Hotel Avante - Mountain View, CA Review

Over the three-day weekend, we took the short train ride down to Silicon Valley to catch Stevie Wonder in Concert. We'd decided, in advance, to me make a weekend of it. Silicon Valley isn't much of a vacation region, but I always like checking out new places at least once. I found out about Hotel Avante through the concert venue's website.

The Region

Silicon Valley is the center of all things tech in the USA. Mountain View is home to Google. It's a town that busy as all heck during the week, with business men and women from all over the world visiting for professional reasons. During the weekend, it's a sleepy suburb. For this reason, the business hotels, which are pricey during the week, offer great rates during the weekend.

A Quirky Hotel

Hotel Avante is part of the Joie de Vivre family of boutique hotels. It's small, and very quirky. As soon as you walk in, you'll notice it's different. The decor is very upscale, retro 50s design style - Scandinavian furniture, color combinations that one rarely sees outside of Architectural Digest. Very funky and fun. Instead of the traditional lunge, Avante has a third floor "Hi-Fi Lounge" - a beautifully decorated room with groovy furniture, where guests are welcome to hang out and listen to music being piped in.

Another quirky thing is the "executive toybox." Each room has a desk with two big drawers. One drawer has the usual things: stapler, pens, paper, etc. The other drawer is full of toys: Rubik's Cube, Etch-a-sketch, Slinky, etc. Just a drawer full of things to keep the average Silicon Valley business traveler occupied during down time. Being a little bit of a geek, I really liked having a drawer full of toys to play with. A Duncan Imperial yo-yo!

Amenities

The hotel boasts a gym, pool, hot spa, and offers 24 hour room service. I didn't try the gym, but we did spend time by the pool. Very well maintained, immaculate, and there are towels, galore. Guests will also find bathrobes in their rooms, which are always nice for returning from poolside. The hot spa, which is outdoors, just next tot he pool, is also crystal clear, very well maintained, and a perfect temperature. All in all, the pool area is among the nicest I've been to in a small hotel.

Avante also advertises free, European style breakfast. I think they're selling themselves short. The breakfast room isn't just bread, muffins and coffee. They actually offer the full breakfast gamut: eggs, sausage, bacon, oatmeal, cold meats and cheeses, a variety of coffees, teas, and juices, pancakes, yogurt, cereals....it's all hot, replenished frequently, and very nice. Weak coffee, but you can't have everything, eh?

Truth-in-advertising?

Ok, my one beef is this: Avante boasts "24 hour room service." This was one of the reasons I chose this hotel. I knew we'd be at the concert from 6:30 until well past 10pm, and that getting a meal in this sleepy town at that hour would be impossible. I was sadly disappointed, then, to return from the concert at 11:30 and find that they actually only serve three items after 11 pm: turkey chili, soup, and ice cream. I don't know about you, but I'm not really into hot soup or chili when it's almost 100 degrees out, and ice cream is not a meal. I don't think they should advertise 24 hour room service when it's so very limited. In the end, I snacked on stuff from the mini bar. I do have to note that the mini bar prices were surprisingly reasonable. I've been to hotels where they demand $5 for a candy bar or a can of soda. The minibar prices at Avante were only slightly higher than what you'd expect to pay for the same items at a supermarket.

The Staff

Great, friendly, helpful staff. The cleaning staff seem to work especially hard and, every time we returned to our room, it seemed as if we'd never been there.

Some tips for the traveler

Hotel Avante offers package deals for people going to concerts at the Shoreline Amphitheater. For a set price, you can get a package deal that includes lodging and a shuttle bus to and from the venue. SKIP THIS OPTION. These package deals were sold out when I booked, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was much cheaper to book through Hotels.com, and arrange for a limo to take us to and from the concert. No sharing an uncomfortable van with 15 strangers, AND it was a lot cheaper this way. Also: we were in our limo and on our way back home while the Avante group was still waiting for their shuttle to pick them up.

The hotel charges more money for rooms with free Wi-Fi. Don't bother going for this option. Save yourself a few bucks: Mountain View is home to Google, who have installed free Wi-Fi throughout the city. That's right: there is free Wi-Fi throughout Mountain View, and there's no need to pay for a room that offers their own Wi-Fi server.

If you're planning a picnic (there are lots of good places for this nearby), the hotel will lend you a neat picnic blanket that packs up in a handy roll.

Rates

Avante charges something like $289 a night during the week. Pretty steep. The rates plunge to about $110 a night for weekend stays. This includes free breakfast. A pretty sweet deal. I got an even better rate through Hotels.com.

I'd gladly stay at the Hotel Avante again.