I worked at Apple while living 45 miles away about 10y ago. I got into a habit of staying in hotels like the Hilton when I had to pull long hours. The cost was less then than it is now. Even now, a quick search on Google Maps show these hotels to be in the $200 range or less. Probably cheaper on weeknights. It's not one-for-one analogous to Mountain View, but it's the same general area.
I'd rather double the cost and have my own space away from my employer if I had to crash nearby because it didn't make sense to do a long drive. I especially would rather double the cost than give back part of my paycheck to my employer. That's just insane mechanics, imo.
I'm surprised. I used to travel there for work about seven years ago and the cheapest I could get then was about $250 a night. But now that I check, the hotels really are cheaper than they used to be. I wonder if that has to do with covid-related changes to where people work.