This is the easiest place from which to negotiate the Bay area. We visited with our adult son and his family. The hotel was the perfect choice. Nearby Japanese restaurant was a real treat for the children.

We went about setting up our trip months in advance. Weighed all the options, stay in downtown SF or outside the city. After seeing how $$$ it is to be downtown, we choose the Doubletree Berkeley.

I exchanged emails with Ms. Bauer (the GM) before making our choice and she answered every question openly and honestly. At one point even asking us, "maybe you'd prefer to be closer to downtown SF if you plan to be in the city a lot". We were sold. This had to be the place for us.
Now, many will say, "your such a long way to downtown". Whiny babies are they. We had our rental car ($190 full size thru Priceline for a week) and each day we went downtown it only took us about 20 minutes from the hotel to the Wharf or North Beach and about 30 minutes to Castro street.
It's not as bad as those make it out to be on here. The ones who "scare you" about the death defying traffic jams. They have bad ones, don't let me mislead you but you just use common sense and time when you want to go places.
We left each morning at 9am and was just fine.

When we arrived, our room wasn't ready but Jarard, Oh my goodness give that youngman a raise, took excellent care of us.
We were treated to drinks and a meal as we waited and when we were done, our bags were already in our room waiting for us.
While we could pick out certain individuals who took great care of us all week, Stephanie-Jarad-Tam (sic)-Rapheal (sic), it would better serve everyone to know the whole place took great care of us. The customer service is the best we've experienced, top to bottom, at the many Hilton properties we've stayed.
We had a wonderful breakfast each morning watching the sunrise over the water and seeing the Golden Gate thru the boats in the Marina. There is a walking trail that takes you next door to a wonderful park for running, walking or just a picnic with someone you love.
I only have one request, the WiFi needs fixing. Constant connection problems all week long and we heard many expressing the same.
It has a wonderful lap pool with sauna, exercise room and in another part there is a family pool for the kiddies. The family pool is mostly empty so it's a nice hang-out if you need a soak with quiet time.
The staff is always eager and willing to help in any way, including food recommendations. We ate at some of the most wonderful, out of the way places, all thanks to the staff pointing us towards them.
This Hilton property is easily one of the best we've ever stayed at. The whole staff is a reflection of their leader.
Perfect for couples and families with small ones.

Please ask us if any questions about DoubleTree Berkeley or downtown SF.

There aren't a lot of great hotels in Berkeley but there are probably a few better than this one. The hotel is connected but the easiest way to get around is by going outside, which is inconvenient. There is construction and this presents some noise and parking restrictions. The hotel is not conveniently located to the BART even though it's only a mile away, not really walkable. The hotel driver, Peter, is super friendly and accommodating though.
The restaurant does provide an OK view with OK food.

Stayed here will visiting friends in CA. The room was nice, although the rest of the hotel (lobby, conferences rooms, restaurant - which I never ate in) were all clearly renovated much more recently.
Big drawback was the lack of free wifi. We are big technology people and being disconnected was hard, but we were not willing to pay throw the nose for wi-fi. If you have AT&T you will be fine.