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Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City: Traveller Reviews

3.5 of 5
32083 Alvarado-Niles Road, Union City, CA 94587
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Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City
Ranked #2 of 3 hotels in Union City
3.0 of 5 stars 32 Reviews
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32 reviews from our community

    Trip type
Traveller rating
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Date Rating
Seattle, Washington
1 review
8 helpful votes 8 helpful votes
“Stuck in Room, Had to be Cut Out with Power Saw”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 8 February 2011
8
people found this review helpful

Firstly, unless you are desperate, do not stay at this hotel. The lobby has been redecorated, and there are new bed linens in the rooms. But, the rooms and hotel are old and dirty. I showered with my socks on because the tub was so dirty.

But that is not the key point - on the second day at about 7am, the deadlock in my door broke and I was stuck inside. Maintenance could not get it fixed, and had to put a ladder up against the 2nd floor window and come in thru that way. But the window has a screwed in little plate that restricts it from opening. So the maintenance man on the ladder lifted one side of the window out of its track and placed it against the second window. Then he and another guy came in thru the window and proceeded to try to get the door fixed. No avail. Hinges to old to get apart, too. One maintenance man went back out the window, bumped the pane that was leaning, it fell into the room and shattered all over. My laptop was open on the table next to it and I was standing not 10 inches from where the window shattered. Luckily I didn't get cut. Not so for my laptop.

Evenutally maintenance had to bring in a power saw and cut thru the door.

Then they forced me out - with three guys standing there watching me try to pack in a hurry (even my underwear). As I struggled out with my luggage - not a single one offered to help.

I went to the front desk, explained what happened and asked for another room so I could work and finish getting dressed. The front desk person called housekeeping and told them to give me a used room, "just clean up the bathroom a little bit, don't worry about making the beds or any other cleaning, she doesn't need it". They wanted me to use a used room!

I pretty much was forced to leave the hotel about 9am, when I was supposed to be there working.

Later, they would not help me, comp me or anything. No returned calls. No calls when promised. Turns out my computer keyboard was ruined - but our IT guys were able to pull another keyboard from an older computer and replace it for free.

I had to keep calling the hotel to try to get resolution on the fact that they kicked me out early, and was always referred to the Asst Manger (you would think the Manager would care enough to talk with me himself).

She told me on the 5th try to reach her after we had talked about the incident in the past: "Oh, I didn't bother to talk with my staff about this, so can you refresh me?" You'd think they would have tried to find out why a guest had to be cut out of her room.

I called corporate Crowne Plaza twice. They helped a little. Finally, the hotel offered me a discount on my next stay there. I told them I would not be back (they did not understand why). I told them they needed to resolve this. I was not looking to have my entire stay comped (only $223). But some sort of comp for the fact that I didn't get to stay my entire time. And they broke my laptop, to boot. The Asst Manager told me she would speak to the Mgr and he would call me that day. A week later nothing - so I called corporate again and they got me $55 off my hotel bill. Considering that they should have had to pay for a new laptop, they got off easy.

There was just no real acknowledgement that anything had occured. And no one cared.

This is by far the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE that I have ever experienced. Crowne Point needs to realize that in this day and age, with hotel competition so fierce, and everyone having a voice on the web, that customer service is everything. But they don't get it, and don't care. Sad. Anyhow - don't stay in this place. It's awful.

  • Stayed January 2011, travelled on business
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask TB179 about Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
San Francisco
Contributor
13 reviews 13 reviews
Reviews in 13 cities Reviews in 13 cities
11 helpful votes 11 helpful votes
“Nice and quiet but the hotel is old”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 31 May 2010

I did my homework before I stayed in this hotel (no choice, the church camp chose to be here). Overall I think the hotel is nice and good value, however, the hotel is a little bit old (as others had mentioned in their reviews), and can use some remodeling (interior) or updates. The mini-refrigirator has some noise (luckily, it happened during the morning, not at night), and the hotel's men's room (lobby area) even had graffiti, which is kind of turning me down. At the same time, their beds are really comfortable and I had a really two nights sleep in our room. Overall, good value..

  • Stayed May 2010, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask whchuang about Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
New Jersey
1 review
“Below Average”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed 28 January 2010

I was surprised with this hotel. All the other Crowne Plazas I have stayed at were fairly upscale. This one was borderline dump.

I went there for business and stayed in the "executive Wing". I would hate to see where the "commoners" stayed because the place was pretty disappointing. The best part of the room was the bed. The bed was decorated in Crowne Plaza fashion. Nice sheets, nice pillows. The problem is they put an extremely uncomfortable blanked under the sheets. It was like a a burly sack feel to it. It was so bad, that I had to remove the blanket from the bed and sleep under the sheets only. They provided free internet, but it was a DSL line (it only stretched about 2 feet from the outlet) and the connection was horrible. I brought my laptop and wanted to enjoy some Hulu TV shows and movies. The connection was so bad and choppy that it would allow the site to load. So I turned to the TV. It was like the reception was coming in through rabbit ears. It was so bad, that one channel (NBC) became so unwatchable that the TV indicated the signal could not be read. The bathroom was clean, but the towels were small. The lighting was horrible. Basically there was one tube light for the entire bathroom. It was very dark in the shower.

It was surprising the a Crowne Plaza. There was a Holiday Inn Express just down the street which I would have much rather preferred because it looked very new and I know they offer free continental breakfast. Crowne Plaza was offering breakfast for $14.95.

Don't be fooled by the Fitness Center pictures. It is just a room with a universal machine in it.

  • Stayed January 2010, travelled on business
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Ask NJeMktingGuy about Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City
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Alberta
Reviewer
3 reviews 3 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“Amazing Front Desk Service, Great Location & Price”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 23 April 2009
1
person found this review helpful

We stayed at this hotel for a week in mid-January 2009 while on a personal trip (to attend a wedding). We selected this hotel after reading online reviews of it, and other hotels in Union City.

Positives:

1. The front desk was amazing! The staff was extremely knowledgeable, down-to-earth, friendly and helpful. I think what sets them apart from other hotel front desks is that they are genuinely interested in serving you. They were great with giving directions and restaurant recommendations. They also accommodated a late check out for us (at no additional charge) which meant we didn't have to sit at the San Francisco airport for hours. Kudos!

2. The room was comfortable. We also found ours to be very quiet. If you're facing the front of the hotel (N), we stayed in a room SW of the front.

3. If you have a vehicle, this hotel is just a few minutes away from shopping, restaurants and the BART (transit) station. It you're not frail or out-of-shape, you can also walk to the stores and restaurants (but not the BART). The benefit of this hotel over those that are located right by the retail stores and restaurants, is that you don't have to worry about the traffic and noise (and there is quite a bit of both in the retail area).

3. We found the room rate to be very reasonable.

4. The complimentary snack bag we received upon check-in was a nice treat. It contained the following: 2-500 mL bottles of water; 1 banana; 1 Twix; a 28g bag of Planter's peanuts; a 56g bag of Famous Amos cookies; and a 28g bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos.

Areas for Improvement (not "Negatives" because they didn't really negatively impact our stay)

1. The complimentary internet access in the lobby was down the whole week we were there.

2. The housekeeping staff could be friendlier. Don't get me wrong, they were by no means rude - I just found it strange not to be greeted with a simple "Hello" when you passed by.

Notes:

We read a few online reviews that expressed concerns about the safety of parking your vehicle at the hotel. We parked behind our room and never felt that our vehicle was in danger of vandalism or break-in. That said, I'd avoid the parkade. This isn't because we witnessed any incidents, but rather because it is more secluded and closed off from the sight lines of hotel guests. If there were to be any acts of vandalism or theft, I'd hazard a guess that they would take place there for those reasons.

Upon learning where we were staying, friends (local residents) told us that this was the nicest hotel in Union City. We would definitely stay here again if we were to make a return visit.

With the online reviews, keep in mind that people are more likely to give a negative review if they had a bad experience vs. a positive review if they had a good experience. That is why it was important for us to share our experience!

  • Stayed January 2009, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask AdventuresOfAandL about Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Upstate NY
Senior Contributor
42 reviews 42 reviews
Reviews in 35 cities Reviews in 35 cities
75 helpful votes 75 helpful votes
“Nice enough place”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 3 August 2008
1
person found this review helpful

I stayed here for two nights because my 35th High School Reunion was being held here.
There were 3 of us in the room and while I would not call it elegant, it is nice enough..It was clean,comfortable and staff was pleasant.
I detected no unpleasant odors anywhere.

I grew up in Union City and graduated from Logan High in'72. Got married and moved away and haven't really been back..WOW, has Union City grown!!! Just a sleepy little burg, back in the day. We actually got lost ,coming into town from the airport.

I would stay here again.

  • Stayed September 2007, travelled on business
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Check-in / front desk
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask dee2673 about Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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Additional Information about Crowne Plaza Oakland South Union City

  • Crowne Plaza Union City
Address: 32083 Alvarado-Niles Road, Union City, CA 94587
Price range (per night):* 88 AUD - 129 AUD

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