to that with them because their internet service charged my card twice even though they assured me it wouldn't happen. As others have said, the hotel rooms leave something to be desired. They were definitely not up to my expectations. Dimly lit (my eyes hurt trying to read in the room) with a 1970s mustard color to everything in the room. The bathroom had broken tiles, rust on things, and it took more than a little work to get the shower to deliver much of a spray. I also thought the pigeons were an unwelcome guest. Outside my window was covered in pigeon droppings, one dead pigeon, and so many live ones that I didn't dare open the window. It was a little much to stay there for 4 nights. I would definitely not go back unless I heard there was new ownership. The place has potential just based on the location. It's just that as is, it's an overpriced dump that somehow has a good reputation.

It was beautiful. Walking in was absolultely amazing. Our room was one of the nicer rooms they had to offer. I must admit getting to our room kinda gave me the creeps the hallways and all the corners. But the room we had was very nice. My hubby fell asleep and I took a long hot bath with the jets on. I could see the entire bay area from my window. An experience I am sure I will never get to do again and it was well worth it. We also enjoyed our breakfast across the street at Rick and Ann's. Well worth our hour wait that morning.

A beautiful hotel with friendly service right in the middle of a wonderful central location. Our favorite part was practicing on the tennis courts and relaxing by the pools.