Stanford Terrace Inn

For about two years, I’ve regularly booked the Terrace Inn for weekly speakers visiting campus, and the stays have consistently been comfortable and pleasant. Guests like the rooms, service, and breakfast. The location is ideal for the Palo Alto and Stanford area. We recently had around 40 people stay there for a major conference, with most rooms booked weeks ahead. The team handled the arrivals, last-minute changes, folio updates, and everything else that came up very efficiently. They were wonderfully accommodating, and I highly recommend the hotel.

The location near Stanford is convenient, which is why I’m giving it two stars instead of one. The room didn’t look like the pictures, and the motel felt almost abandoned. I was traveling alone and felt uneasy. I saw no other guests and only a couple of cars in the lot. The room was very dated and smelled like an antique shop. It served its purpose, but I shut myself in early and was afraid to leave the room. I wouldn’t recommend this place.

It was hard to relax here. We stayed in mid-September, and I barely saw any guests or cars in the garage. With so few people around, I didn’t understand why we were put in a room near the very end of the hallway. The building seemed old, and getting from the elevator to rooms along such an odd route wasn’t convenient. I disliked the carpet, the pool noise, and the fan was far too loud. I didn’t even feel like taking pictures in the room.

For what it costs, I expected better. The Stanford Terrace Inn has plenty of charm, but the decor is run down and my room needed repairs and maintenance. Breakfast was tolerable, just uninspired. Lodging in the area is ridiculously expensive anyway, but this place still falls short on upkeep and modern comforts.