Aristocrat Hotel, BW Signature Collection

The location was okay, though the view from the window was of an RV campground. The windows shut easily, so privacy was simple. Downtown felt dead, and I’d go to the Princeton fishing boat area for a meal instead. That’s more a comment about Half Moon Bay as a town than the hotel. The staff were friendly and helpful, and the rooms were great, with Starbucks and Peet's coffee. Our shower handle was a bit wonky, and we had to almost turn the water off to get it hot, though maybe our room was an exception. Breakfast was underwhelming for a place called "Aristocrat," but it was free, and the room rates were reasonable.

The rooms are nice and fairly comfortable, and the hotel is average overall. Housekeeping didn’t come every day, and it seemed our room got missed a few times. Breakfast was pretty bad: the toaster didn’t work, the eggs tasted like powdered eggs, and the coffee was burnt. It would do if you need to stay in the area, though next time I might look for somewhere closer to the beach.

We’ve stayed here for years because the location is great. The rooms are pretty standard, and the included light continental breakfast is nice. Still, this may be our last visit. The newer keypad setup has a little device in the room, presumably for network access, and its light blinked erratically all night. The door keypad also seemed low on batteries or something, because it beeped through the night. The virtual host has made check-in and getting help a much worse experience. It’s a kiosk with someone on a video call over a speaker, while an actual front desk worker stands nearby doing other tasks. It feels awkward, and in my experience the kiosk host often can’t handle things promptly, so the desk worker ends up stepping in anyway. On this trip, I had a leak in my room and reported it to the virtual host. I waited while she tried to find an actual person, but she never did, so I went looking and found someone myself. That’s enough to make me consider staying elsewhere. I can see the property is trying to modernize, but I’d rather they use NFC, digital keys, or cards, and offer app-based check-in. The recent changes have made it less enjoyable to stay here, despite the excellent location.

The place is modern and on the fancier side, with decent space. My accessible room was a real plus, and the breakfast had a good range of tasty options. The staff are pleasant and helpful when you can find them, but the front desk was usually empty when I needed assistance. There’s a self-service check-in and checkout machine, but it often errors out and tells you to speak to reception, which is frustrating when no one is there. The location depends on what you’re after. It’s a bit remote, with few businesses nearby, but it’s right by the beach and suits people who like outdoor activities. If you want lots of places to go and a town near the city, it may not work for you. The accessible shower does function, but it’s poorly designed in so many ways that it barely works. Getting into the room can be a hassle too. The touch keypad instead of a card often glitches, so you have to enter the code repeatedly, have it reset, or find that it won’t work at all.