I couldn't agree more with the person from Sept15. After staying at this hotel probably 4-5 times a year for the last three years, I have seen the steady decline in service. Yep, they cheesed out on the soaps and flowers. The front desk was worse than awful on this last stay a couple of weeks ago...first, they never acknowledged my platinum status - where as even 4 months ago, they offered me free drink coupons as a welcome gift. The front desk girls had that glazed over, absent look. They never smiled, and even when I left the hotel with suitcases in tow, the girl never looked up from the desk to say goodbye. I had a complaint which was never fixed and I was hung up on by the front desk. The service here isn't "wherever - whenever"...it is more like "Whatever!"

Honestly, when I am in this area again, I will use the Courtyard Marriott. For half the price, you get exactly the same thing - except, the breakfast is cheaper, the internet is free, and at least you expect the service level at a Courtyard to be minimal. It will be a while before I plunk down over $200 a night to get treated like a nobody here...cuz I can get that at the Courtyard for half the price :)

I'll watch this space to see if the reviews pick up for this property.

I've stayed at this hotel about every other month for the 4-5 years. When I started staying at the W Newark a few years ago, service was good, amenities were above average, nice small touches like fresh flower in the bathroom. I've noticed in the past 6-12 months that service at the hotel has gone downhill, and the slide continues as we speak. When they got rid of the fresh flower in the bathroom, I said no big deal. When they started skimping on soap and shampoos, I thought, I can live with 1 piece of soap for the bathroom, no problem. A few times I would show up at the ungodly hour of 11:30pm on a Friday night, nobody at the front desk, let alone the whole hotel - I had to wait 30 minutes once just for someone to show up at the front desk, I am not exaggerating. A fellow British tourist was with me muttering "they call this a hotel?" Even then, I thought to myself everyone has their off days. Then last month, whenhousekeeping berated me at 11:00am on a Sunday morning because I was keeping them from going home, it really hit a nerve. This past week when I stayed over the weekend, housekeeping didn't show up at all, and I decided enough was enough so I called the front desk to give my feedback. They promised to credit me some SPG points for the inconvenience - it's been a week, have yet to see the points, probably never will. It's really a shame that the service has gone downhill so much, the hotel is very nice in terms of facilities and rooms. Good design, looks visually appealing, and so forth. The weekend rate is very good, usually $80-$100 and access to 880 and 101 is excellent. I wish they would run the place like a W hotel instead of the Extended Stay. The sad part is that I've had better service at Extended Stays than at the W. Starting to seriously consider the Sheraton down the street in Milpitas as an alternative. Facilities there a little bit older looking, but at least they clean your room.. plus, it's usually about $15-$20 cheaper. If anyone at W Newark is reading this, please please hire back whoever was running the hotel 5 years ago and fire the guys you have now.

We are staying at this hotel as part of a little jaunt through the Bay Area, and actually did a night at the Mandarin Oriental in SF as well. The W Silicon Valley and the Mandarin are night and day (but then again, so are the room rates!)

THe W Silicon Valley, if you can get past its somewhat out-of the-way location (across the bay from Palo Alto), is a perfectly passable hotel for the traveler that likes funky, modern decor. The lobby, much like those found in other W hotels, is dark and lounge-like. (I do want to point out thta the hotel is located not too far off the highway, so it's easy to find, esp. if you are driving in the dark and are unfamiliar with the roads).

The rooms are also quite spacious - the size and shape of what we'd call an "alcove studio" apartment in our home base of New York. I loved how the little foyer area of the hotel room features a hardwood floor - a nice touch.

The bathrooms are clean and well-decorated, and have a separate shower stall and tub. Bath amenities are from Bliss.

I've got to warn you, though, the front desk is a little slow with answering the phone. In calling a few hours before we arrived to re-confirm our reservation it took roughtly 10 rings to answer. Once we were in our rooms, a call downstairs to report a malfunctioning toilet was never answered - we put the call on speakerphone and waited for about 15 rings before we gave up trying to reach anyone by phone. Hello?

This is definitely not the hotel for cushy service, but hey, if you don't need all that and appreciate a modern, clean room in the Valley, then this is your place. Can't beat the price!