I've done both-- we did Albertsons when we stayed at GCH in March, and Vons when we stayed at HoJo 3 weeks ago.
We never had to sign for the groceries; the hotel took delivery and it seemed to be standard procedure. I think it depends on the hotel. I got the impression that the grocery store sort of thought you needed to sign personally, but the hotel just grabs the clip board and says, "Gimme that" and signs for you.
I liked Albertsons the first time because they had no minimum purchase amount. When I tried to order from them this last time, their website had changed and the selection was drastically reduced. Like, I could NOT find any cereal/breakfast related items. I looked and looked.
So this time I went with Vons, and I had NO problems. I had to make up about $10.00 to get to the $50 minimum, but I just ordered some small non-perishable delicacies that came home with me in the suitcase... and were put to good use at home. You can use your Safeway card, but you don't need to, because they give you the same deals for ordering online. There is a delivery charge-- I think it's $12.95?-- but for your first delivery you can use a discount code for free delivery. I believe the current one is easy7.
You can order up until 10 p.m. the night before, though you might want to do it a week or two out, just to be sure you can get a spot on the truck for the delivery time you want. I think the delivery times are in increments of 1-1/2 hours.
We had muffins, yogurt, juice, milk, a 24 pack of bottled water (which we used up completely, just the 2 of us! The tap water is gross!), mini cereal boxes, cheese sticks, crackers, chips, apples and bananas... hmm.. a pack of paper towels, a pack of plastic utensils and a pack of plastic bowls.
In both cases, I called the hotel beforehand to let them know that the groceries were coming, and it was no problem.
In the case of HoJo, the front desk wasn't, like, crazy busy, and we got there at 2:00, an hour too early to check into our room, and we wanted to go to the parks. So I asked them very nicely if they might be able to put our groceries in our room, putting away the refrigerated items in the fridge for us. Our groceries came between 3 and 4:30, and HoJo put them away for us. So very kind!
At GCH, the groceries arrived about an hour before we did, and they held them at the bell desk for us. I was all ready to be worried about stuff going bad, but they were so tightly packed in a cardboard box that they were all still quite chilly.
OK, now that I've written an encyclopedia.. sheesh! Hope that helps.
