Sunnyvale, CA, is as geeky as it comes, with a melting pot of Asian and Hispanic accents melding inside the Asian fusion restaurants stradded by BBQ pizza joints and taco grills, and VC funded tech startup CEO’s in casuals hanging around at street side cafes discussing their upcoming IPO. When you’re visiting a strange city, you find a hotel to stay in. When you’re visiting Sunnyvale, you find a Domain - As in the ‘Domain Hotel’ on El Camino Real. Hungry? The Domain hotel has a cafe & bar named ‘Bytes’. I rest my case…

I was supposed to talk to this green construction supplier (His face ain’t green, only that he supplies energy efficient raw material required by builders) and I had to spend the weekend in Sunnyvale. Tell you the truth, other than the fact that Yahoo! Inc. is based here, Sunnyvale doesn’t have much claim to any big tourist attractions for visitors. A couple of parks, where you can ride bikes and that’s just about it. Not that there’s any shortage of great attractions and entertainment in Silicon Valley and San Jose, but if you’re talking about Sunnyvale per se…You could, of course put up at one of the fine hotels in San Jose, like the Valencia Hotel Santana Row, or even down in San Francisco which is just an hour away, and then drive down to Sunnyvale and beat it outta there as soon as you wrap up your work. Stanford University is just 8 miles off, and there’s n number of decent lodgings and its much more alive over there than at Sunnyvale. I could have gone to any of these places. But I didn’t. So suck it up and listen to what I did, or didn’t do, in Sunnyvale. 

Dinner at one of the fusion restaurants was the highpoint of the visit, I suppose. You might want to try some Mediterranean cuisine at the Dish Dash restaurant on Murphy Street, which was pretty darn decent. They serve one heck of a Falafel and M’nazaleh. Then its back to the hotel, watch some television, catch up on the email and then turn in for the night. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time in the hotel, then you had better make sure you get the best of Sunnyvale hotels. Which brings us to aforementioned Domain Hotel.

136 spacious guest rooms tinged with either a refereshing light green shade or a tranquil blue, 32″ flat screen television, iPod docking station, free wi-fi, free breakfast in the morning and cookies at night, free local calls, fitness center, hot tub, outdoor heated pool and spa, private garage parking, along with the Bytes restaurant and lounge for room service. The suites additonally have a jacuzzi. Room rates start at $219 during weekdays and $119 on weekends. Photo courtesy and copyrights - Joie de Vivre Hospitality

In summary, other than the nomenclature, and its location close to Sunnyvale’s corporate head offices, and higher rates on weekdays than on weekends like all good geekville hotels, there’s nothing strikingly geeky about the hotel. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but still…With a hotel named Domain and a restaurant named Bytes, I wasn’t expecting a room - I was expecting a subdomain all juiced up with maybe a rubiks cube and a talking robotic maid and other geeky stuff. Sadly, it was just another room in a hotel. Pretty neat lodgings, though, and everything worked and it was neat and clean and spacious and comfortable. All said and done, if you ‘must’ stay in a hotel in Sunnyvale, then the Domain it is.

Info: 1085 East El Camino Real, Sunnyvale CA 94087; (408) 247-0800; www.jdvhotels.com/domain

Posted on April 22nd, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Hotels