I am from the Bay Area but moved away. I visit often and when I do, I prefer to stay at the Waterfront in Oakland. I've stayed there at least 11 times since about 2005. It is affordable, clean, wonderful service, cozy, charming, safe and very accessible to everything (including expressway to San Francisco.) Right where you are there is the best jazz club in the world right across the street (Yoshi's Jazz Club.) The restaurant for the hotel is an excellent cajun style cuisine with california gourmet flair (perfect breakfast with outdoor seating.) The view of estuary, listening to the seagulls in the morning is so calming to me. I always get a room with a balcony for about $150.00 per night. There's a farmer's market and crafts fair right outside the hotel on the square on the weekends. (and if you're lucky, an Italian Festival or Blues fest might be scheduled the weekend you're there.) Scott's Restaurant is fantastic upscale with seafood cuisine and there's a movie theater and many shops and other restaurants. In fact, my last visit I went to a Mexican Restaurant a few steps from the hotel called Poblano Cocina. Best Mexican food I've ever had! To walk from my hotel to the Cathedral of Light and Lake Merritt is heaven. To go out for the evening to hear the best jazz performers and eat the best Japanese food and then simply walk 1 min. back to my hotel is my kind of living. I am soothed by hearing the Amtrak train at night. In fact, I wouldn't take a room where I could not leave my balcony door open and hear the train, seagulls, soft laps of estuary and breeze through the palm trees. (You can get a room of just estuary or just city-side but I often have a corner room to see both.) I also use the valet parking (small parking area but great service by valet.) This is simple elegance at its best. Don't expect fancy rooms but they are clean, up-to-date, comfortable and the lobby area has a nice living room with fireplace and easy access to computers. For people who've never been to Oakland and only know of it's inner-city violence in other parts of the town, you're missing out on what Oakland is really about. The Waterfront is your gateway to this rich, diverse, joyous history. Just writing this review makes me want to book a trip back to the Waterfront right now. I'm going to do it!

What a great location this is and the hotel is possibly 3 stars out of 5. 4 Stars if you get a waterfront room (a real one). To be honest though, even the waterfront view is tainted by the industrial equipment and buildings across the channel. The hotel room itself has a nautical theme and wants to be upscale but is rather outdated. Walls and baseboards are cracked and rusty in some places. There is no doubt that every room in the hotel will hear the train noise that goes on and on from early morning into the late evening. I can't imagine even trying to sleep in one of the rooms that faces the train. The building is old and definitely needs an overhaul on sound insulation. The hotel is clean and feels safe even though it sits on the edge of a rather harsh area which you must travel through to get anywhere. There is a police station close-by so that may come in handy.. We were there for two nights in May of 2011. The first night upon arrival we got upsold by the woman at the front desk to a water view room. I asked if we had a balcony and was told yes. So we paid the $45/night upcharge to the waterfront room and realized we indeed had a balcony but it was a shared balcony that ran around the exterior of the hotel. So if we left the sliding door cracked to let fresh air in the entire hotel and most likely the general public would have had access to our room. What's the point of having a sliding door? I guess you could losely call this a shared balcony but it felt more like a Motel. It just didn't feel safe to me. Also calling this a waterfront room was a stretch. I guess if you left the room, walked the 10 steps across the balcony to the railing and turned your head, you could see the water. So we went back downstairs and were given another room. The next room was nice with a private balcony and nice view. I called down to get a couple of extra pillows and got no answer, again in a few minutes and got no answer. I tried many times over the next few hours and got no one on the phone. So back downstairs I went. The front desk gal was standing there looking at a computer, apparently ignoring my calls. I asked if she could send up two foam pillows and went back to the room. The pillows never came. You pay a valet fee of $20 which is mandatory if you have a car and stay there but good luck getting the car when you need it. You'll never reach anyone on the phone in this hotel to tell them you want your car so you'll have to go downstairs and wait for it. The valet guy doesn't have a care in the world and will go on and on talking with someone about the weather or sports while you stand there waiting for someone to ask if they can help you. No one cares how your stay is or if you need your car or a pillow or anything for that matter. The staff is just generally disgruntled and couldn't really care less about service. You can try to talk to the manager about it but he will ignore you and says he's busy right now that he'll be with you in a few minutes. He'll shuffle papers and act busy while a line of people grows trying to check out. It was a frustrating stay in a pretty good location. Lots of restaurants within walking distance so this would be a great location for a bachelor/bachelorette weekend. I hope the staff was just having a bad couple of days or they hate their jobs and quit. :-\

I live in a decent sized East Coast city near an large Amtrak station. I'm accustomed to trains. At least, I thought I was. Ignore any review that tells you the train noise is not noticeable in rooms on the bay side. It is noticeable, and runs in force from 5AM to 10PM. It's not just one or two horn blows. It's one to two minutes straight per train.

Once you get adjusted to the trains, your next feat is to get adjusted to your neighbors conversations, TV shows, shower, bathroom, AC, and telephone. What's worse is that the water heaters sound like they are in your room, and emitt a constant drilling hum when running. Include your up and down stairs neighbors in addition to immediate next door neighbors in the noise equation. Oh, and there seem to be a ton of conference type hotel guests, so you might as well anticipate after hours affairs.

All that aside, the rooms are okay. Outdated furniture, carpet, and shower but clean and comfortable enough. The internet SUCKS, even the premium paid high speed option. Don't bother... you are better off tethering your cell phone.

Then there's $20 overnight parking, where three of the five mornings stayed I was unable to reach a valet by phone and wasted precious time just trying to retrieve my car. It's $12 down the street at the more responsive, much nicer, recently renovated Marriott.

A few positives: easy on/off freeway access. Close to Jack London.... which is great on Sunday's (and Cholita Linda). Close to Beer Revolution (one of the best beer bars in the bay area, and country). And On the water, for what that is worth.

I'd come back for a better price, but not for the $165/night + $20 parking + $9 slooowwww internet + tax pricetag. It's nowhere near worth that price.

This is the 4th time we've stayed at The Waterfront HotelminOakland and each time we love it a little more. The bright entrance with multicolored lamps and colorful mosaics welcomes you. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Our room has a balcony overlooking the harbor as well as a fireplace. We were walking distance from the ferry and had a lovely 30 minute trip to the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Chinatown is a short walk from our hotel as is the farmer's market in jack London Square. The restaurant Pearl Jam is terrific.