The Serrano Hotel is a boutique hotel that is nicely decorated and furnished in a good location with competitive prices. I have some serious reservations about the hotel but overall would recommend it.
The location of the Serrano hotel is remarkably mixed. Its immediate surroundings are parking lots, run-down convenience stores, and seedy massage parlors. However, just a block away are several luxury hotels and a small theatre district, so clearly this is not a bad neighborhood. And despite the surroundings I never felt unsafe during my stay here. Also, the Serrano is an excellent location for staging forays into the city. In one direction is Nob hill, about six blocks away (although I warn you, that is six blocks UPHILL) while the Powell street transportation complex (Cable Cars, Surface Street Cars, BART, and City Subway) is about five blocks in the other direction. Also at the Powell street complex is “San Francisco Place”, which is a gorgeous, very upscale, suburban shopping mall, with a Norstroms and the other usual suspects.
The décor of the foyer is elaborate and confused. It seems to be a cross between ancient Egypt and baroque Venice. I found it amusing eye candy when I first entered. Three days later it struck me as a bit labored and depressing. The important thing is that the lobby is bright and clean and pleasantly laid out. There is a bell captain inside to deal with your bags, and valets outside to hail you a cab. Every day there is a happy hour in the foyer. Wines are nice (although, I’m no connoisseur, just a gleeful alcohol consumer), the food is not—just a step up from pretzels and chips.
Two elevators plus a service elevator (which I used often) only adequately cover the building.
Two very highly recommended features of this hotel is the exercise room and business center. The exercise room has an excellent selection of tread mills and other stationary exercise equipment. It is thoughtfully furnished with ample clean towels—nice touch. The business center features three web-ready PCs plus a printer and fax machine. Incoming fax are free, and computer usage and moderate paper supplies are free. Outgoing long distance fax charges apply. Note that with only three PCs you might have to wait, but it is better than the no service at all that many other hotels in this price range offer.
While the décor of the foyer is quite questionable, upstairs everything is first rate. The corridors and rooms are modestly and elegantly decorated. Everything of course, very clean and well-maintained. As for the rooms themselves, they are small. I had a room with a single king or queen-sized bed and even though I was by myself it felt small. Part of the problem is that they cram a full complement of furniture (chair, desk, wardrobe-entertainment center) without any thought into a small room. The closet was also not full sized. If you’re looking for a good way to test a relationship, you could do worse than share this room with your significant other.
But the real problem with these rooms is the washrooms, they are very small. For those of you who have to have a full-sized tub (and why do you have to have that, huh?) your tub is there and is perfectly fine. The problem is that there is very little room left for the toilet. It is squeezed almost under the sink and mirror. Also, the hotel has made a very serious mistake in placing only a small shelf to set your toiletries on and in selecting a sink that has a banked perimeter so you have to very carefully set anything on the surface of the sink or it will fall off. I’m warning you, close the toilet seat before you brush your teeth or change your contact lenses.
I had a decent view looking North up towards Nob hill. Based on the surroundings, I don’t believe any side of the hotel is going to offer you great views.
The staff was generally helpful and pleasant although not overwhelmingly so. Not a significant positive or negative for the hotel.
There is a restaurant on the first floor which serves contemporary cuisine. It is nicely decorated with a helpful wait staff. I had one meal here, vegetable stir fry, which was excellent.
Overall, I would stay here again. It is a good location, and a nice place to come home too and the end of the day. The small rooms mean I wouldn’t want to stay longer than three nights, and I would give serious consideration to sharing these rooms with someone else, even my wife.
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