Stayed at Bardessono December 9th for a few nights and it was a perfect place to lay your head down after a day in Napa. The small touches and the professional, courteous staff make the stay feel more like a B and B than a 90+ room hotel. The location to the best eateries in Yountville, the fire pit out back and the fresh, free pastry and coffee in the morning we just added pluses to the large, spacious, quite room. Would definitely stay here again.

Stayed here after reading its mention in the New York Times' most recent "36 Hours in Napa" article and was not disappointed. The hotel does a lot of little things that add up - wine and water during check in, all staff address us by name, unsolicited offerings to assist with reservations, filtered water in rooms. Plus free Internet, free bikes, free valet parking, free rides with their car service (the hotel even came to pick us up after one of our bikes broke down miles away). I'm not sure why other hotels haven't realized this yet and presumably this is all just priced into the room rate, but guests paying $$$$$ a night find it extremely offputting to get nickle and dimed on this sort of stuff.

And the hotel also gets nearly all of the big things right. The service, from the valets to the concierge, is shockingly good for an American hotel. Huge bathrooms with double sinks, large terraces, comfortable beds, soft towels, fire place, well-lit rooms -- there's pretty much nothing to find fault with in the room. It's also nice to see how passionate the GM is about his hotel. I hate to complain and almost never do -- he followed up with us after our stay by email after I completed a survey and immediately addressed my one minor issue with the hotel: unfortunately, the hotel restaurant is pretty average, which is surprising given the quality of the hotel and that fact that it's Yountville. Otherwise a top-tier hotel.

My fiancee and I just had a wonderful Christmas break at Bardessono. Arriving on Christmas Eve, check-in was quick, friendly and efficient and we were able to book an in-suite massage for Christmas morning before having a stroll around the small but perfectly formed town of Yountville. Its main claim to fame seems to be the many top quality restaurants and the concierge had booked us a table for dinner at Bottega, where we had an excellent meal and a bottle of cabernet sauvignon from the nearby Ehlers winery.
The hotel is ideally located to explore Yountville on foot and the rest of Napa Valley by car, which we did on Christmas Day after our massages. The hotel bar and restaurant are welcoming and we had a marvellous dinner at the latter in the evening.
Our suite was beautiful, as is the property itself. All the staff were superb, all in all Bardessono is well worth its high rating and I'd definitely stay there again.

Napa doesn't have the best reputation in the snobbery department and you certainly expect a bit of pretension in the town of Thomas Keller. But the geniuses at Bardessono didn't get the memo. They are genuine and each seems on a personal mission to shock you with outstanding service.

Never have we experienced a hotel that did everything right. Our first taste of the hotel was a team of energetic, smiling, young valets, working tirelessly in the pouring rain, reminding us that the valet service was free and available 24/7. Check-in was seamless with a full, personal tour of the facilities that ended in our toasty and enormous room. Wood in the bathroom, tile in the bedroom, and a ton of glass would normally be bad news in the wintertime, but state-of-the-art eco-friendly heating means Bardessono seemingly never gets cold. Both shower and bath are luxurious, the bed is a high-quality cocoon, and they even leave a personal dog bed by the fireplace for your pooch (“dog-friendly and five-star” is no longer oxymoronic…).

As beautiful as the hotel is and as fabulous the little perks, nothing can match the staff. Forever discrete but watchful, they ensure they know what you need before you even think to ask. Case in point: it was a rainy, windy weekend, and an afternoon storm had soaked the courtyard furniture. As we considered braving it anyway for the courtyard view and outdoor fire feature, the barman popped out to turn on hidden heat lamps and the front desk concierge, apparently having glanced through the lobby window, arrived with two fresh towels to make the seating more pleasant. Within sixty seconds we were comfortable and perusing the playful cocktail menu.

The cleaning team is superhuman and no speck or stain could be found anywhere in the hotel. They also use motion sensors to determine if your room is occupied before they head out to tidy up, meaning no awkward entryway interactions, and they smile hello when you pass them on their way to scour another room to perfection.

Other pros: Was there anything we missed? The chic yet unaffected décor? The oft-used vegetable garden on the grounds? The prime downtown Yountville location?

Other cons: Like we said above, Bardessono is doing it all right. The television is placed a bit high, but who’s watching TV when you have an in-room fireplace? The windows are reflective during the day and the night blinds raise automatically when you open the front door, which can lead to an evening scramble to close them again before the world gets a glimpse. These are petty complaints and in no way diminished our stay.

Verdict: When your management team is passionate and your staff recognize their essential role in the guest experience, anything is possible. Even eco-friendly, dog-friendly, five-star, affordable luxury.