Epiphany Hotel

Honestly, this was the best stay I’ve ever had, anywhere!
So amazing, I’ve been twice in the last year.
the rooms are super nice, with robes, has a full mini bar, and the rooms are so so so nice.
oh yeah I already said that! LOL!
anyways, they really treat you special here and they even gave us a complimentary bottle of champagne one night, I literally wish I could live here.
bathrooms are super nice and the shower is to die for!
front desk staff is awesome as well, will DEF come back again!

The Epiphany Hotel really went above and beyond our expectations. When I booked the room, I mentioned we were celebrating mom’s 75^th birthday and they assured me they’d have a «little» surprise for her. When we arrived, Cristal greeted us at the front desk and upgraded our room to a suite. It was perfect. We were grateful, but it didn’t end there. They set up champagne and cake in our room while we went out to lunch. The handwritten card signed by the staff was an awesome touch. They give you free access to Vivre gym across the street. The hotel is conveniently located near University Avenue, many great restaurants, and Whole Foods if you just want to stock up. At checkout, Seth, the Assistant GM, gave us an extra bottle of lotion with our purchased amenities. Adam, the bell captain, complimented my mom on her Giants jacket. He also gave me his card so he can help us with our stay at their Santa Cruz property since I mentioned we might be going there soon. When the valet arrived with our car, he placed two bottles of water in there for the drive home. It really was a great experience, beginning to end. Thank you for making us feel welcome and making our stay so memorable. It’s all in the details.
FYI– Being a hospitality major is a gift and a curse.

Can I move in? From their front desk to the room to the restaurant — all was great! The room was well-​designed and felt more like an upscale efficiency rather than a hotel room. Storage was sparse but that’s to be expected with today’s boutique hotels. Guess we’re not to unpack, or better yet, just buy upon arrival.
I liked that when I needed help in getting my luggage lock cut, their maintenance manager was away at a staff celebratory luncheon for one of their own. Such a great team spirit!
Location in Palo Alto was very convenient. There are places to eat across the street, and all around the neighborhood as it’s a few blocks from downtown Palo Alto. You should try Lure + Till, their onsite restaurant. Although that is one place where service isn’t quite up to par, it’s not terribly awful — just that the server may forget you sometimes — and the food more than makes up for the small gaps. I had the squid ink campanelle and some oysters to start. So fresh and bright. Chef Patrick Kelly is doing well.

What a great place. They upgraded up to a suite because they booked out the restaurant for a private party. Great setup and Larry at the front desk is a great guy and not to bad on the eyes either.

Great place for drinks…

This hotel gets 6 stars. From the valet to the front doors to the front desk. It’s always, «Welcome back Mr. G. Glad to see you again, etc etc.» Pure Awesomeness every single visit. We appreciate the family like treatment every time. No hotel that we have ever stayed at, and we stay at a lot have ever treated us this way. You’d swear we were celebrities or something like that. And I still can’t believe a hotel this extravagant welcomes dogs, awesome again. We look forward to more and more stays here. Keep up the GREAT JOB!

Fabulous fabulous hotel and restaurant. A block off of downtown Palo Alto so you’re not in the hussle and bussle, but close enough to get to it.
Stayed for one night with my pup. They called her by name upon check in, brought her special cupcake treats and more once in the room. The care they took with me and my pup harkened back to the days when people sincerely cared and provided great service
Yeah, I didn’t want to leave.

This was a unique and luxurious hotel in an excellent location. It is in a very fun part of Palo Alto — walking distance to Stanford (one of the closest hotels), but also easy walking distance to many charming shops and restaurants. If you are visiting Stanford or a business nearby, this place should be high on your list.
The room was beautiful and quiet, with unique furnishings and a comfortable bed. It came with an high-​end Illy coffee machine in the room — quite a treat for a coffee lover like me. The restaurant was great as well — was a perfect pit stop before heading out for the day.
They let me keep a car there for the whole day after I checked out, which was very convenient. The valet is off-​site, but you can request your car by simply texting to a number 15 minutes ahead of when you need it.
The staff was very friendly and helpful across the board. Clearly they have management and employees who care about the experience of their guests.
All in all, it wasn’t the cheapest place around (versus some of the other places I have stayed nearby), but was well worth it. I will gladly stay at Epiphany again the next time I am in Palo Alto!

I can not say enough about the staff at Epiphany.
I regularly stay at Kimpton hotels to ensure personalized service and unique amenities and Epiphany may have beaten them :) (shh!)
My boyfriend was flown to Palo Alto for a meeting and potential business. I was unable to go :(I called Epiphany and requested a large meat, cheese, and wine welcome gift. I wanted to say «Good Luck» without me being there! I asked if I should send the CC authorization form now or later and Crystal (spell check needed) laughed and said «oh no we take care of this!». I was blown away.
I am so excited for my boyfriend to arrive tomorrow evening to his welcome gift of cheeses, meats, and wine. I want him to be excited and feel at home for the big meeting! :)

Excellent restaurant bar with or with out a hotel stay :))
I had the kale salad and duck and it was excellent!!!
Staff was very friendly courteous and really seemed to know their products

Reminds me of a mini W hotel. The restaurant here is so fun on a weekend night! Great dinner date night spot

Beautiful hotel, extremely comfy beds, great room layout. We stayed here for our 11 yr Anniversary and came back to the room and found treats and Champagne waiting which was much appreciated.

Absolutely wonderful hotel — located in a quiet part and convenient part of town.
The interior is very modern and well taken care of. The beds are very clean and comfortable. The room comes with an Illy coffee machine, so that is a also a nice touch. The bathroom is equipped with all modern equipment and looks like it’s never been used.
The staff is very attentive and helpful. I ordered room service twice, it was brought up very quickly and everything was very clean and well-​prepared.
I highly recommend this hotel.
Check out NOLA (2 blocks away for good food and drinks)

Oh also this is very close to all the shops and food vendors around town. It was easy just go down stairs and your in the mist of it haha. I would suggest this hotel for you. Thanks for reading my review.

Got upgraded to the most beautiful room for the night of our wedding. Beautiful balcony and sitting area. Modern furniture, comfortable bed and sheets, everything new and up to date.
When my husband (!) and I got back to the hotel after the wedding they had a bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolates and fruit waiting for us! So romantic and such a thoughtful touch. Ordered room service which was quick and really delicious. Will definitely be coming back!

The Epiphany!!! Best ever!!!
I have very strong opinions about hotels and hardly ever enjoy staying at them or feel clean or comfortable! This one takes the cake!!!
CLEAN, comfy, modern, trendy, great service, and did I mention CLEAN?!?
I mean most hotels do NOT get it right when it comes to cleanliness! I NEVER walk barefoot in a hotel and I actually did here!
Comfort level was an A+ I was not afraid to curl up in bed and pull the sheets up! The bed and pillows were outstanding… not to soft, not too firm!
The style and look of the hotel was super modern and trendy… the Illy espresso machine, the «FRED» water, and clever lighting left us with smiles at every turn! I only wish we were there longer to enjoy more!
And I NEVER use the hotel shampoo, conditioner, or body lotion but I did here! By the way… AMAZING bath products that you can purchase at the front desk!
The price?! Absolutely reasonable!!! Be sure to look at their specials for the season!
The location is convenient and close to the Stanford campus and appears to be walking distance to an assortment of restaurants and the like!
I can only rave about this hotel and recommend you stop reading now and go finish your booking!!! Cheers!

This is one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed at. It’s very new and in good clean condition. My room was very spacious.
Couple issues I had with the room and the hotel:
First, I hate LEDs and light sources in my bedroom. I can’t sleep when there’s bright lights flashing in my face. The cable box for the TV has a very bright purple LED that lights up the entire wall, but it’s behind wooden slats and there’s no way to get at it or even to unplug it. It took a lot of effort to get it off of its velcro mount and pull it towards the side where I could put something to block the light.
There’s an espresso machine in the room that, for whatever reason, has a very bright white LED that turns on and off every few seconds and lights up the entire hallway. I wasn’t able to cover it up because the light is build into some kind of glass surface. I had to pull the mini-​fridge out of the cabinet to get at the power plug and then I unplugged it.
During the second night of my stay, I was awoken at 12:01am by an extremely loud alarm clock. I pushed every button and switch on it to try to get it to stop but there’s no way I can see to silence it. I had to unplug it. The alarm clock didn’t go off during the first night, so that means whoever cleaned the room turned it on. Not cool.
The room descriptions were all the same so I when I booked the room, I couldn’t tell which part of the hotel I would be in. I didn’t choose wisely as I was given a room with a terrible view of the top of some adjacent building.
The hotel only has valet parking and it’s difficult to access the drop-​off area. I had to circle the hotel 3 times before figuring out which combinations of streets I needed to take to get onto the same side of the road as the hotel. By the way, they charge $ 28 a day for valet parking.
They also charge a series of other taxes (per day) such as:
$ 35.88 City Occupancy Tax
$ 0.19 California Tourism Assessment (Why do I need to pay this while on business travel?)
$ 0.20 TBID — San Mateo County Fee (Palo Alto is not in San Mateo County)
The hotel restaurant is a total disaster. Just avoid it — there’s tons of better and more affordable restaurants within walking distance.
The hotel room is stocked full of pricey food and drinks. Don’t eat or drink them. $ 5 for a bottle of water or $ 8 for a can of cashews when there’s a Walgreens and CVS within walking distance that sell the same stuff for ¹⁄₁₀ the price.

Downtown Palo Alto really needed another decent hotel. The Garden Court was the only choice for many moons. So if that hotel was fully booked, then you were forced to find something closer to Stanford campus, or farther down El Camino. And those places don’t have the easy access to all the shops and restaurants that downtown has to offer.
Consequently, when the wife and I discovered a new, boutique hotel had opened downtown, we made a point to pay them a visit on a quick, one-​night staycation. Partly out of curiosity; partly as research for future visits. (and yes, so I could write a review)
The consensus — The Epiphany still has some kinks to work out to make this a top pick for us. It’s not that surprising I guess, since they’ve only been open for about a month.
The positives: Art and styling was superb, with an attractive lobby (I absolutely love the ‘light covers’ above the front desk). Our room was beautiful and interesting. The staff was also friendly, and some of the high tech amenities were cool. (Also, they are right across the street from our beloved Creamery, so breakfast was a no-​brainer!). Room pricing for a downtown locations was very good at $ 209/​night (not incl. taxes, etc.)
The negatives were with many of the room ‘features’. The sliding glass door was confusing and hard to use; directions were posted but incomplete. Try as we might, we couldn’t get outside to our balcony on our arrival night. We finally figured out the complex mechanism after much trial-​and-​error the next morning. (The entire glass door pulls out of the frame before sliding; not intuitive, and just a bit scary).
But the biggest negative was with the audio-​visual system, which was supposed to allow any device to send content to the large screen TV. After finally settling in for the night, we were determined to stream a movie to the TV, but couldn’t figure out how to do so. The system didn’t appear to be connected or configured at all. When we finally called downstairs for help, they sent up a bellman, who had no idea what to do; then a janitor who said «I’ve never seen this before.» (So reassuring!). We thanked them and said we’d manage; then we turned off the whole system and just watched a movie on our laptop. (going ‘old school’).
Hey Epiphany — when you install a new, high tech system like this in the rooms, and you advertise how wonderful it is, you might want to hire someone who knows how it works. (To their credit, the front desk did offer to send up a bottle of wine for our troubles, but we were done drinking for the night.)
Other negatives:
– Coffee machine was very brightly lit and kept beeping at us; it took some experimentation to get it to simmer down (so to speak).
– The high tech alarm clock went off in the night, even though we never intentionally set it.
– Coffee makings for only one person
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the staff follow-​up after our trip. Despite the hiccups, I plan to give the Epiphany another try in the future, assuming they’ll work out some of the issues by then. (But I will be checking the Garden Court Hotel first.)
Other tips and tricks:
– No self parking; Valet parking only ($ 25 per night)
– A tiered wi-​fi system, with the lowest level being Free
– Has a posh and popular restaurant downstairs called «Lure + Till» (we didn’t try it)
– Front entrance is actually on Emerson (with the restaurant on Hamilton)
– Eight stories high; get a room on the south side (even-​numbered room) for a quieter stay

I’m reviewing the hotel rather than the bar. So far, I’ve spent a week here with my family and we have been impressed. The staff has been nothing but friendly, courteous, and helpful.
Parking is valet only, but they use a system that lets you send a text message or scan a QR code to request your car… Then notifies you when it is almost ready.
I’d suggest an even numbered room if you prefer quieter accommodations — the trash truck comes between 5:30 and 6:00 am on many weekdays and we heard it from the odd-​numbered room. I think the view from the odd-​numbered rooms may be a little better, though.
The rooms are nice, but be aware that things get a little cramped with two adults AND two kids.
The location is great for dining or anything in downtown PA: many types of food is available within walking distance.
The restaurant/​bar has been busy every time we’ve gone by or dropped the car off at the valet, so I’d imagine they’re doing something right.
Oh, and it is within walking distance of a CalTrain station and Stanford University, too.

We were having dinner at Lyfe Kitchen across the street and noticed people milling about inside The Epiphany. We walked over and employees invited us to take a tour of the hotel rooms.
The whole establishment is sleekly modern with natural materials and color tones. It’s main clientele would be those who are into art, architecture and design. We were shown a suite on the 5^th floor first. It had a balcony and was facing Hamilton St. The suite was L shaped with a sitting area adjacent to the bedroom area. The bathroom was spacious and had a glass doored shower — no tub. The bathroom door slides shut but I don’t think it locks. Each room comes with an Illy single serve coffee maker and an honor bar mini refrigerator.
Then we viewed a standard room across the hall. This room had two beds and a balcony as well. It seemed spacious enough considering there were two large beds within. The bathroom setup is different — the commode is in a different room separated from the shower, and it has a lock on the door. The shower/​sink room has the same sliding door as the suite.
The employee noted that some of the furniture is made by an Amish community in Ohio known for their quality craftsmanship. I appreciate this attention to detail. The hotel’s parent company Joie de Vivre is known for these types of touches. All of the staff we encountered were friendly and excited for the opening.
I do have to say that pricing sounds like it’s on the higher end for the area. I arrange travel for guest speakers and other hotels tend to be at the lower end of The Epiphany’s range. Parking sounds like an issue. It’s valet only ($ 25/​night) since their lot is not connected to the property. Guests should account for wait time when heading out to drive anywhere.
The restaurant on the ground floor called Lure + Till looks like it’s going to be a happening spot. They will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. It should officially open on Monday with some soft opening hours this weekend.
The Epiphany is a hip new place to see and be seen in Palo Alto. I think it will do well.