I stayed at this La Quinta recently because of its attractive price and its close location to an office I was working with. As others have posted, this is an older property and is not up to the level of quality of other LQ’s that have undergone renovations. While my room (not a suite) was larger than a standard room in a comparable property (think Holiday Inn Express), the furnishings have definitely seen better days. Some lamps did not work, the chairs were old and worn, and the framed artwork (if you can call it that) was definitely from a different era.

Room Amenities:
Remember when the US converted to digital television and lots of folks got rid of their old tube TVs? Here is where many of them ended up. Not a big deal, but if you are used to even medium definition programming, looking at that old, square, low-resolution tube television picture is annoying and hard on the eyes. And since these old-style televisions are generally power hogs, they aren't in-line with the sustainability initiatives that most hotel chains have adopted. LQ offers free Wi-Fi, but it is slower than dial-up. Slow free Wi-Fi is basically no better than no Wi-Fi at all so don't plan on using this for anything other than basic email. HVAC is handled by a small window-type unit located in the corner at floor level. The vent is blocked by the desk, so it is not exactly convenient to adjust either.

Bedbugs:
Other posts have complained about bedbugs at this hotel. I pulled the sheets back before unpacking and saw no evidence of the little beasties. I did not have any problems or bites the next day. I do, however, recommend that everyone check for bedbugs, even in the finest hotels, because they are so pervasive and hard to kill.

Noise:
This hotel is located not far from the Amtrak station as well as busy University Avenue, so there is a chance you may hear traffic or train noise. I had a room on the back side of the property and the noise was not a problem for me. But because the property is old, you will most likely hear your neighboring rooms.

BART Access:
A major pet peeve was access to BART. If you fly into either SFO or OAK, it is usually easier and less expensive to get around by transit. Upon checking out, the clerk told me that the North Berkeley station was only 4 blocks away, about a five minute walk, so I did not need to take a taxi to the Downtown Berkeley station. Be advised it is NOT that close. It is over 1.5 miles away and walking with a rolling suitcase or heavy briefcase will slow you down significantly. Figure closer to a 30-minute walk on a good day (no rain or wind). Otherwise, pay for a taxi to get you to the nearest BART station (or you can also take the AC Transit bus if you like - less expensive and very basic transportation).

Bottom-line:
This location is a reasonable alternative if you need to be in the West Berkeley area. But it is definitely an old school experience.

This is the 3rd time I've stayed here - same problem every time - Wi-Fi strength is weak to none. Only reason I stayed this time is that I thought they would have this fixed by now. Boy, was I wrong! Even after they changed my room location it took forever to do even the simplest of things on line. A lot of people sit in the lobby since the signal is a little better there - still not acceptable.
Facility is dated but housekeeping does a good job keeping it clean. Breakfast is OK - coffee is poor but there's a Peet's a few blocks away in the 4th Street shopping area - which is the only area that's really within walking distance. Staff is friendly and generally helpful - except they couldn't resolve the Internet issues. I will not stay there again - lack of Internet is too frustrating!

My husband and I stayed for 3 nights at this hotel, because it was Parent's Weekend at Berkeley, and we wanted a reasonably priced hotel. I will list the good and the bad according to us, and let you decide!
The Good: Price was right, at $105 a night, compared to other hotels, that was a great price! Very friendly staff, from Front Desk, to Housekeeping. Free breakfast, which was pretty decent for us with fresh, good coffee in morning, eggs, sausage, 3 cereals, fruit, yogurt and make your own waffles. Fitness center was small but adequate with 2 treadmills, a weight machine and TV. Could have used an eliptical in my opinion. Our room was pretty clean and Housekeeping did a great job of cleaning every day. Linens were clean. We had a King bed and it was comfortable and our room was very quiet at night, we heard no street noise(prob because air conditioner was loud)
Okay, now for The Bad: Several areas smelled old and musty, the 3rd floor stairwell was pretty bad(we used it to go outside because it was right next to our room)The elevator was very old and the door would loudly slam open and shut every single time! The air conditioner in our room was very old and sounded like a freight train in the middle of the night. We had to use it because it was hot that weekend. I will say it worked though! Low popcorn ceiling throughout the whole hotel. Old CRT type TV in our room.The WiFi totally sucked for us! I brought my iPad and it really never would connect properly, and when it did it was so slow, that I would get mad and just quit trying. Smoking is permitted in this hotel and we smelled it quite a bit downstairs, but our room was okay because we requested non-smoking. There were a few signs in lobby and throughout hotel that stated that the hotel was a "Soft Building" which means it has never been retrofitted for earthquakes and that there could be problems in the event of one.
All in all, we probablty won't stay there again, but we wouldn't count it out completely if we were desperate! We would grade it between a C+ and B-

While most of our stay at the hotel was good the hotel fell short in two areas. Internet never worked even after 3 calls to their tech support and front desk. Housekeeping failed to give us bath towels and it was not noted until after I took a shower.

On the plus side the breakfast was ample and good, the bed comfortable, and the property clean.