Hotel Reviews
Is the Andaz Napa Worth the Price?
My dad and I finally found a weekend to meet up in Napa that worked for both of us. Unfortunately the first weekend in April wound up being on one of the (many) sold-out hotel weekends and I was scrambling a little bit to find a place to stay for Saturday night.
Since we’d spend the day wine-tasting, I wanted an in-town location so it would be easy to walk to dinner. I also wanted it to be a room/hotel that we’d enjoy spending time in. Apparently my demands were rather unreasonable! 🙂
Hotels south of Napa had plenty of availability, but were still over $100 a night and would tack on at least 30-45 minutes driving in each direction. Many of the hotels in Napa, St. Helena, and Calistoga were requiring 2 night stays at high season prices which wouldn’t work for us.
The nicer hotels, like the Westin Verasa were sold out. The Wine Valley Lodge didn’t appeal and hardly seemed a value at $149+.
This left me with two possible options: the Andaz Napa at $380 for the night including tax, or the Best Western Plus Elm House for $250.
It looked like a perfectly nice Best Western, in fact, nicer than I had seen before, so was the Andaz worth spending $130 more?
- The Andaz has a great location, just a block or two from the main downtown attractions.
- Free self-parking in a garage behind the building
- Across the street from Oenotri, considered one of the better (and affordable) restaurants in Napa.
- All rooms are modern and renovated
- Free internet access, and decent download speeds.
- Great lobby ambiance with a free glass of wine at check-in, free wine tastings from 5-6PM, and other perks throughout the day like free chair massages.
Clearly I am a BIG fan of this property, but all the perks above weren’t quite enough to justify the extra cost this time. However, as a Diamond member, the equation changed a little.
- Free breakfast for up to 4 people at the Farmer’s Table restaurant (~$25 value per person)
- Points or welcome amenity of bottle of wine and delicious cheese plate from the restaurant.
- Better room
- Stay towards requalifying for status.
Even then, it wasn’t not clear. I’ve stayed here twice before on busy weekends. One time I redeemed a suite upgrade and got a decent, entry-level corner suite. Another time it was just the standard room. The Best Western offers free breakfast, and while they may not have the amazing potatoes I dream about, it is free.
In the end, I went with the Andaz. Not having to walk the half mile to downtown, getting a qualifying stay, having an amazing breakfast and getting to show off the fun property to my dad was worth the extra cost. If you’re not an elite or going for a special occasion, during peak times, spending $100+ more than options one star rating down, might not be worth it.
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Jim Porter
April 10, 2014 at 11:06 pm
I have stayed both at the Hyatt and the Westin and the Hyatt is far better hands down. I host a trip to Napa every year for our clients the first year was at the Westin and had not other hotels been available we all would have checked out early!
Oliver
April 10, 2014 at 11:09 pm
The best western elm house is on of the best in the napa valley. Great value for the money. It may not sound awesome when you tell people where you are staying, but the whole place is very classy. We got a fireplace in our room that really made a colder than expected spring in napa a very romantic time.
Jeanne Marie Hoffman
April 10, 2014 at 11:12 pm
DINK travel?! Love it!
Oliver
April 10, 2014 at 11:24 pm
Thanks! Its hard coming up with creative blog names.
Jeanne Marie Hoffman
April 10, 2014 at 11:36 pm
I have some friends I’m going to send it to who I think would really appreciate the title 🙂
Heather @ pass the dressing
April 11, 2014 at 12:04 am
No C&P availabilty?
SonomaWine
April 11, 2014 at 12:22 am
Head 20 minutes west and give Sonoma a try. Charming square, great hotels, and plenty of wineries. If you do I will even personally give you a local oriented wine tour. Keep up the good blog!
Keri Anderson
April 11, 2014 at 12:35 am
I love Sonoma too! I was jealous — my Dad got to spend 2 days in Petaluma before I got out there.
Paul
April 11, 2014 at 2:01 am
Next time, try the Central Coast wineries. Take a drive down the coast from Monterey to San Luis Obispo and then down to Santa Barbara in the Spring – gorgeous.