Hotel Valencia Offers Credit Card Rewards Travelers a Combination of Old-World Style and Modern Service

In a Nutshell: Credit card rewards travelers often enjoy finding new, interesting experiences. That’s why the Hotel Valencia in San Jose, California, is so popular with adventurers who want to visit Santana Row, Silicon Valley’s shopping and entertainment district. Hotel Valencia offers detailed luxury and traditional style while meeting modern expectations for service, amenities, and gourmet dining. Whether card rewards travelers head to San Jose for work, education, or recreation, Hotel Valencia checks all the boxes.

Some travelers choose a minimalist approach to accommodations when redeeming credit card rewards to maximize the number of experiences. Others use rewards to upgrade every aspect of their trip to make more lasting memories.

Smart travelers can get the best of both worlds when they choose a quality place to stay.

The Hotel Valencia in San Jose, California, is a memorable choice for all travelers — business or pleasure — and it won’t tie up all of their rewards. A stay at Hotel Valencia puts guests in the center of a vibrant atmosphere that offers something for everyone.

It all starts with architecture. General Manager Brent Gaines said that Hotel Valencia’s weathered patina evokes Old World Spain, the hotel is actually relatively new.

“We opened in 2003, but when you see the building, especially from the exterior and the interior courtyard, it really does feel like you’re in a different place and time,” he said.

That is especially true in San Jose, which is situated in one of the world’s most concentrated adventure playgrounds — Silicon Valley — also known as the innovation hub of the U.S. Google and Apple call the famed tech capital home, and the region is filled with startups that never sleep.

San Francisco is nearby, and to the north, visitors can enjoy the wine country of Napa Valley. Those who venture south on the Cabrillo Highway can find rough-hewn coastal mountains and visit picturesque hamlets, including Monterey and Carmel-By-The-Sea.

While travelers have so much to do and experience in the area, Hotel Valencia holds its own as a preferred destination within the city. It’s a special place that helps visitors make their own memories with a focus on architecture, design, accommodations, and service.

Hotel Valencia offers the only hotel on San Jose’s Santana Row, a high-end mixed-use commercial district that arose out of what was once more like a strip mall. Located approximately 10 miles from downtown San Jose, Santana Row offers card travelers a concentrated dining and entertainment experience just a stone’s throw from the hotel entrance.

The hotel’s accommodations include classic rooms that either overlook bustling Santana Row or the building’s spectacular interior courtyard. Deluxe balcony rooms in the seven-story hotel offer an outdoor space that can accommodate a table and two chairs. Larger suites are also available.

Watch on

The hotel’s rooftop pool is currently closed, but during pool season, Hotel Valencia offers food and beverage service on the pool deck.

The courtyard functions as the hotel’s primary public gathering area, offering guests a place to relax and people-watch. In terms of design, the courtyard is famous for its Old World Spanish style.

“Talk about the charm of Old Spain,” Gaines said. “Our courtyard is a popular spot just for relaxing and enjoying the weather and also a very popular venue for weddings and receptions. And at night, it doubles as outdoor seating for our restaurant and bar.”

Oveja Negra, the hotel’s newest restaurant, has a menu that is built around the traditional Spanish tapas concept. Oveja Negra means “black sheep” in Spanish and the chef feels free to serve what the hotel lovingly calls unruly tapas that don’t fit the classic mold.

The stylish Vbar offers a sleek yet plush setting where guests can enjoy bespoke libations and quiet conversations.

It’s the type of place that travelers enjoy winding down in after a day of work or play.

Guests who are on entrepreneurial or academic missions to Stanford, Palo Alto, Mountain View, or Cupertino will find those destinations, and others, within an easy drive. The hotel is located outside San Jose’s business district, but it’s near major travel arteries.

The hotel also delivers when the mission is leisure. It’s relatively easy to journey north to Napa Valley or south to Santa Cruz and down the coast — and a world of cultural and natural attractions. Travelers should plan well because the area has a wide variety of activities and experiences to enjoy.

Napa itself isn’t the only wine center, and an array of local wineries are within easy driving distance from the Hotel Valencia. Also nearby is the famous Winchester Mystery House. Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester spent decades renovating what was originally an eight-room farmhouse to create a 160-room labyrinth with 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, and 47 stairways. And legend has it that she still haunts it.

Hotel Valencia serves as a centerpiece of San Jose’s Santana Row and welcomes all types of travelers with its modern accommodations and proximity to memorable experiences.

“Whether you’re staying as a guest at the hotel, visiting the area to shop or dine, or even living here, Santana Row puts just about everything at your convenience,” Gaines said.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a few changes to the district, and now it offers around 20 restaurants with outdoor seating to entice card reward travelers staying at Hotel Valencia.

The pandemic also ushered in a more outdoorsy style for everything.

“It changed the way restaurants everywhere operate, and Santana Row has certainly embraced the outdoor street closure concept,” Gaines said. “And it may develop into something more permanent.”

Travelers can expect Santana Row to resemble a walkable village nestled within one of the largest urban areas in the U.S.

“People say they really enjoy the feel and the vibe and the way the outdoor dining street closures operate,” Gaines said. “There’s nothing like it, and I’ve heard from Santana Row staffers I work closely with that the development is revered highly in the industry and that it has been very difficult to duplicate.”

The same could be said of Hotel Valencia itself, which stands as a memorable boutique hotel experience that card rewards travelers can enjoy again and again.

“We even hear from our guests who live in Europe that we really do reflect European architecture and that feel,” Gaines said.