Easton Hall Conference Center

I love this place! It's walking distance to the Greek theater. We stayed on a Saturday night, found street parking right in front, had a code to enter and found an envelope with my name and hotel key. The room was simple and great, It was exactly what we needed, somewhere to sleep close to the venue. The place is beautiful, they have a kitchen with coffee that we drank outside in the morning. I plan on staying here every time I go to the Greek now!

Stayed here while attending a lecture in the area. Beautiful facility, comfortable room. I availed myself of the tea bar in the lobby, the full bookshelves and the lovely reading nooks. Beautiful area of town, too. The office wasn't staffed on the weekend I was there, but someone was available by phone to help me out. Looking forward to going back!

The 2 stars are for the place itself; 5 stars for location. When looking for a place to stay in Berkeley near the UC Theatre, the prices were really high; then I found Easton Hall. It looked lovely and no tv in the room! Since we checked in on a Saturday there is no "front desk" so in the email confirmation were instructions and a code on how to get into the building. It also stated free parking. When we got there, there was no "free" parking that we could find. Luckily there was a phone # for on-call staff. He instructed us what we needed to do. The emailed instructions were missing some information that would have saved us a lot of time. They should have said that in order to get into the parking lot you must temporarily park, come into the building and retrieve the packet left for you with your name. Inside is the room key, the gate opener for the parking lot and the directions to the lot. Ok, no worries, it all worked out.The inside of the building is really beautiful.We went to the second floor, found our room and it was sparse but comfortable. We had two twin beds but my husband decided to go and we couldn't change the room and no roll away beds, so my 15-year-old could sleep on the floor, that was fine. The windows opened and it was warm and a beautiful day.As we were getting ready for bed, thanks to Anthony Melchori from Hotel Impossible, I always check the sheets and blankets. The bedspread had a stain but I thought, whatever. But when I peeled that back and looked at the thin blanket underneath, I was flabbergasted. It had stains, but also stuff on it that was disgusting, like it hadn't been washed in a long time. Those we threw on the floor and I actually slept on top of the comforter because I was just kind of grossed out.We realize this is not a "hotel" per se, but there are still certain expectations. There was no fitted sheet and you could see the mattress. The sheets were all bunched up when we woke up. Paying $150 + tax ($179.00) was entirely too much.Downtown Berkeley is dirty and not a pleasant city to roam. Easton Hall is up the hill with huge trees and quiet.I give the Half Price Bookstore 5 stars.

We held a training for a small group (@15 total, trainers and participants) at Easton Hall. Several of us stayed in the guest rooms as well. The small book lined conference room off the lobby is an ideal training space, full of light from many windows, with a state of the art system for displaying power points, videos, etc. There's a complementary coffee/tea station and kitchen off the comfortable general sitting room. Though I didn't check them out, I believe there are larger rooms for larger groups in another building. The area is quiet and peaceful, what one would expect of an area known as "Holy Hill". Not religious? Fear not. This can be as secular an experience as you like. Close to the UC Berkeley campus, there are plentiful restaurants, coffee shops, and even the exalted Chez Panisse is nearby. The staff were ever present and helpful. Sleeping rooms, linens and towels while not 4 Seasons quality (I'd upgrade the towels) were perfectly adequate. All in all a wonderful place to hold a training. My sister co-trainer and I both agreed, we'd do trainings here any time.