Featured Image: Porte-cochère, a covered front driveway for the DoubleTree Bakersfield, the courtesy van with a picture of the brand’s signature cookie to the right.
Needing a place to stay overnight for a family gathering in Bakersfield, we stayed at the DoubleTree Hotel, part of Hilton International. Located 137 miles from Disneyland. The DoubleTree is a full-service hotel with 262 guest rooms with balconies/patios, 16,000 sq ft of event space, and is located off of Rosedale Highway, off of CA 99. When you check in, you get a brand-signature chocolate walnut cookie per registered guest. Breakfast is not included, however, my dad used his corporate rate with breakfast for each guest, as his company does several work projects in Bakersfield, and he even plans to stay here again for his next work trip. His corporate rate included breakfast which includes an entree breakfast and coffee or tea for each guest, as breakfast is not included for all guests. There is plenty of parking at no additional charge so you can park your large work pickup truck, which is why the spaces are wider than most places as Bakersfield is a key location for drilling & refining oil, power generation from the oil, and agriculture as well, which the Central Valley is known for.
It was a busy weekend of March 10th in Bakersfield with motocross races at the Kern County Raceway (18 miles away), RV Show at the Kern County Fairgrounds (5 miles away), Bakersfield Condors vs San Jose Barracuda at Mechanics Bank Arena [AHL hockey teams of Edmonton Oilers vs. San Jose Sharks] (3.5 miles away), and the hotel even hosted Ohio State baseball players who were playing against Cal State Bakersfield (5 miles away). You really need a car to get to all of these destinations from the hotel, which is why parking is free. The hotel was hosting the California Scholarship Federation in the hotel’s event space as well.
Due to all of the events, the only two beds guestroom that was left when we arrived on Friday the 10th was ADA-accessible two queens with a roll-in shower, which was fine with us because it gives us more room and a shower. I was actually happy that we did this as I can gain more awareness for the accessibility needs of guests who needs those types of rooms. So I can see why the standards are in place so their needs are met. Check out here for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guides on architecture design. However, the shower curtains leaked water into the bathroom, which made the bath mat sopping wet as the curtains does not touch the ground.
As part of ADA accessibility, there were grab bars and a fold-down shower chair in the shower, grab bars at the toilet, and the bed height was 23 inches tall. All guest rooms have coffee stations with Coffee & Bean & Tea Leaf coffee packets and mini-fridges with a small freezer compartment, which ours froze over. Televisions are 55-inch LG smart TV that uses an interactive user interface for a custom user experience by Hilton. Microwaves are not in the room, but you can use a public microwave in the lobby. Speaking of the guest room, if you take anything home from the hotel room, just expect to be charged for it, ranging from $3 for a hanger to $900 for the TV, for which you get a similar TV on Amazon for $480, a convenience fee of sorts. You know theft is an issue when they have that sign-out, especially since there isn’t any furniture on the patio/balcony.
The whole property was recently renovated with new furniture and carpeting in recent years, I just wished they put hard flooring as it is easier to maintain and easy to clean up spills & dirt than carpeting. One of the hotels I worked at was down the freeway from an oil refinery in Martinez, where many of the workers from there would have muddy work shoes on the carpet, which was terrible to clean out. Families would stay at the hotel on the weekend and complain about the dirty carpets on their bare feet, which you should not do anyways since we only vacuum, and we don’t steam clean the carpet between guests.
The wall art at many hotels in recent years wants to be local to the area, which in this case screams “you know you are in Bakersfield when there are oil derricks as your guest room wall art.” As oil production and processing are Bakersfield’s main industries, along with agriculture. An oil refinery is just a few blocks away from the hotel and the nearest farm is now 9 miles away due to the suburbanization of the farmland in recent decades.
The city was known for the Bakersfield Sound country music in the 50s & 60s thanks to Buck Owens & His Buckaroos, check out this video from ABC 10 Sacramento about him and his music venue, the Crystal Palace, which is just down the road from the hotel. The hotel pays tribute to the music scene with music note art, wall-mounted guitars, and a wall of instrument monitors in the lobby. There is music-themed wall art throughout the lobby and in the restaurant.
The main food & beverage outlet is in the lobby as the hotel’s lounge/cafe/Starbucks kiosk per the hotel’s website. Breakfast starts on weekdays from 6 am to 9 am and on weekends from 7 am to 10 am. The corporate package that my dad got included breakfast & coffee for each registered guest, however, sides, milk, and juice are extra. You can get oatmeal ($11), an omelet ($16) with three fillings with a side of hashbrowns, a cafe breakfast plate ($15) with eggs, hash browns, bacon, ham, or sausage, and toast; three stacks of pancakes ($11), a breakfast burrito with a side of hash browns ($13), and cereal ($7) [for that price, just buy milk & cereal from the store or get a more expensive item if breakfast is included]. I got the omelet with jack cheese, sausage, and mushrooms, with an English muffin. It was good and filling! The coffee carafe and hot water & tea were included. It is a sit-down service at the cafe so it did take a while for breakfast, which is not for the early birds that need to work in the oil refineries at 6 am. After breakfast time, is a regular meal service for lunch & dinner for the cafe and room service.
While we were staying at the DoubleTree, the California Scholarship Federation was holding a conference in the indoor event space. “California Scholarship Federation, Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to recognize and encourage academic achievement and community service among middle and high school students in California.” They help high school students The hotel has over 16,000 sq feet of event space that can get cam hold business conferences to weddings and is catered by their banquet department or an outside vendor. Their main event space has over 7,500 sq ft of combinable space with several smaller meeting rooms averaging 700 sq ft, along with the courtyard & gazebo, perfect for a wedding when it is not the middle of summer of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Guests can cool off at the hotel’s pool during the hot central valley summers. Pool-view rooms cost $15 a night more than an exterior-facing room. Our room was on the first floor facing the southwest towards a street, however, if you are unlucky, you could be facing highway 99. You can park closer to your room as there are keyed entries all around the building.
Google Earth image of the DoubleTree Bakersfield, measuring 8.6 acres with ample free parking, easy access to CA 99, and mediocre bus service by Golden Empire Transit District (GET) on Rosedale, the main street road. This is an urbanist hell as you have to drive everywhere and nothing is walkable. In the middle of the hotel are the pool area and outdoor space. There is a patio space with a gazebo, perfect for events and weddings, just don’t plan to have it in the middle of summer. Just hope you don’t get a room facing CA Highway 99 with the road noise, thankfully we are facing a local road that leads to the side hotel driveway, much quieter.
I highly recommended the DoubleTree Bakersfield as it is recently renovated, has ample parking, a great paid breakfast, and great service by all of the hotel staff. If you are in Bakersfield, I highly recommend staying here!
AntSol Travel 