A San Jose crime investigator at the scene on Wednesday afternoon described the homicide at the Holiday Inn Express as "brutal."
NBC Bay Area Photojournalist Mark Bosselmann says he saw blood on one of the walls when he looked through his camera. Police say a maid making her rounds discovered a woman's body in one of the rooms on the lower level around 1:30 p.m. The woman was the city's 15th homicide of the year.
"I'm shocked," Ajay Gobil, a hotel guest, said. "That's why maybe I should not stay here and go somewhere else."
Gobil was one of Holiday Inn Express' many guests from out of town attending a convention in downtown San Jose. The Washington, D.C., native says he didn't hear anyone scream or see anything out of the ordinary since arriving last night.
"I came around 10 p.m. It was quiet. I just parked my car and went upstairs," Gobil said.
Police say the wounds on the woman's body are consistent with a homicide. The woman's name and age have not been released. Investigators would not say whether she checked in alone or how long she had been staying at the Holiday Inn Express at 2600 block of Monterey Road. The scene left many questioning whether they should stay at the hotel.
"Just make me feel uncomfortable to go over there so I'm just going to look for another place...I don't think my wife would want to stay anyway," Alfonso Lopez said.
The management at the Holiday Inn Express and their corporate headquarters in Los Angeles had no comment.
NBC Bay Area's Lori Preuitt contributed to this report.
