It feels right that the new Treehouse Hotel, the brand’s first U.S. property, has opened in Silicon Valley’s Sunnyvale, where there used to be orchards—vast acres of trees—in every direction.
Pulling up to the new hotel today feels more like a concrete jungle than a leafy one. But despite being in the heart of Google-land, stepping onto the Treehouse property feels like arriving at an oasis.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which also owns and operates 1 Hotels and Baccarat Hotels, opened the doors of its first Treehouse in London’s stylish Marylebone district to much fanfare in 2019. More recently, they opened a highly anticipated outpost in Manchester, England.
The company chose to set down in Silicon Valley not just because it is a pulse point of innovation and forward thinking, but also to suitably give a nod to Sunnyvale’s agricultural roots—planting hundreds of native trees alongside more than 20,000 plants on the hotel grounds.
"The Commons" at the Treehouse Hotel in Sunnyvale(Erin Kunkel)
This nature-as-a-playground theme is apparent in every nook and cranny of the property. It could risk feeling like an amusement park, but Treehouse isn’t cheesy at all. The playful decor and design retain sophistication while still being fun.
The immersive whimsy greets you at check-in, when you enter the giant, airy, glass-walled greenhouse reception area referred to as “The Commons.” In the center is a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle blanketed in greenery and flowers, with a license plate that says “Luv Bug” and a woodsy scent that smells like walking into a cedar forest.
The 111 guest rooms and suites are equally nature-based yet subtly luxurious. It’s as if rusticity is the theme, but spiffed up with high-quality materials and clean design that makes you feel like you’re in a log cabin but also at a luxurious retreat. The rooms have custom quilts on the walls, colorful lighting features, plush bedding, and farm-style desks. It’s modern yet nostalgic, with that signature wood scent wafting the whole time.
A guest room at Treehouse Hotel in Sunnyvale(Erin Kunkel)
The lower-level rooms have patios with daybeds and small tables in a variety of colors, plus lush native landscaping. Sitting out there, it feels like a small neighborhood: some folks lounging with a glass of wine, others tucked in the daybed with a book, everyone gazing at the pool area in the middle.
What has been getting the most buzz at this new hotel is the restaurant, Valley Goat. The hotspot has the name of James Beard Award–winning chef Stephanie Izard (Girl & the Goat and Cabra in L.A.)—the first woman to win Top Chef. Her food is just awesome: a globally inspired menu that’s bold yet delicate and distinct, fresh, and very shareable.
Standouts are the hamachi poke with brown goat butter and the chickpea fritters—surprising and delectable square pillows. Other popular items include the spicy hand roll dip, baby biscuits with sesame butter, and anything served with Izard’s addictive limey huacatay sauce.
The space is appealing and flows well, with impressive (and well-cared-for) indoor plants, luxe seating, a long bar serving inventive cocktails in gorgeous glassware, and one large wall stacked floor to ceiling with vintage vinyl. Try the Goat Gibson, with fish sauce brine in lieu of the typical dirty olive juice.
Food from chef Stephanie Izard's Valley Goat(Nick Podraza)
Valley Goat is the pulse point of the property but there are other options for eating and drinking onsite, too. The Backyard Café serves light breakfast and lunch options, plus Bluestone Lane coffee and a creative lineup of smoothies and frappes.
Down a few steps is the seasonal Beer Garden, with a wood-fired oven and a bar trailer serving 32 rotating taps of local beers, and a few wines and cocktails on draft. This area also has a wide assortment of lawn games, like giant beer pong and monster Connect Four, plus table ring toss and Jenga, set up at a variety of seating options: little stool stumps, comfy lounge chairs, and long picnic tables, all surrounded by the spacious event lawn and garden beds.
A large mural on a back wall between the self-parking lot and the pool area illustrates the nature-meets-modern vibe at Treehouse. The background image is a forest, packed with trees and lush undergrowth, with colorful characters coming out at you in the foreground. It’s this contradiction in harmony that sets the tone here—the theme that carries through each space—and those spaces are many.
The Beer Garden at Treehouse Hotel in Sunnyvale(Erin Kunkel)
In addition to a barn, an outdoor terrace, and the large lawn, there are tons of casual seating nooks and corners to stumble upon all around the property: bench seats around a fire pit, a basket chair near the restaurant, and many more clusters for chilling out with a cocktail or getting some work done.
There’s also the pool with a large hot tub and cabañas for rent (day passes are available by reservation for locals), as well as a very spacious fitness center with modern equipment and devices, and intentional touches like tree stump tables to set your phone and towel on. It’s things like this you don’t realize you want until they’re there. Perhaps that’s the definition of hospitality.
Amenities at Treehouse include complimentary bikes for exploring nearby Baylands Park, a book-swap library, in-room craft kits, and vinyl record players (you’ll notice a stack of vintage records already in your room). There’s also a rotating calendar of events, like terrarium and ceramics workshops and outdoor movie nights—most of which are also open to the public.
The pool at Treehouse Hotel is offers day passes for locals(Erin Kunkel)
Circling back to the grounds—once an orchard and most recently a corporate campus—Treehouse took great care to restore the site and honor its historic ecology, preserving more than 120 existing mature trees and planting 300 more including redwoods, toyon, and redbud.
Further sustainability efforts include a weather sensor-equipped irrigation system that uses recycled water, low-flow fixtures, and water stations in each corridor to refill the glass bottle found in your room. In fact, there are no plastic or single-use items here at all, and the culinary programs follow zero-waste principles—all deeper environmental decisions which solidify the Treehouse brand’s ethos of smart, joyful design and intention.// 1100 N. Mathilda Ave. (Sunnyvale), treehousehotels.com/silicon-valley
