Me and 3 friends (all aged 18) went out to Valencia to experience the La Tomatina festival, and chose to stay slightly out of the city centre at this hotel, NH Jardines del Turia because it was the cheapest option available. I'm guessing it's primary function is for one-night stopovers or business clients, but it wasn't terrible having to stay there for 7 nights as all the staff were friendly.
Some of the cab drivers seem to have problems finding the hotel although the majority didn't have any trouble, and when we arrived we were greeted by friendly, English-speaking staff. The rooms themselves are of a nice size but plates/dishes/cutlery weren't included in the price, which wasn't a problem as we ate out every night (bar one). Rooms are air conditioned which was great as the heat reached around 35 on some days.
As mentioned, this hotel is not near the city centre, so we had to use the Metro (the local station Benimamet is a 10 minute walk) to get to the centre and the beaches. This is very well priced (A 'Bonometro' ticket costs €10 and gives 10 trips - needs to be tapped like an Oyster card for each person on the journey) and takes around 40 minutes to get to the beach. There are local shops to get essentials at which are also quite cheap, so there's no problems there.
Whilst we were out in Valencia, we managed to watch a thrilling 4-3 win by Valencia CF over Racing Santander, and went to La Tomatina (again very well organised getting there, there are plenty of guides once you get to the main stations). The beaches are very nice too, quiet city beaches which are perfect to relax all day before going into Valencia centre in the evenings.
Overall we had a fantastic week at the Jardines del Turia, the reception is 24 hour so when we arrived back at around 2/3am they greeted us with our room keys which we left with them when we went out. If you don't want the hassle of getting to and from the city centre and beach, this isn't the place for you, but if you like exploring the local areas it's good fun.
