Hampton Inn Petaluma, California Review

Petaluma, California may not be on many people’s radar. I, like most of you, wondered “Where is Petaluma?” when starting to book a hotel there. Petaluma, California is located north of San Francisco in the California wine region. This city is located about 25 minutes from Sonoma and 35 minutes from Napa. Petaluma is larger than Sonoma and much cheaper than Napa. These two factors make Petaluma a great place to stay when you are booking a California wine region vacation. The Hampton Inn may not be the first hotel that comes to mind when planning this vacation; however, hotels in the area can be quite expensive (especially in the summer and fall) which makes staying at something like the Hampton Inn a great option. The following is my review of the Hampton Inn in Petaluma, California from August 2022.

As mentioned, the Hampton Inn in Petaluma, CA is located about 25 minutes from Sonoma and 35 minutes from Napa. This makes it a great base to explore the surrounding areas that are known for their wineries, vineyards, ranches, and dairy production.

The town of Petaluma is also a very nice place to explore with tons of great restaurants, small shops, beer gardens, and cafés. Unfortunately, the Hampton Inn Petaluma isn’t located in the downtown area of Petaluma. The hotel is about a 5-minute drive or a 15-minute walk to the downtown area. Neither of these options is a difficult way to get to the downtown area since there is ample parking in the city and plenty of sidewalks the whole way. However, do know that the walk to downtown from this hotel runs along a major road for about half the walk. There isn’t much interesting about the walk having done it when we stayed there, but it is absolutely doable.

The first impression for guests walking down the hallway and entering the rooms is how high the ceilings are. These high ceilings are due to the fact that this Hampton Inn was built is an old fabric factory. The Hampton has done a great job of retaining as much of the character of the old fabric factory in their designs. Hampton Inns are very often known for being the standard cookie-cutter hotels. While there are definitely some portions of this hotel that brought out the cookie-cutter vibes, the hotel did a nice job of melding them with the local architecture.

The building, guest rooms, and common areas have a great deal of character. The exterior is very different from most Hampton Inn hotels that you will have seen before. They have preserved much of the exterior features of the factory such as portions of the water tower. Several of the interior brick walls, beams, and rafter structures have also been preserved. All of these features are likely one of the major reasons that my experience at this hotel was elevated above a typical hotel stay at a limited-service brand like Hampton Inn.

Like many Hampton Inns, the standard guest rooms feature one king and two queen bedroom options. There are also a limited number of king bed suites at the property as well. These suites feature a king bedroom and a living space with a double-sized pull-out sofa, a TV, and a working space. The suites can be great options for those who need extra room. However, if a small amount of extra room is all that is needed, the corner rooms are also much larger than most of the standard rooms of each type.

During our stay, we were in a basic king bedroom. Therefore, what follows is an opinion of the king bedroom and the rest of the Hampton Inn Petaluma property.

As part of the factory vibe, guests are greeted with a large concrete wall containing two windows that look out onto either the front or rear parking lots when entering the room. Each window has a shade with a map of Petaluma printed onto it. Also, along this far wall is a lone chair.

Anchoring the room is a king bed. This is the traditional king bed and linens that you will find at any Hampton Inn. On either side of the bed is a bedside table with outlets and a lamp or wall-mounted sconce. At the foot of the bed are two moveable ottomans that are appropriate for placing luggage or for use when getting dressed.

Finally, one wall of the bedroom contains all the other furnishings. This includes a combination unit with a small desk, closet, television, refrigerator, and beverage station. The desk is adequate for doing some work. However, I hope you don’t have too much work to do while visiting in the wine region of California. The minifridge is adequate for hotel use as well.

The television is mounted on a swivel so that it can be turned towards the bed. However, it is positioned to the side of the room so that it makes watching any amount of TV somewhat awkward. Last, the closet is in a cabinet along the wall. While it is okay for small amounts of clothing, it doesn’t work well for large amounts of hanging clothes or anything that is full length as there are some drawers inside the closet. In addition, the iron and ironing board are stored in the closet which decreases the space available for hanging clothes.

Moving back toward the entrance to the room, the bathroom door is what guests will come to first. The bathroom is nicely done for a Hampton Inn. The single basin sink has plenty of countertop space. The bathroom has a nice amount of light as well that aids in getting ready. The shower is also a decent size with a sliding glass shower door. Overall, there is an appropriate amount of room. The bathroom feels nice, clean, and modern.

All Hampton Inns include breakfast free for guests. While the excellent architecture of the material factory will sometimes make visitors forget that they are in a Hampton Inn, the breakfast isn’t something that will make you forget. If you have had a Hampton Inn breakfast before, you will be familiar with the breakfast served here. The menu consists of make-your-own waffles, assorted breads, a hot egg dish, a meat of the day, breakfast potatoes, cereals, fruits, and yogurt. There are assorted juices (from concentrate), milk, coffee, and tea to drink.

If it wasn’t obvious above, I wasn’t too excited about the Hampton Inn breakfast every day. I don’t want it to sound like it wasn’t an edible breakfast because it was. There were definitely things that were good to eat. However, the hot egg and meat options were never spectacular, and the menu was very repetitive. On the bright side, it is included with the room rate so there isn’t anything lost if guests choose not to eat it.

Breakfast is served each morning from 6:30 AM until 10:00 AM. The dining area for breakfast is quite large and has a variety of seating options. This area is generally unused during the rest of the day so if groups are looking for a place to hangout or play a game, this would be a great spot.

The Hampton Inn in Petaluma has a decent fitness center. While there are bigger and better fitness centers in other hotels, a vast majority of the fitness centers would be less equipped than this one.

The fitness center has a full rack of dumbbells ranging from 5 lbs. up to 50 lbs. There is an adjustable bench and a cable rack for weight work. On the opposite side of the gym are a stationary bike, two treadmills, and an elliptical for cardio work. There is also another small area set aside for floor work. That space has a couple of mats and some medicine balls. Finally, there is a water fountain and towels provided.

Lastly, the décor of the fitness area is done well. It helps that the rest of the décor throughout the hotel has the industrial and modern feel that is very popular in gyms today. I have been to many hotel gyms that are essentially in another guest room or in a dungy basement. Therefore, I wanted to give this one credit for the atmosphere.

Just off the main lobby near the elevators is the hotel’s business center. Like most limited-service hotels, the name “business center” gives this a little more credit than it deserves. Essentially this is just a bank of two computers and a printer on a desk. The computers work great if you need to look up something quickly or print something (such as a boarding pass). However, there isn’t any privacy as you are in the main lobby next to the elevators. Therefore, you wouldn’t really want to conduct any business here.

There are two parking lots at the Hampton Inn Petaluma. The parking lot at the front of the building is very small and fits only a half-dozen cars. The parking lot at the rear of the hotel will be where the majority of the hotel guests park. Street parking is also allowed around the hotel if the lots are full.

Parking is free at the Hampton Inn Petaluma which is nice since so many things are very expensive in this part of the country.

As with many things in California, room rates can be fairly expensive. The rates do rise and fall with the seasons and the popularity of the surrounding wine region. For example, a random weekend in September 2022 showed a room rate around $260/night for a flexible rate. However, rates in mid-October rose to $312/night.

Since Hilton has a variable award chart now, the points price of this hotel appears to range between 45,000 and 60,000 points per night. Throughout the award chart, there seems to be very few nights where the value per point exceeds a half-cent. This is pretty typical for Hilton Honors points so it wouldn’t be bad to use points to stay here. Just don’t expect an outsized value. About the only real value to be found is staying 5 nights and getting 1 night free as part of a points redemption.

Overall, the Hampton Inn in Petaluma has to be one of the better Hampton Inn hotels that I have stayed in. The historical building and the preserved architecture are a big reason for that. The other is that the hotel was well-maintained and clean. Many will come to the Sonoma area looking for a luxury, full-service retreat to match the wine region tours. If this is you, the Hampton Inn isn’t what you need for your trip. However, if you are looking for more affordable accommodations or something that will be familiar but still has a little charm, this hotel could be for you.