Hotel: Embassy Suites

Location: 150 Anza St. Burlingame Ca.

Accessibility 4/5

The Embassy Suites in Burlingame is situated right on the bay with lots of great walking paths around the water and rooms with amazing views of all of the bridges on the water. How was the accessibility for blind and low vision travelers?

 The basic layout

Embassy Suites properties follow a common layout where the check-in desk is located on the right or left of the door you enter the property. Elevators can usually be found past the check-in desk to the left if the desk is on the left or past the desk to the right if the check-in desk is located on the right as you enter the property.  A large open atrium is usually found straight ahead from the main entrance, and the pool/hot tub and restaurant can be found on opposite sides of the atrium. The complimentary breakfast and cocktail reception area is generally found toward the back of the atrium straight ahead of you as you enter. Warning there are often stairs that are not well marked.

The hotel is laid out in a square/rectangular shape and elevators are located on the front and the back areas of the atrium. Buttons in the elevators are always well marked with braille as are the room numbers. When you exit the elevator, you can go left or right because it is a big circle. I always ask the person checking me in which way to exit the elevator which makes finding my room much easier. Be aware that the hotel has an open floorplan, and all the floors open to the main large atrium. There is a large railing, but you will be able to hear people milling around below you at most anytime of day. This can be especially loud when breakfast service starts, and I always suggest bringing earplugs if you have sensitive ears like I do.

The rooms usually have a chair to the left or right as you enter, and a couch will usually be found with a pull-out sleeper along that same wall. A desk will commonly be sticking out of the wall into the middle of the room straight ahead of you as you enter, which I almost always run into. There is a lamp and power outlets located on the wall at the desk. Commonly there are a few regular plugs and lately USB type A ports are available. A sink can be found in the entry room and a door separates the entry room from the bedroom. Sometimes the restroom entry is in the entry room and other times it is located in the room itself. This often seems to be dependent on whether the room is a king or double queen bed arrangement.

Burlingame Specifics

In the case of the Burlingame Embassy Suites, the check-in desk is located on the left as you enter the property, and the elevators can be found past the desk and directly to the left before entering the open atrium. The pool is located on the left side of the atrium as you enter, and the bar/restaurant is located to the right as you enter the atrium. Additional elevators can be found behind the atrium.

We stayed in a room with a king bed, so the restroom entry was in the room. The shower materials were not marked so make sure to bring your favorite Ai reader to identify them for you. Navigating to the room was straightforward, and the people checking us in for our short stay were friendly and helpful. As with all Embassy Suites hotels, it was quite loud in the morning when the breakfast service started.

The pool was easy to locate, I entered the atrium and headed left toward the chlorine smell. There is always a door that needs a room key to open. The pool and spa were great temperature and a welcome treat after a long drive.

Our room was on the fourth floor and had a great view of the bay. This was lost on me, but I am told that you could see the bridges across the bay from our balcony.

Service animal accommodations

As you exit the property through the main door, head directly to the left and straight along the sidewalk to find grass for relieving. The grassy area was on the shore of the San Francisco Bay, and provided a wonderful sunset experience while my guide did her business. Refuse cans were located on the small island directly across from the main entrance.

There was plenty of room for my guide dog to stretch out on the floor in the room. It should be noted that the staff all did a great job not interacting with my guide during our stay.  

Restaurant

We ate dinner and had a drink in the bar for dinner. The menu was not available in low vision friendly format, so bring your favorite Ai reader to tell you about the offerings. I had the burger, and it was very good as well as a gin drink. I was told the sunset view from the table was amazing.

Final thoughts

The unified layout of Embassy Suites properties makes them very nice to navigate. I have found that a few questions for the person checking you in will tell you everything you need to know. Ask them where the pool is, and you will automatically know the location of the restaurant.

What do you think? Have you stayed at the Embassy Suites in Burlingame? I’d love to hear about your experience. Feel free to drop me a message here on the contact page or at the social media links below.

Safe Travels, Fellow Wanderers!