I don't write a lot of reviews. My normal hotel for SF is the Crowne in Foster City, but it was sold out this last trip, so I booked into the Crowne SFO Airport for the first time.
The hotel is perfectly fine. The parking fee is not exempted even if you are a platinum member, which is unfortunate. (Some of the competing hotels on the bay there do offer this perk.) A majority, if not all, of the rooms are pretty noisy as they are exposed to the highway right nearby. If you can sleep with a gentle fan noise, you can block out the sound by turning it on for the entire night.
Anyway, here's where things went off the rails: on the second afternoon of my stay, around 4:30 or 5pm, someone from hotel staff opened my door and just walked right in. No knock, no notification, just a key slid through the lock and an immediate entrance. I know this because I was standing (naked!) immediately next to the room's door, in the bathroom, after getting out of the shower.
I yelled something unintelligible, and the (female) person immediately backed out of the room and closed the door. No apology. Just an, "oh," that I guess indicated that she realized she made a huge mistake.
I stay in hotels about 100 nights per year, including roughly 50 per year in the Crowne Foster City. I cannot recall ever having an employee barge into my room unannounced like this. The manager was quite kind to listen to me complain in the evening, but I believe if I were in his shoes I would have offered to compensate me for my stay or for part of it. At least, my inclination now is to try a different hotel next time. Or maybe just move all of my business to a different chain.
I'm sure this was an errant employee without proper training or something. No business is perfect. But doing right by a long-time customer is surely a good practice.
- Crowne Plaza Burlingame
- Crowne Plaza Hotel Burlingame
