I stayed here using Marriott Rewards points and reserved a basic room. Upon check-in I was upgraded to an “Executive King” so the room was noticeably larger than a typical room.
Overall, this is a perfectly nice hotel to stay in but you can never escape the feeling that this is a big chain hotel and that it caters primarily to business travelers. While it clean and modern it is also somewhat bland, as if they are trying to appeal to a very wide audience and don't want to offend anyone. The colors never stray far from neutral.
Lobby:
The lobby is attractive although nondescript. In fact, I really don't remember the decor at all. Almost one entire wall is a desk for check-in. Elevators are in the rear and are divided into low, medium, and high-rise banks thus waits are minimal. In the middle are escalators to the atrium, which houses various, drinking and dining establishments.
Room: Due to an upgrade, our midrise room was enormous and appeared to be very recently renovated. Everything looked (and smelled) brand new. The decor was less bland than the rest of the hotel. It can be best described as corporate. The colors were subdued but you definitely got the impression that the room was designed by someone with ability. Furniture, wall coverings, bedding, etc. complemented each other well.
The room was L shaped and divided into sitting and sleeping areas. The sitting area consisted of two couches and a coffee table arranged before a large cabinet that housed a large television. To the side was a wet bar consisting of a sink over a small empty refrigerator (not a minibar). The bedroom area consisted of a very comfortable king bed and another large television. Linens and blankets appeared new. In between the two areas were a large dresser and a desk with phone and data ports for Internet. The closet was of decent size. The bathroom was slightly larger than a typical hotel bathroom but did not have a separate toilet and sink areas, which would have been appreciated. There was a full length mirror outside of the bathroom. Rooms have cable TV, hair dryer, iron and ironing board. For a fee, there is high speed Internet and there are packages of Internet and unlimited calls.
Service: The service reflected a typical large chain hotel. The employees give the impression that this is just a job to them. They don’t seem to have chosen the hospitality business. For example, doormen helped us out of our cab and unload our luggage. He directed us inside to check in and told us when we were done our luggage would be inside by the desk and we could give them our room number so it could brought up to our room. While we were waiting on line we could see out the doors and could see that our luggage was sitting on the sidewalk unattended. Minutes went by. Finally, one of us went outside and asked to have the bags brought in. The doorman told us he forgot about our bags. The Marriott is not in a bad part of town but San Francisco does have its share of the seedier element and I easily could imagine one or more bags being stolen.
Another example is the concierge desk. Several employees at the concierge desk directed us to neighborhood establishments for quick meals and they seemed to immediately grasp what we were looking for. But when we made what we thought was a simple request for a few plastic cups for a champagne toast for our own wedding in Golden Gate Park we were told to go ask the restaurant staff or go to Walgreen’s. First, in a hotel this size with huge conference facilities there must have been plastic cups somewhere. Second, it should not have been our job to track down the right person to ask. I can understand if the concierge doesn’t know the answer to every question but they should know someone who does. It felt like any effort beyond dispensing information was too much.
Pool and Fitness Center:
The hotel has a decent size fitness center on the fourth floor with treadmills, stationary bikes, and Nautilus. There are plenty of televisions to help you pass the time during your workout. There are beverages for sale near the desk at the entrance. The locker rooms, also on the fourth floor, have sauna and steam rooms (single sex). Be aware that there is a $5 charge to use a locker. As with the guest rooms, everything was clean and well maintained. Towels were provided. A nice touch was the cloths in ice water outside of the sauna and steam room.
One flight up is the 15-meter pool and a large hot tub. There is access to an outdoor seating area for sun bathing.
Dining and Drinking:
There is a restaurant in the atrium, the Garden Terrace, as well as a bar, The Atrium. We did not visit either establishment. There is a bar on the 39th floor of the hotel called the View, which we did visit. Again, this is a typical large city hotel bar. It was crowded and not terribly pleasant. The bland décor extended up here as well. There was live music that was entirely too loud and not very good. I may be getting older but there is a time and a place for loud music that requires you to scream to be heard. It seems out of place here since everything else seems geared to the business traveler. The view is not terribly good either. From one side you see just the low-rise buildings (or their lights) of SoMa and the Mission. On the other side you can see some of the financial district. The problem is that the seating in the corners lacks large windows. The enormous arched windows you can see at the top of the building from outside are in the middle of the building. Because of the way the building is situated these views do not point in the most picturesque direction. Oh well. It was so crowded that getting near the windows was near impossible anyway.
San Francisco has so many great restaurants I suggest you get out and explore. If you need a quick breakfast there is a Mel's Diner on Mission Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets.
Other:
The main entrance is on Fourth Street, just south of Market Street so it is convenient to the Moscone Center, SFMoMA, etc. It is about 3 blocks south of Union Square so it is within easy walking distance of the Union Square shopping district as well as the Financial District. There is an entrance to the Powell Street BART station at the corner of Fourth and Market. There is a large multiplex movie theater in the Metreon one block south of the hotel (Mission and Fourth Streets). There is also a Hertz car rental at the hotel and there is parking in a garage under the hotel.
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