The Exchange Sacramento, Curio Collection by Hilton Review

My American Express Platinum Card gives me a $200 hotel credit annually. This credit can be used for hotels in the Hotel Collection and Fine Hotels + Resorts of American Express. The year is already half-way over, room rates are on the rise, and I still haven’t used my hotel credit yet. I was simply curious and looked up what properties are available to redeem this credit in Sacramento and I found the The Exchange Sacramento, Curio Collection by Hilton with an astonishing “cheap” rate of just under $190.

Booking & Stay Details

After finding the hotel on amextravel.com, I did some research to see what parking would cost and if there are any resort fees, destination fees or whatever else the hotel calls it. The good thing, no resort fees, the bad, parking is $40/night. As this hotel was part of the hotel collection, I needed a two-night minimum stay, but I would also get a $100 hotel credit I could use on property. I called up Amex to see if they can check if I can use the credit towards valet parking. The agent was skeptical and said it is usually for dining, spa treatments and things a like. He offered to call the hotel on my behalf and check. After a truly brief time, he got back to me on hold and gave me the good news that I can use it for parking. The hotel agreed to it, because their on-site restaurant is undergoing reservations and won’t open for another month. That also meant no breakfast but more about that later.

I went back online and booked the stay with AmEx Travel to be able to use my annual hotel credit. I pre-paid for the reservation, as I knew I would stay there either way. That was about one hour before I would check in at the hotel. It was a last-minute decision.

Location

The Exchange Sacramento, Curio Collection by Hilton is located at the west end of Downtown Sacramento, just before I-5 and Old Sacramento. To the north, across J Street is Sacramento’s Chinatown. It’s a fantastic location if you are here for a game or event at the Golden 1 Center as well as to explore Old Sacramento and the waterfront. It’s a quick and short walk from the hotel to get underneath the freeway and into Old Sacramento. The State Capitol is also within walking distance and next to the hotel is the Downtown Commons, a shopping center with lots of dining possibilities as well as a Holiday Inn.

Check-In

My check-in experience was everything else than smooth. After dropping off my car outside with the valet, I headed right inside to the front desk to check in. 

As the agent looked up my reservation, we found out that the credit card on file with the hotel was not actually mine. I told her that I pre-paid the stay with Amex travel. They still needed my card for incidentals during my stay.

Then she mentioned the room type I booked and I asked if upgrades are available. This is another benefit of booking through AmEx Travel, a complimentary room upgrade.  She was able to upgrade me to a Deluxe Room and the agent handed me my room keys. The elevators are located close to the front desk and next to the stairwell.

After checking out I found out that I got charged twice. I pre-paid with Amex Travel and the hotel charged my credit card for the whole reservation including room rate as well. For some odd reason, the price they charged me was almost $20/night cheaper than what I paid with Amex Travel and what was shown as the best public available rate. I talked to the agent working at the front desk, after I returned from spending the afternoon in Old Sacramento. He was knowledgeable, and he had figured out the problem right away. For whatever reason, the credit card Amex gave the hotel, got declined and that’s why everything got charged to my card instead. He told me that he will sort this out with American Express and refund me my charges back to my credit card. Unfortunately, this never happened either. After five days I called the hotel again to see what’s going on. They investigated it again and finally were able to credit me the charge from the hotel and got their money from American Express. Without my persistence, I would still have paid twice for the stay. Always double check.

1 King Bed Deluxe Room (Room 604)

The entryway of the room looks rather narrow. To the left is the bathroom. Compared to the rest of the room and the sizes of other locations inside the hotel, the bathroom felt rather “large”. I would consider it a standard size with plenty of room to move around without tripping over anything if you want to use the shower, toilet, or the sink. The vanity on the right-hand side has a single sink and a large wall-mounted mirror. Extra towels are stored underneath the sink. The shower is opposite of the vanity and comes with two glass sliding doors. The shower walls are trimmed to look like marble, which gives it an extra luxurious feel. 

Just before you enter the actual bedroom area, you have a small wall closet on your right. Inside you will find the iron, ironing board, in-room safe and bath robes besides extra space for your clothes.

The bedroom features a king-sized bed on your left with a nightstand on either side. It’s situated parallel with the outside wall. Each nightstand has a lamp on top of it and the sides have power outlets to charge your devices. Right in front of the bed is a chaise lounge with laptop stand. 

Opposite the bed is a large wall-mounted 55″ TV screen. Below it is a work desk with a chair and extra drawers to store your belongings. The work desk had a glass top, which makes it hard to use modern laser computer mice. I used the in-room magazine as a mouse pad. Next to the desk is a shelf which houses the mini fridge behind a door at the very bottom. On the shelves themselves, you can find a coffee maker, ice bucket and glasses. There should have been two drinking glasses but only one glass was on the shelf itself for the second one only the coaster was on the shelf. The AC is controlled via a remote display next to the bed.

The windows in this hotel are horrible. They are probably as old as the hotel and paper-thin. There is almost no sound-insulation, and you can hear the freeway, which is just half a block away, like you are standing right next to it. It feels like you are sleeping with the windows open. It is that bad. Of course, you can’t open the windows at all. It would be time to update the windows, for better sound insulation as well as heat insulation. During the weekend people like to drive by with their music all the way turned up, and it feels like you are sitting next to them. You can hear the people yell and scream at night, on their way home as well. 
For me it was not a big issue. I stayed up late anyway and when I am tired, I just sleep no matter what. I am sure there are a lot of you out there who would be bothered by all the noise, especially at night when you try to sleep. You might have better luck, by getting rooms with an odd number or the X00 number, like room 600.

Another sad thing about the room and the windows in it was the fire escape stairs. They can be accessed from the hallway right next to the room and partially covering one of the windows. Anyone can look in your room if you don’t pull the blackout shades closed in front of that window. Not that too many people will use the fire escape stairs, but I did go out there to take pictures of the scenery.

Public Areas & Amenities

Besides the areas listed below, there are not a lot of amenities for hotel guests. Unfortunately, the hotel doesn’t have a swimming pool, which would be great during the sweltering summer months. I love how the stairs are an integral part of this building. The stairs are open and are located in the elevator lobby. From the 10th floor, the top floor, you can look down the stairwell all the way to the second floor. There the stairs go down at the end before leading you back out to the lobby. The stairs going down to the basement are located behind the elevators and next to the small market. Only one elevator goes down to the basement. You need to try your luck. Inside the elevator lobby of each floor, except the ground floor and basement, you have an ice machine.

Lobby

The lobby is rather small, compared to other hotels. As you walk in, you have a few seating options, which look super awesome and comfortable. Past that is the front desk counter and a small lobby area. It’s a very antique lobby, which I liked a lot. Everything is pretty narrow in the lobby. This includes the elevators as well. The elevator cars are some of the smallest I have seen. 

Fitness Center

The fitness center is located in the basement of the building. I didn’t see any signs which would point out where it would be. I just started exploring the hotel and walked down the stairs next to the front desk to the lobby. Still no signs when you reach the basement. Hang a right and you will have the fitness center on your left. Luckily, there is at least one sign at the door of the fitness center. You need your room key to access it. The fitness center is in a bigger room and has a broad choice of workout equipment. But you will also see multiple columns in the room, which are part of the foundation of the building.

Dining

Breakfast

When I talked to the hotel earlier on the phone, the agent told me that the on-site restaurant is closed and undergoing renovation. They told me that they don’t have a breakfast service and that they will supply to-go bags in the morning instead. The first morning I went downstairs to the front desk to pick up one of these to-go bags. Contrary to what the agent told me the day before, they do have a breakfast menu, which you can pick up at the front desk and they will deliver the food to your room instead of dining in. The agent the day before mentioned that the hotel is located downtown and that there are many restaurants all around the hotel. I had a tough time finding a restaurant serving breakfast and opening before 10 a.m. I only found one which looked like it serves a decent breakfast, and it opens at 8 a.m.

Rather than ordering from the hotel menu, I took a short walk to Old Sacramento and had a fabulous breakfast at Steamers. I can highly recommend them for tasty food. The breakfast menu does not have a delightful selection to start the day. It’s more like a breakfast treats menu. Coffee is served in the lobby complimentary during breakfast hours for all guests.

Breakfast was available from 7 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

There is also a small dinner menu which is also only available as room service. The choices here look better than what is offered for breakfast. Rather than sitting in the hotel room, I enjoyed a delicious dinner at the patio of the Rio Cafe with some magnificent views of the Sacramento River. Dinner was served between 6:00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m.

Market

There is a small market next to the front desk. You can buy some essential stuff like snacks and drinks as well as some hygiene articles.

Conclusion

For this stay I had mixed feelings. The whole experience with the reservation and being double charged was a big fat negative point for this stay. Even that I had to call back to make sure they do what they promised.

Then there was the closed restaurant and the misinformation you get when you call in and ask about what the breakfast situation is. There is also no mention of the restaurant renovation on the website of the hotel. Guests should be made aware of this before booking, as it might be a big part of their stay to have a good breakfast or dinner.

I loved the complimentary room upgrade. Even though I didn’t get upgraded to a suite, it was still a nice room. However, the old windows and bad noise insulation because of such old paper-thin windows is another negative point. Not that it bothered me, but I am sure lots of people won’t like to hear the freeway all night long.

I was disappointed with the hotel stay. First of all, the restaurant is completely closed but there is no mention of that at all. The website and app still show an on-site restaurant. Then the check-in nightmare and that I had to request the room upgrade myself rather than being applied automatically. The room upgrade is a benefit of booking through the Amex Travel portal and it would be nice if it would actually be honored since there were rooms available. The room size was ok, especially for the two nights. I usually spend the day outside of the room anyway. The windows are horrible. They are thin as paper, which is unbelievably bad in terms of heat insulation and noise dampening. You hear the freeway very dominantly, especially during the night. It sounds exactly as if you had a window cracked open, which you can’t.