I am still dreaming about our perfect Labor Day weekend getaway. My son and I found the most…read moremagical, art-filled historic home that instantly felt like a warm hug. Think lazy afternoon naps while catching the coastal breeze, slow mornings, brunch, shopping, and chasing the prettiest golden hour views at the Berkeley Marina. If your soul needs a cozy, inspiring place to reset, this hidden gem is absolutely it!!

B-Love's Guest House is an oasis that is hard to write a review for. Nestled in the heart of West…read moreOakland, "B-Love" hosts a part-hostel, part-private accommodation that seems to be able to meet any need, and has met mine for 1+ month in multiple stays now. In the two times I stayed here while commuting through the Bay Area, it was a gamble who I could share my kitchen or bathroom with.. but I always felt at peace as soon as I arrived. The "vibe" is curated as much as the artist hosting the space. "B-Love" stays around the home sometimes like a caring manager rather than an overbearing landlord. It was always good to see her around to update her on the house supplies, or just to hang out. She is a wealth of knowledge and history that comes along with the guest house and beautiful garden. However, she is also not in your business overall so if I ever wanted to ask for an accommodation in my room, or a question about the house, she was readily available on email or phone and happy to answer, as well as the other workers who are around regularly to clean up and help. The home sits in the heart of West Oakland, which might not have the best grocery stores, but you will encounter 3-story murals of the Women of the Black Panthers on the way to the Black-owned co-op grocery store (Mandela). You can also learn what a "food desert" is when they close at 8pm if you're carless, but you can also learn the goodness of local shopping when you hit the local liquor store (Sharif's) that makes sure to have your avocados and tortillas all the same. I would stay at B-Love's again and again. I miss the garden when I stay miles away visiting the Bay Area. Thank you for always catching me in my travels!

Honestly, I thought I'd be mugged here, but I didn't haha. There Cal and non-Cal students living…read morehere. Quite a few actually. The living conditions to my standards are horrible but that justifies the cheap stays. Only reviewing so y'all know this place still exists. Have fun~ P.S. call and ask for the real address when you arrive (which is on the same block just different house, it's a security measure they use to prevent crazy party goers from entering the house late and waking everyone up)

Location is excellent. North Berkeley Large Bedroom near U.C. Berkeley (3-blocks), parks and the…read moredowntown, in a good neighborhood within walking distance of Trader Joe's, Gourmet Ghetto and Public Transportation (BART subway transportation to SF). Many nice cafes and restaurants too. Close to the Berkeley Theater District and shops. It has studios, shared and single rooms. The place has large bedrooms with desks and kitchen and bathroom privileges. Great location with parks at the corner and some of the best restaurant including the world famous Chez Panisse Restaurant and Cheese Board a few blocks away. Hardwood floors and tiles. Location is hard to beat. Idea for young entrepreneurs, visiting scholars and students. The spacious rooms have a great deal of natural light and there is a nice backyard to enjoy.

It's an ok place to stay as I haven't had issues the 4 times I stayed here during my Bay Area Trips…read moreeven though my trip from September 2025 had me in a room with no Air Conditioning. But as long as you got a plug in fan, you're all set. Overall, I give this place 3 stars as it isn't fancy but it's affordable. I will recommend this place to those who are staying for a few days and don't wanna spend too much on a brand name hotel, but I do NOT recommend staying here if you cannot deal with the train horns all day and all night.

THE WORST HOTEL EXPERIENCE I'VE EVER HAD. DO NOT STAY HERE…read more Jack London Inn was, without question, one of the worst hotel experiences I've ever had. From the lack of basic amenities and nonexistent AC to the overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke and weed, the filthy conditions, unexplained stains, cockroaches, and horrible customer service, virtually nothing about our stay matched what we expected when we booked. And when we tried to get a resolution afterward? Silence. The lack of meaningful follow-up from management only made an already terrible experience worse. Save yourself the frustration, the money, and potentially a very unpleasant stay. I would never stay here again and strongly recommend looking elsewhere.

THE CITY CLUB BAR…read more John treated me ! Thanks Johnny boy!! I started with a Gin Martini 2 olives & a twist on ice ... Unfortunately the ice wasn't in cubes so the flavor was so watered down that I couldn't taste the gin at all...We then were served some great little warm breads with delicious butter YUM! The split mixed iceburg lettuce salad arrived which was a generous portion & well dressed with some notes of tarragon ..nice! John ordered the braised short rib & he subbed out the mashed potato/roquefort for the fried potato disks that came with the rib eye. Good spuds! My beef bourguignon had wonderful toothsome wide egg noodles but weirdly, chunks of green pepper & undercooked pearl onions? The beefy gravy was perfect on the pasta BUT the beef's texture was terrible.. mushy without a smidgen of bite! YUCK! When John had me taste his beef the resuts were much the same... too soft & textureless.. then the opposite...the pretty split carrot halves were too hard & undercooked on his plate to bring out their sweetness....I assume these 2 long cooked meats styles had been sitting for god knows how long I left most of the dinner to take home & see if I could repair the dish... (I'll probably eat the noodles and use the beef in a taco?). so my suggestion is to order the rack of lamb (if I return....which John had had & recommended) & stay away from long cooked items (except beans)

An absolutely stunning venue for an intimate wedding. My husband and I had the pleasure of…read moreattending a wonderful ceremony and reception here. The outside space for a wedding ceremony is so beautifully designed with all the plants. The historic interior added such a timeless look to our friends' reception and we really enjoyed the food provided too. Would definitely recommend as a venue!

Their cleanliness, the room smells like piss and shit. There were yellow stains on the bottom of…read morethe pillows some sort of residue on the mirrors there were bugs, crawling around on the sheets covers. The air conditioner was dirty There were frequent visits of hoes in the middle of the night. I couldn't get any sleep altogether truly terrible experience.

I stayed at this hotel on July 7, 2022. I checked in with a woman around 9:30pm after a long day on…read morethe road. The first room they gave me seemed decent enough at $99 until I was lying on the bed and started feeling like I was being bitten. I saw a small bug and smashed it into the sheet it was walking on. Then I was going to bed and pulled the sheets back to find this bigger bug crawling through my sheets! I took a video and went to the front office now after midnight and rang the bell. A man answered and he came to my room to look at the evidence of the bugs, took his own pictures. I wanted to leave the hotel but it was too late to try to find another one in Oakland at that hour. He made no offer of refunding the room. He was not horrified or sincerely apologetic and it was as if he knew the rooms had bedbugs. He moved me to a room a few doors down which I did go to because it was so late and I was already in my pajamas, but I slept fitfully feeling the crawlies all night long.

Stayed here one night, for a concert at the Greek. Cool old…read morehotel, with enough charm to counter the negatives. Pros: It is an historic building, built in 1928. I checked in at about 6pm, and there was still parking available. Being Hilton Gold got me a $55 food credit, Skittles, and bottled water. The room was cozy. The hot water got very hot instantly. The bed was comfy. Cool decor in the room. Booked with Hilton points, so only cost me $68 for parking and taxes. Cons: Most ridiculous bathroom sink ever. With a faucet that was too big for the tiny (8"x12" maybe) sink. You could not wash your hands without getting water everywhere, and washing your face meant soaking most of the bathroom. No place to put your toiletries, other than the tiny glass shelf with the extra roll of TP. Shower not intended for people over 5' 8" A little noisy, but they provided one pair of earplugs. Lights in hall would go out, but I believe they had a motion sensor. No nightstand on one side of the bed. I was not informed of the charge for parking ($40). Food credit hard to use as restaurant closes at 10 pm and 10am. But overall, not bad. I would stay here again.

Yane at the front desk made this stay…read more The Graduate Berkeley is a great hotel, but what I'll actually remember is the check-in. Yane at the front desk was warm, attentive, and genuinely went out of her way to make me feel welcome. I've checked into a lot of hotels, and the standard is usually a quick, transactional hello - Yane made me feel like an actual VIP. Service like this is rare these days, and it's the difference between a stay you forget and one you'd happily book again. She's the reason I'd come back to this property. If you're staying here, hope you get Yane at the desk. Thanks for making it a great visit!

Really pleased with this hotel. The staff is kind, room is clean and comfortable. Loved walking on…read morethe path as the sunset and hearing the horns from the naval station across the bay.

Really scary neighborhood, if your room location on the ground floor, you will not be able to enjoy…read moreyour stay

PEOPLE LISTEN TO THIS ADVICE: DONT CONSIDER THIS DUMP, BUG INFESTED, FILTHY WALLS, FRONT OFFICE…read moreFULL OF EGREGIOUSLY UNEDUCATED STAFF, FROM JUST YOUR AVERAGE FRONT DESK PERSONNEL TO THE SO CALLED MANAGER, Ravi, I believe.. They have absolutely no idea what their doing. It's such an easy job working at a front desk of a property that small, with no additional services they offer, they offer nothing else of any kind. I mean, a 14 year old kid could do what they do, and do it more accurately. No kidding, they check in and out guests and that's it, and they can't even do that right!! They're still claiming because of Covid, one cannot get a house keeper to pick up your room during your stay, which is completely UNTRUE!! Perhaps a year ago, but absolutely housekeepers are giving housekeeping services everywhere. I've stayed in 9 other hotels and inns in Oakland before this one and San Francisco and they are offering full house keeping services!! Those restrictions, if they were in acted, they are long gone now!! They're so lazy and inept that they will claim that nonsense until 2026 if they could get away with it or until enough people say, WHAT?!? What are you talking about?? I checked in, and Jasmine who was working at the front desk & charged my card initially for the incorrect amount, about $10 more then booking.com confirmed for me, she refused to adjust it! However, that was a small deal compared to the 2 additional charges each at $97.26 she also charged me, when brought to her attention, she only agreed to credit 1, she said the other was just a pre authorization and would drop off. NO IT WASNT! The other charge was indeed a charge as it settled to my account, but she kept raising her voice to convince me it was just a pre Auth,WELL IT WAS 2 SEPARATE CHARGES just as I thought. Then I bring the issue up with booking.com who reaches out to them, at the same time I go into office to talk to the manager, he looked at me face to face, after several minutes of back and forth Ross or Roz, or Ravi, told me it was the banks issue!! My god where do they get these people who work there from, they can't see sense, they're completely ignorant and don't know what they're doing. He ultimately said to call my bank and tell them to do a charge back! That's right, Ros or Rozz's or Ravis's only solution was to blame it on someone else, when the evidence is right in front of him, they lack any kind of common sense, it's sad. Terrible customer service to match their filthy rooms infested with mold and bugs! Yuk!! It's a mess! Please save yourself from over charging, aggravation from a front desk staff of misfits, having no idea what they're doing and a sketchy and unattractive property to boot! It's a shame in such a nice area of Oakland, near lake Merritt, this place is an eye soar and so is the service, if you could call it that.. It was a horrible experience, with both the personnel of this dump and booking.com! I will never use booking.com again as they lack good character and don't stand by the properties they are affiliated with. Their staff tell lies, promising to follow up and never do! Please let my experience save you from also having the same experience! STAY AWAY- RUN AWAY!! FAR AWAY See Ravi's pic below

2/4/20 TERRIBLE HOTEL! don't even bother coming here. The…read morecustomer service is absurd, the front desk workers don't make it a priority to help those that came with a reservation. I had a booking here only to arrive and be told that someone else took my room. Well in this situation, you would kick out those that took my reservation because you couldn't understand them. Instead, you tell ME the person with a paid room too call the 3rd party company like hotels.com to change something on my reservation.. WTF! Do your damn job and not make the customer do your job! Why in the hell are they working here if they don't know how to do anything. Whoever the owner is of this establishment needs to train their employees better or replace them. You WILL Lose valuable customers like myself and many many others because of this bullshit you call a hOtel. Even though, we finally got a room after wasting an hour trying to fix the problem, that the hotel caused, I would've left long time ago if it weren't so late and I was tired from a long drive off the road. I would never stay here ever again!

Way over priced for a piss in the sink room. Crack was sub-par. Desk 'staff' is comically…read moreincompetent. Feh, you've been warned, just read the other reviews. Room on 6th floor, 'elevator is for staff use only', etc. ffffffuuuuuuuuu!!

I'm not surprised that this place doesn't have any reviews. Its not even really worth it to review…read morethis place. But hopefully, this review will help those make a better decision before staying here. I'm only staying in this hotel since my living situation went to shambles. Until I found a new place to call home, I started looking at hotels that had cheap weekly rates. I chose Empyrean Towers because its super close to where I work. That is the only pro I give this place. My cons are as follow: 1. When I reserved a room, I booked from their website and chose a premier room with a private bath. I chose this room for the bathroom and the fact that it came with a microwave and refrigerator also. On the day I was coming to check in, I got a call from an employee who wanted to let me know that there was a problem with the room and I couldn't stay in it from the night. Instead, he moved me to a double room and knocked off 2 days 2. I had no use of the elevator. It works, but only management and staff are able to use it. I had to lug my bike up 6 flights of steps. 3. There was no hot water on the 6th floor. Since I wasn't in my private room, I had to use the shared bathrooms which looked iffy. As in they weren't cleaned very often. There are 2 bathrooms on each floor. On my floor, one of the bathroom has this really disgusting stench like something died in there and the other had absolutely no hot water coming from the shower head. In order to take a hot shower, I had to travel down to the 4th floor. 4. Not only did I have to go to the 4th floor to use a shower room with hot water, but the door didn't close properly. You had to push the door open to get in, but the lock that was installed on the door was meant for a door that you PULLED OPEN. So my showers lasted only 5 minutes as to prevent people from walking in on me while I was naked. 5. At the time of this review, I would have stayed in this hotel for 4 days. I never saw a single housekeeper during my time here. The trash cans in the hallway are overflowing with trash and it smells so horrible in the hallways. 6. Also......I RARELY EVER SAW ANYONE WHO WORKED IN THIS HOTEL!!!! This place isn't worth staying at. It was horrible and just upsetting. P.S. I actually wrote this review some time ago.