Golden Bear Inn: Americas Best Value Inn

Three to three-​and-​a-​half stars is about right.
The good:
The room and bedding were clean.
Convenient: on a major road, fairly close to campus (about a $ 15 cab ride, with tip)
Food nearby (Mountain Mike’s Pizza and other businesses)
Reasonably priced
Friendly office staff
Conveniences like a microwave & frig in room
Hot water readily available in bathroom
Light fixtures and electrical outlets effectively arranged (for the most part)
Not so good:
Old, leaky bathroom faucet
Noise from street
Questionable people in parking lot
Motel office closed midnight to dawn
The place feels/​looks a bit dated
Wi-​fi wasn’t working in our room.
The little nook containing the toilet would be a very tight squeeze for larger clientele.

My boyfriend and I were visiting for the weekend for a wedding and we called to make a reservation. Our reservation was not made correctly and they only scheduled us for one night. When I came back from the wedding to take our puppy out our room key was not working which freaked me out, so I went to the front check-​in, and spoke with the concierge chick. She then told me that we only had our reservation for one night and that our paperwork had been lost, mind you, I called initially and made a reservation for two nights. She then started to quiz me on what color and breed my dog was while all along my dog is in the hotel room needing to use the restroom, and while I do not have access to my things inside the hotel room which we supposedly had reservations in. She then didn’t know what to do until I started to get extremely upset about the service and overall treatment I was receiving… In the end, we had a place to stay, but I do not recommend staying here. The guests next door were smoking pot and doing drugs outside of our door. If you have a family, do not bring them here, they are not reliable, and it is not a safe place to stay.

This was our last hotel on the craziest trip I have ever been on. What could go wrong did, and this place was no exception… I am never a fan of hotels like this, I prefer to stay at chains with established reputations, even though you spend a little more, I am always more comfortable, which is worth the extra money. My husband went to Cal and had fond memories of this hotel so when we decided to go to Berkeley he immediately thought of this place.
We pulled in and I immediately had a bad feeling but decided to give it a try since my husband had stayed here before. We checked in and headed to our room. The decorations may look nice in the pictures but they are very tacky in real life. The bathrooms are old and run down and we needed service on our shower immediately. The walls are also paper thin and you can hear everything that is going on in the adjacent rooms.
Since my husband wasn’t willing to go further for a hotel I decided to grin and bear it for the few days we were there, I mean, how bad could it be??? To start, I never go a good night sleep because if I dozed off and touched something I would wake up because I was afraid to catch something. I also wouldn’t walk around without some sort of shoes or socks on. Luckily I didn’t experience bed bugs because I would have freaked out. The worst part of the trip came on the last night. We had a super early flight the next day and needed to get some sleep. It was a relatively short trip, so I was still on east coast time and wanted to go to bed at 12 am local time, my neighbors had other plans. They had been playing guitar and singing for a while but I thought they may stop once it got later in the night, but they didn’t. My husband had to go to the front desk to get them to stop, but unfortunately the front desk is not staffed after a certain period of time so we had to wait for someone to notify our neighbors of common courtesy. I wished we hadn’t because the marathon session of something I didn’t want to hear was way worse than the music. This went on for an hour or so until I finally called their room to get them to shut up, when I tell the story off Unilocal,it is much funnier and more graphic, lol. I was exhausted the next day and angry with my husband for picking such bad lodging, he is no longer in charge of where we stay when we travel.
The only positive part of this hotel is location… it is located close to everything you need but I will never again trade comfort for convenience.

I have used this hotel numerous times for my business trips to the area and found it to satisfy my needs. The rooms come with a refrigerator, so I can keep some food in my room. The Internet at the hotel is strong and good for my business.
The area surrounding the hotel is close to the University and has many choices of restaurants, bars, and cafes. The front desk staff has always been helpful in making recommendations.
One thing I find appealing is the hotel is easy to access from the highway and centrally located in the Bay Area to explore many of the famous sights of this area.
I usually arrive late at night, and after a long flight, the staff has always been easygoing on gotten me into my room quickly. Of all my business trips, I like this place best.

Five stars based on VALUE. (Some aren’t being fair in their reviews.) Compared to nearby similarly priced Rodeway Inn and Super 8, this hotel has «festival» lighting all around the courtyard and the aura is «quaint» rather than «discount.» The rooms are older, so expect perhaps a little rust on the mirror bracket and some discoloring on the shower grout, but it’s otherwise perfectly clean. I visited in the fall. I saw no air conditioner — this won’t be a problem in Berkeley in the summer, but if there is a heat-​wave some might be a bit uncomfortable. The man at the check-​in desk was extremely courteous.

Had a few days booked here recently. We flew in, went to bed. Woke up to screams from my co workers being bitten by bed bugs. We left in the the middle of the night and had to pay even more for a chain hotel down the street. We went back the next day, and even though we had this picture of one of the bugs — Chris, the manager refused to refund us our payment. He said they had checked the room and had found nothing. As I type this my co workers arm has swollen up twice the size. Why would we leave a hotel at 4am if it wasn’t a disgusting place? Chris was an unreasonable and greasy hotel manager with no understanding of our situation. He did not want to admit to having any bugs in his hotel, even with us showing him a picture from the night before. We paid him for a service he did not provide. Instead of replying to each bad review on Trip Advisor, Chris (and yes — there are a lot. for good reason) perhaps you should spend you time making your hotel a livable place for your guests who are GIVING YOU THEIR MONEY IN RETURN FOR A PLACE TO SLEEP. It’s very simple. I have been traveling for work as a musician for 15 years all over the world. I have never had an experience this bad or this unprofessional. Good luck with your business, Chris. I hope taking our 200 $ was really worth it for you. POTENTIAL GUESTS BEWARE OF THIS BUSINESS, THESE DIRTY ROOMS, AND THIS SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HOTEL MANAGER.
PS THE WIFI DIDNT WORK
THERE IS A LAQUINTA A FEW BLOCKS AWAY ON UNIVERSITY THAT IS ALMOST THE SAME PRICE AND WELL WORTH THE EXTRA CASH.

This is a nice inexpensive place to stay with clean rooms and free courtyard parking. While the interiors walls are not sound-​proof, as is usual in most motels that are wooden, the neighbors quieted down by 10 p.m. No breakfast is served but Batavelle Café & Wine Bar is just across the street and Café Leila is a short walk on San Pablo Ave.
The wifi is adequate. It is within walking distance of the trendy 4^th Ave. shops – where parking is often hard to find but not close to the UC campus or the famous Telegraph Avenue area shops and theaters.

I had asked Flight Centre for a cheap hotel since I figured I’d be out most of the time and really needed only a home base to stash stuff, bathe, and sleep. They booked me into America’s Best Value Inn on San Pablo Avenue — which was rather confusing since it was the Golden Bear Inn when I got there, and none of my documents mentioned this.
At just a 1-​Diamond rating, I didn’t have my sights set very high at the Inn, but I asked for budget accommodations so I can’t complain as long as it’s not a roach motel. The whole neighborhood had an older-​house feel, and that strip of San Pablo Avenue had a rather dilapidated feel compared to the cleaner, newer-​looking, and busier area further up in the El Cerrito area jammed full of malls. The Inn rooms were nicely maintained — my bathrooms was not icky (which can be the case if you have older fixtures with old and blackened cracks), and the room were clean and spacious. There is a small fridge, a fan in one corner of the ceiling above the door to the bathroom, and a thermostat cleverly hidden behind the television. Furniture was heavy and solid.
The card keys annoyed the heck out of me during my stay. For some reason they kept failing on me, though it might just have been my particular keys. They are activated at the front desk, and inserted into the lock (and staff are happy to re-​activate or test the keys). I was told that putting them too close to a cellphone might screw them up, but though I tried to be careful with them, they insisted on not unlocking my door randomly. I was provided two card keys, and I started keeping both on me, one in my wallet and another somewhere else on my person or in my bag. The Inn office is open 8AM to midnight, so going out late was a tricky proposition if you were worried that both keys might decide to go on strike. I recommend grabbing a business card right away, and having some way of calling the office after hours in case you are locked out of your room. Also, maybe ask for an extra key; or if your keys are failing frequently get new cards altogether.
There was no safe available in my suite so I carried my passport everywhere.
They evidently expect that the cleaning staff will take out your garbage because although there is a garbage can outside the office, recycling is harder to find — so far behind the office building I thought I was using someone else’s bins.
Staff were super friendly and helpful — this is what made my stay very good! The cleaners were more reserved but approachable. There is a full-​time front desk manager, plus part-​time students throughout the week. One advantage of going with a small Inn instead of a larger, maybe impersonal and busy hotel, was that I got to connect with the staff more and there’s a more personalized feel. They get to leave their post to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of, instead of passing you on to the proper department or desk.
Free coffee, tea, and hot water in the lobby. Paper cups there are individually plastic-​wrapped, so I recommend keeping your cup or using your own mug to minimize waste. Free internet access from an apple computer in the office lobby.
Free ice machine right outside the lobby next to the soda vending machine.
Despite the generally safe residential area, you may see the odd homeless person come by to get a whole bucket of ice. The staff permit this and unless someone is being aggressive or erratic, there is no need to freak out and call the police.
With regard to the safety of the immediate area, there were just two incidents at the Inn during my time there, but I also saw broken car windows between the Inn and the North Berkeley BART. Maybe I got lucky but the one time I was out very late walking down residential streets at almost midnight I saw only a skunk, and later two deer on Virginia at San Pablo Avenue. Your call if you want to go walking late or super-​early to/​from the BART station. Über operates in the area if you feel cabs are pricey, and in any case the distance to the BART is not so far that if you came from San Francisco you might just want to pay the small amount to taxi it back to the inn.
At night, the Inn grounds are extremely well lit, with basically no shadows to hide in. Cameras watch the perimeter and are monitored during office hours by staff in the room back of the service counter.

PROS:
Great location /​Great price
Pretty clean benchmarked against comparable amenities
Pretty chill and accommodating staff (my USB charger broke, front desk dude hooked me up!)
I didn’t use it with this stay, but the parking situation is also a big bonus. Next trip, I’ll rent a car simply because of this …
CONS:
Wi-​fi never worked for me — kept me from doing «work» on my vacation, so maybe I shouldn’t complain :)
These reviewers who are all piss and vinegar about particulars can’t be very seasoned travelers — this is good budget option for anyone doing anything in Berkeley

going here with low expectations is exactly what you should do, because it’s not spectacular. I went here for the Berkeley Half Marathon, and it was walking distance to the North Berkeley BART station (about a half mile, which isn’t so bad) and it’s walking distance to all the other great aspects of Berkeley.
The room was clean and didn’t have any odor, the bathroom was sufficient. There could be more outlets, but I figure it’s an old building and they’re expensive to upgrade, so I wasn’t complaining too much.
The staff is very nice and accommodating to my needs, I was pleasantly satisfied with my stay here. :)
PS: Free parking on site. No AC, but a big fan in the corner, but it’s Ok cuz I wasn’t spending my life in the room anyhow.

Had low expectations for this place but left pretty satisfied. We picked this inn because of the price ($ 76.50 before taxes) and also the proximity to UC Berkeley – I had my UC Berkeley orientation and we needed a place to stay for the night. No high expectations.
Myself, I was only here for the night and morning after check-​in (I was busy with orientation stuff), so I didn’t have any interaction with the staff.
Worth noting:
— Parking was abundant and we had no trouble
— Bathroom was clean
— The bed was a bit stiff but honestly, not a big problem
— Easy to get to UC berkeley from motel
— I had requested an extra bed because I didn’t want to pay the extra $ 25 for a sleeping accommodation at orientation. The staff responded to my request in 1 day and was awesome! I assumed the bed was gonna be a small cot but it was a roll-​away bed and was actually pretty comfortable! I liked it. :) It came with no charge.
— Had a TV, lamps, drawers, tables, etc! The whole shebang.
— At night, you can hear the cars beeping. Is there a train nearby or something? It was noisy! But meh, the price was cheap and we were only here for a night.
It was a little hard to find the place because a tree was partially blocking the sign, so keep that in mind!
**Also, I used book​ing​.com**

Two words: BED BUGS!
I stayed here for 4 days while I put an offer on a house. During my stay, I was bitten by bed bugs. Since leaving the hotel, I now have a full blown infestation in my clothing and luggage. When I approached the manager about this, he flat out refused to believe me. He was unapologetic and uncompromising, accusing me of brining the bed bugs with me. However, this theory is not possible since I was saying with a friend for several weeks prior to arriving at the hotel. All I asked for was a full refund for my stay, and the manager refused. On a side note, there are several questionable characters lingering around the hotel. The man in the next room was living in the hotel with his cat and getting drunk every day. This is not a clean or classy motel. Do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else.

Not the prettiest, by far, and there’s NO Air Conditioning — but the staff is friendly and the price is about the lowest in Berkeley. So, if you just need a place to stay and can’t afford much more, I guess this is it. The bed is one of the more uncomfortable, but on the too firm side rather than the lumpy and soft side. So, it’s survivable and it won’t kill your back, but still. The room is way basic and we were very warm (not in a good way). I was quite uncomfortable and Berkeley apparently can get hot in October. So, find something else if you can, if you can afford it, but it isn’t the worst I’ve stayed in – but close.

My husband and I stayed here while we were looking for a place to lease.
When we arrived late in the afternoon, exhausted from driving across the country, we were meet by the friendly and welcoming face of Pedro. He greeted us warmly and, upon hearing that we were brand new to the area, took out a map and showed us some of what was around.
It’s fairly central. You could easily take public transport up to the university area. (I walked, but it was a bit of a trek and I had time to spare)
Throughout the two weeks that we stayed there it was comfortable, did the job of serving as a launchpad, and Pedro made us feel like we already knew a familiar face.
The only reason I give it 4 stars is because for the amount of money spent here (and we got the place through a discount site) there’s not much in the way of being able to cook for yourself. So the amount we ‘saved’ in staying here was definitely spent in eating out.
All in all though, we were able to get our bearings here and wouldn’t have changed it if we had it to do over.

We arrived to a room that had a foul order, a broken TV, bugs in the bathroom and a cloggy sink. We told the hotel manager and he couldn’t offer any assistance. I would think twice about staying here.

Pros: Cheap, clean, comfortable, pet-​friendly, free wifi, easy on-​off ⁵⁸⁰⁄₈₀.
Cons: Wifi is spotty, low price attracts weirdos, walls are thin enough to hear conversations in room next to you.

Pros: Everything looked clean. The guy at the front desk was super nice. I didn’t see any bugs or blood stains.
Cons: Still kind of a hole. The building where room 130 is located is run down and not well-​maintained. The room smelled like water damage, the towel racks were barely hanging onto the walls, and the faucets took werewolf strength to turn all the way off else they dripped very loudly. The bathroom had a two-​bulb light fixture – one was burned out when we arrived, and the second burned out the first evening. The walls are paper-​thin which is not unexpected at any motel, however there were some dudes hanging out and speaking very loudly outside of our rooms until 1:30am each night we stayed. The window locks were broken. The wifi was like dial-​up.
I am writing this review while sitting in a Days Inn in Davis, CA that cost the same per night, for the same size room, and this place is 110% nicer. Golden Bear Inn in Berkeley, CA charges too much for what is offered.

Cute little lodge. I had low expectation on this place, but it was very clean and nice. Make sure to call them if you are arriving after midnight. I would definitely come back. Location is good. Could have been little less $$ .
The only thing i din’t like about our room is PILLOWS; not comfortable… gave ma neck pain every night.

Stayed at this place because it was inexpensive. I had a great stay, the staff are all very kind, the rooms were clean and coming from a mom who is a germaphobe I searched from top to bottom for anything to freak out on and it was very clean. I would definitely stay here again.
There are only two reasons why I don’t give them 5 stars. The bed was not a queen size even though it’s what they advertise, and the walls are paper thin. Being 6’4 I still fit on the bed but it threw me for a loop because I thought there was gonna be more room. And the walls are not a big deal as long as you’re a heavy sleeper. But during the day you can hear the people next to you rather loudly.
All in all, this place is definitely worth staying at.

Rooms should probably be a little less $$ but they are a decent size for being a motel. I wasn’t too bothered by anything although the room did smell sort of musty. My roommates hated the place but I guess I was ok since I’ve stayed in hostels that were way sketchier. There were some strange noises in the night, like the sound of pipes exploding and possible murderers scratching at our door, but it’s all good. Good location and I’m sure the cheapest options around.