By Kathy Chin Leong
“Daddy, show me. Show me how to dive!” The little boy stands on the rim of the swimming pool, begging his young father for instruction. I watch from my lounge chair, silently hoping, “Okay, Dad. This is your chance to build a memory with your son. Don’t blow it.” The father removes his t-shirt, shakes off his flip flops, and erects a prayer stance. “Okay, do it like this.” The child mimics in response and tips in like a stream of tea pouring from a spout. Splash!
Here at the Sandman Motel, families flock to the pool like bees to blooming buds. The Santa Rosa property, about an hour north of San Francisco, has been remodeled, retooled for a new generation of budget conscious travelers who crave design, comfort, and amenities that offer a resort-like vacation at half the price.
The refresh of the 170 rooms in a two-story, three-building complex is a delightful treat. You can nab a hotel room for $127-$250 per night in the summer, a bargain in northern California. The value is obvious. Each person in your room gets a free hot breakfast each day at the Huckleberry Restaurant adjacent to the motel. It’s worth $11.50, and you get eggs, meat, your choice of bread, and potatoes. Just FYI: you cannot order the food to go, and you cannot use the voucher for anything but the listed meal written on the voucher itself.
Yes, you can resort at the Sandman. There is a kidney-shaped pool, a hot tub, fire pits for lounging, plus a bocce ball pit. The new geodesic dome for yoga resembles a giant golf ball. Do call ahead of time to find out when the yoga classes take place.
Room amenities are practical as units feature a kitchen counter packed with a microwave, toaster oven, Fellows-brand hot water pot, sizeable mini-fridge, dishware, utensils, and a sink with dish soap. Need a place to heat up leftovers? Want to warm up the baby formula? A coffee maker is also available for your morning java.
The remodel has meant redecorating and adding new carpeting, new paint, and new furniture. No new building was initiated, however. The style is a mod take on 1960s design with bold graphic colors of tangerine orange, light blue, maize yellow. These colors are echoed on framed graphics of circles oblongs and other shapes. You’ll notice a bold cactus mural on one building; another is emblazoned with a little girl with hands outstretched to butterflies flitting above.
Instead of headboards, each white quilted bed is butted up against a painted orange half-sphere, reminiscent of a sunset. The kitchenette with appliances and open shelving is a nod to contemporary design. Our room with a king bed was spacious enough to have a round table and two chairs. It included a tall, live green plant, surprising for a motel room.
During our two-night stay, we loved the convenience of the resurfaced and re-landscaped pool. It is gated with a lock and opens exactly at 9 a.m. (no earlier) and closes exactly at 10 p.m. so your key will not activate the gate outside normal times. The pool has a constant stack of clean towels ready for the taking. The small eatery at the pool aptly named Pool House and Bar is only open with limited hours. That is something which was a bit of an inconvenience. I am sure at the time of this writing at summertime, it will be open daily. The pool itself features plenty of umbrellas, lounge chairs, and an assortment of tables where you can spread out to savor your own picnic meal or play a board game. Outside the gated pool is a group space with bocce ball, fire pits, and picnic tables. I witnessed a family having a picnic as the kids were having fun tossing beach balls to one another.
The motel does not have a restaurant, but the lobby offers a refrigerator where guests can purchase drinks and a few snacks.
No property is perfect, and there are still some kinks to work out. Customer service, although very polite, was iffy. The staff can be trained more effectively on guest room directions. Even after the reception clerk pointed to our building in a general fashion, we couldn’t find our room after check in. It was dark. Room numbers are small, and they cannot be seen from the car. Missing signage to indicate groups of room numbers is a problem. There was no map given to me as a handout, so we had to go back to the lobby to ask again.
Also, the second night we were there, the fire alarm went off at 11:10 p.m.. As were were standing outside, no staff member was there to direct the guests on what to do next or whether we were in danger. We were left to our own devices. The next day we went to the front desk to ask, but the attendant told us he had just started his shift and did not have any knowledge of the previous night’s incident.
The desk was not informed as to the function of the geodesic dome, either. Was it open for exercise to guests? Was there a yoga class? There was to be a yoga class, but workers did not know what time the instructor would be there. When I asked if the breakfast was available as a to-go order so we could eat it by the pool, the hotel attendant did not know.
Yes, during a weekend at the Sandman, for now, you may experience misses and hits, but mostly hits. The budget pricing, the lovely pool area, and practical amenities make it worth the visit. While Sandman sits on a busy side street, the motel’s pine trees and redwoods act as a sound barrier. The rooms are comfortable and roomy. Further, the heating/air conditioner and temperature adjustments get a thumbs up. The snow white bedding is crisp and clean. The mattresses are deep and new to the touch. When I told the host at a local winery where we were staying, she jumped at the details and was very excited. She said few properties are considered bargains anymore and that her friends are reluctant to come out for a weekend because of exorbitant lodging costs.
One last niggling thing: there was a slight chemical smell of cleaning fluid when we walked in to our room, and that lingered throughout our visit. We were told later that the motel is using new eco-friendly cleansers, and that some folks are more sensitive than others to smells. Each guest, I suppose, will have to be the judge of that.
What to make of our stay? Overall good with the little incidents here and there. Other than the alarm going off, slightly off-smell of the room, and uninformed staffers, the pluses include: the pool, the remodeled digs, and well-kept grounds and budget pricing. All these combined make it an excellent weekend value. Santa Rosa is a quiet, low key community, and the hotel is close enough to the family-friendly places such as the Luther Burbank Gardens and the Charles Schultz Museum and ice skating rink.
****
When You Go:
Sandman Motel
3421 Cleveland Ave.
Santa Rosa
707.293.2100
Rates: $127 and up
www.sandmansantarosa.com