Doubletree Bakersfield

We stayed one night in July 2005. Got a $65 rate on Priceline.

First, the good. The hotel is right off Highway 99 and surprisingly quiet, assuming you get a non-freeway facing room. Ours faced the inner courtyard/pool area, which has a large grassy lawn. If we stayed here again, I'd request a courtyard room on the lower floor but away from the pool--that way, you can have relative quiet but just walk out onto the lawn and off to the pool. The pool is large and clean, but was very full on a Saturday night. Our rooms were large and well appointed. The on-site restaurant had reasonable food at reasonable prices. They have a gift shop and a bar/lounge.

Now, the not so good. This is a big hotel and laid out kind of strange--it was hard at times to find your way around. It is still undergoing renovation. Our room and general area were not being worked on, but the construction is inescapable. I think that parking there is normally pretty easy, but the construction company has taken up LOTS of parking spaces with construction materials and storage containers. It was downright difficult to park while we were there. The elevator in our building was "papered" with brown cardboard-like material. When I first got in it, I thought I was in the freight elevator...but no. In every building, there was at least one huge cardboard box (perhaps containing a desk?) sitting in the hallway. I mean, come on! Get it in a room, or find a different place to store it.

All in all, I would stay here again. This will be a very nice hotel once the construction is done.

We were aware from previous reviewers that there was going to be contruction and renovations going on, so were not surprised to find that the elevator to our block was laid out with !keep out! tape as its not in good shape - we used an alternative lift and got to our room safely. It was recently renovated and had two double beds, given without request, in a large room. Efficient airconditioning, free internet, HBO etc. and free parking. The room looks out onto the carpark, and was not noisy. We paid $48 for one night and are very satisfied with this.

The grounds are beautiful and the area seems nice. You are very close to the freeway but the noise was not that unbearable. This hotel is in the middle of refurbishing. The rooms that are finished are beautiful and clean with extremely confortable beds. The older rooms are horrible, the beds are uncomfortable, the carpets are stained and the rooms are very dirty. We were promised the refurbished rooms when making our reservations but upon check-in we were given the old ones. We spent one miserable night in the dirty rooms and only when we threatened to leave were we given the remodeled rooms for the remainder of our stay. Make sure to see your room BEFORE you agree to stay.....It appears that the hotel is neglecting the older rooms, to the point of hardly even cleaning them. If this is the case, they should not be booking guests in them. The breakfast buffet was good but I would not pay over $5.00 for it. As usual, the chocolate chip cookies are great. The hotel advertises high speed internet but they were not able to provide me with a connection. They said that their service was down due to the construction at the hotel. They really need to expedite their refurbishing!

Double Tree

3100 Camino Del Rio Ct

Bakersfield, CA 93308

Date 17 Feb 05

Price - $58

# of nights stayed - 1

Unexpected fees - None

# of beds - 1 - King

Connecting room - No

Location - Inside courtyard view

Parking - Sufficient

Access to room - Elevator

Floors - 3

Interior corridors - Yes - a bit on the thin side

Apparent safety - Very good

Neighborhood - Motel cul de sac

Hwy access - Hwy 99 is 2 minutes away

Restaurants - In-house restaurants - two each

Reception - Very Good, very efficient

Newsstand - Yes - limited hours - Wall Street Journal is available

Control of noisy guest and guest behavior - no overt control of any type

General outside cleanliness - Outstanding

General inside cleanliness - Excellent

Room General

Ambiance - Business professional

Wall color - textured beige wallpaper

Furnishings - one couch, one chair, one work table

Lighting - Work desk light is very good

Carpet - Cleanliness - above average * Condition - very good

Room Fixture Quality - Outstanding - easy to use

Work Desk/size - ½ card table size

Work desk chair height - OK

Electrical connections at work desk - only one outlet!

Closet space - separate closet - very good

Room size - Average

Bed Linen - Above average

Extra pillows - yes - one in closet

Mattress quality - Very soft -

Odors/scents - None

Ironing board - Yes

TV * Channel selection - Excellent * Screen quality - Very good

Internet Access - Ethernet by third party * Ethernet access in restaurant

Phonebook - Yes

Cell Phone Reception - Excellent

Coffeemaker - Yes, on bathroom counter - small size unit.

Refrigerator - No

Noisy ? - No

Bottled water - No

Microwave - No

Room temperature control - Individual room thermostat controlling central conditioning system

Ambient noise

Floor above - Normal expected clunk when something dropped - walking undetectable

Hallway (interior) - Can hear other rooms' hall doors closing

Walls - Average

Outside - Some noise from nearby Hwy 99 and some from entertainment in lounge that adjoins one side of courtyard.

Bathroom - audible but acceptable

Early AM housekeeping noise - None

Animals - No pets noted

Bedbugs and/or fleas - None detecd

Bathroom

Lighting - Excellent

Shower water flow - Excellent

Shower height - OK

Shower fixtures - OK

Counter space - Very good

Towels - Excellent - Thick and soft - sufficient in number - Above average

Size - OK

Bathroom fan - None

Cups - Two glasses

Amenities

Bath soap - excellent quality

Hand soap - standard bar size

Shampoo - liquid shampoo - good quality

Mirror - lighting is excellent

Hair dryer - Yes - 1500 watt - reasonable noise level

Comments - No shoe shine cloth. Bathroom is large and doubles as the dressing area.

Continental Breakfast- Restaurant only

Fresh fruit -

Hot cereal -

Coffee - Comment - full service restaurant only

Comment - This facility used to be a very good Red Lion motel. Apparently, a decision has been made to upgrade the facility after deferring maintenance to the point it was driving customers away. The beds and linens are being refurbished but I had the "old style" bed that was still very good. The restaurant food is OK as is the service. The quality of the front desk is spotty. Front desk personnel seem to do little without "checking first" with a manager who is not available at times. The restaurant is a local eatery for dining out. Tables along one wall in the restaurant have free internet access making it very useful for business travelers. Newsstand operating hours are not consistent nor posted.

This place was in really bad shape. The hallway carpet was stained beyond belief. The first room they checked us into looked like college students regularly used it for parties. It just looked very unclean. There was some kind of heating issue in the hotel where the rooms would get incredibly warm overnight and become stifling. It didn't matter if the thermostat was set at 60. I picked this hotel in Bakersfield because of the Doubletree hotels I'd stayed in in the past. I won't be so quick to do that anymore if this is a standard they consider acceptable.

I give this rating as above average for the area.Room was clean,check in/out easy and accurate.I thought the parking was convienent for a ground floor room.If you have kids with you the Family Suite is a good option.The breakfest buffet $5.95 a kid was a good deal also.

The Doubletree in Bakersfield is a nice hotel with plenty of parking and and a lovely pool / jacuzzi. Bit of a hassle getting to rooms from car which involved going down one flight of stairs and then up another - whilst carrying heavy suitcases. Lifts did not seem to be well located.

Major problem was checking in. Took 15 minutes to process the two guests in front of us and at no time did additional staff appear to help.

Rooms were clean and reasonably appointed.

Stayed here and the bedding was not to clean at all, carpets were dirty, curtains really dirty, windows dirty. Not what we expected.

Meals were excellent. Front desk beautiful, lounge and gift area very elegant to look at, the rooms need to look the same.

Visited during Christmas 2002. Wonderful buffet dinner; clean, comfortable room. Quiet, all the ammenities; friendly, helpful staff. Chocolate chip cookies are to die for. We will definitely stay again.

Probably the best place to stay in this area. A 3 star property,with very comfortable and clean rooms. Very quiet,although it's right off Hwy 99. Completely redone within the past 2-3 years. Nice big pool,nice lounge. Best of all,there are almost always cheap rates available online. We've stayed here several times for less than $50--in fact,on our last visit in Dec 2001 we paid $20 by reserving through Priceline.