Just back from a long weekend at this hotel. Was weary based on past reviews but chose this hotel because of the location (we used to live nearby and wanted to visit our old hood). We were very pleasantly surprised. We got a renovated junior suite....good amount of space. Furnishing totally decent but not decadent. New tv, comfy bed. The customer service was great and everyone there was totally friendly to our 3 and a half year old terror. Nice to have a "family Pool" and an "adults only" pool so that we don't feel like our kid is annoying all the other adults around. We would definitely go back another time. Two thumbs up.

After living in Berkeley for 10 years, we were happy to get this hotel for $75. Personally we love the location next to Cesaer Chavez Park (there is a great walking/running trail there that goes out along the Bay). Yes, the low price was because they are renovating and nothing was available. Berkeley is one of the great food towns in America; we wouldn't waste a minute eating there anyway!

We needed a comfortable room for a good night of sleep. The beds are amazingly comfortable and there were no noise issues. We would definitely stay there again!

This was the second time I have stayed here. Love the location as I love the sea. However, this time the hotel was under renovations, I was not made aware of this when I booked the room. The Marina view restuarant and bar was closed and a temperary one was set up with NO view of the marina. The noise from the construction was bad. The TV reception was intermittant at best. Worst of all I WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE RENOVATIONS AND I WAS CHARGED FULL PRICE FOR THE ROOM. I would not have stayed here this time if I had known what the situation was. This stay was not worth the price!! I would suggest that you ask about the hotel prior to spending $200 per night for accomodations that are not currently living up to the advertised accomodations.

We attended our daughter's graduation in Berkeley and rented
4 rooms for 3 nights for a total of 9 people with a 3 week advance notice. We requested that our elderly mother be put in a room near one of us so we could assist her with luggage. We also asked if she could be put on the harbor side so she could view the ocean since she doesn't travel much and this was a big deal for her.
After checking in about 5pm, we decided to drop our suitcases into our rooms thinking our mother would be nearby. Without us realizing the layout of the hotel, our mother walked 3 buildings away with her suitcase only to find out the key didn't work, not just once, but 3 times back and forth to the front desk. After the third time of having to wheel her luggage back to the front desk, she asked the front desk to call one of us and we requested that she be changed to another room since the lock obviously didn't work. By now, it's 10pm and we're all tired. Maintenance let her into another room, but she still didn't have a key. She had to get go back to the front desk the next day and stand in line to get a key.
The hotel was under construction at the time which made it filthy, but it could have been cleaned up after each day's construction shift. Our first encounter going to our room was an elevator with chewed up sunflower seeds all over the floor, the next day it was littered with chewed up pumpkin seeds. I didn't get a feeling the hotel was kept very clean. Our room was recently remodeled which looked nice and up to date although the hotel in general is aged and dated.

This brings me to the worst part of the stay. Upon checkout, I went to my mother's room 3 buildings away to help her with her luggage and took one look at the chair in her room and immediately gagged and felt naseous to my stomach. There were white stains on the new blue velour chair which were very apparent and from the location of the stains, it was obvious what had happened in that chair. I took a picture with my cellphone camera so I could report it to the front desk. My mother was very embarrassed by the whole situation and did not mention it to anyone because she didn't want to be a bother after all the key mix ups. She is too much of a lady to discuss something as disgusting as what was on that chair. She refused to sit in that chair or use any of the hotel towels because she didn't trust the cleanliness of the hotel. I couldn't believe housekeeping didn't notice those stains during that 3 day stay and do something about it.
Upon checkout I mentioned the chair stains to the guy at the front desk and showed him the camera photos. He immediately knew what the stains were as well, but didn't seem to really give a damn about it. He had the nerve to say that my mother should have called to have the chair switched out. My question to him was "Why should that be my mother's responsibility." That's your housekeeping's responsibility. I told him my mother was far too embarrassed to talk about such things. He didn't offer anything in the way of an apology or remedy to make us happy, he just printed out the receipt and coldly handed it to us.
I requested to see a manager since I own a hotel along with 15 other companies and as an owner, I would want to be made aware of an incident that caused such an awful experience for a group of my guests.
The manager grudgingly came out of her office after completing a lengthy phone call and was obviously not happy about having to talk to customers. My sister and I calmly explained the situation and showed her the pictures and reported the less then admirable customer service we had received from the front desk. She apologized and I could tell she was extremely uncomfortable in dealing with the situation. She offered a $100 credit on our bill which was nice but I wasn't as concerned about a discount as I was at having her understand the principle of proper customer service and how the hotel just wasn't up to par to bear the name of a Doubltree property. I don't think she ever understood that part of it, but we did take her up on the credit.
I have to say I would never stay at this hotel again based on our experience. This hotel had been on the list of preferred hotels for my brother-in-laws international engineering company which was why we chose it, but upon his return, he vowed to tell his company to remove it from that list. The hotel is nicely located in the Berkeley marina but aging and certainly lacking in professional management.