Claremont Resort & Club

We are in the midst of our stay in the most gorgeous hotel room I have ever stayed in, with a sweeping view of the San Francisco Bay. This is a pricey luxury spot, with many amenities:Lush robes (adding some slippers would be appropriate at this price), a gorgeous spa, tennis, swimming pools, a decent restaurant, attentive staff. Here is why I'm not giving it five stars: when we arrived they said our longstanding reservation for a room with two queen beds was not available, it had to be one king bed. They noted that we had booked through Expedia, and when I politely asked who had been at fault for the reservation glitch--the Claremont or Expedia--they were inconclusive, simply saying the package organizations "don't always have up to date information.." We made the reservation months ago., so this was a surprising and highly disappointing failure to deliver. Even the higher level staffer called in to examine the situation failed to change the situation, and didn't even offer any special perks to compensate. I was truly surprised since we are here for a whole week, as returnees to this expensive and legendary spot. I've never had a highly rated hotel do this to me before in all the decades of travel I've done professionally and personally. Fortunately the situation was reversed within an hour. We had traveled all day, were exhausted, so we unpacked a bit and were having dinner in the restaurant, when a generic text popped up on my phone welcoming us and asking for us to reply if there was anything they could do to improve our stay. YES I texted back, we were supposed to have two queens and this treatment was not what we expected from the Claremont! My phone rang. We were moved within 30 minutes to the desired two-queen room, where we will remain for the duration of our week's visit here. It was a poor start, but otherwise it's a glorious place to stay.

We have been staying at this hotel for over 10 years and it used to be wonderful. Unfortunately, the value, amenities, and room quality have gone downhill so far over the years that we will not stay here again. We did not mind paying a premium in the past, it was worth it, especially when it was still a Fairmont. It is now so bad that we left the hotel today without a refund. On the website, the photos for a Deluxe King Bay View Room look quite beautiful. Our first room they gave us is the size of a large closet and please check out the "Bay View" in the 1st photo. This is a PREMIUM room! We went back to the lobby and after some gruffing and clearly unhappy people, and they gave us another room. While now we can actually see the Bay, you can see how bad the view is. The a/c was on set on 65 when we got in, and after 5 hours in the room, the temp never got below 77. It used to be called Claremont Hotel and Spa. They recently got rid of the spa, and now they call it Claremont Hotel and Club. Very catchy. This is symptomatic of the degradation of amenities and service here. The rooms are tired, not super clean anymore they just no longer feel like a high quality resort. Do yourself a favor and drive the 20 minutes to Lafayette and stay at the Lafayette Park Hotel.

The Claremont is nestled in the Berkeley Hills overlooking the SF Bay. It is a historical landmark beautifully preserved and maintained. It is a wonderful respite to relax, unwind, enjoy the finer things in life. The rooms are beautiful, spacious with great views. The rooms are very reasonably priced especially for the many features of the resort which are included in your stay.

What an experience! The Claremont is a beautiful destination. Exquisitely well maintained, and a top notch staff to ensure maximum happiness through out the stay. Resort fees have always been a sore spot for me, but this is one of the places where it is perfectly earned (unlimited fitness classes!). A special shoutout to Natalie R. who helped our celebration stay to be extra special.

For a hotel that charges $400+ for a room. I was expecting more. The room was stuffy, even with the window open, and the hospitality was non existent. Every interaction we had with an employee felt purely transactional. There was no personal touch at all. Not a single person asked how our stay was going. I was very disappointed. I’ve experienced better hospitality at a Hampton Inn.