The good parts:
- staff friendly and helpful. I asked to change rooms after two nights and was immediately given an alternative with no indication that I was being a nuisance
- rooms a good size (at least the two I stayed in were)
- rooms were clean
- a good area to stay, safe and easy to walk to many parts of the city including: Fisherman's Wharf (although frankly I wouldn't bother, it's a tacky tourist trap); the great shops, bars and restaurants on Union Street; Pacific Heights; California Street where you can pick up the cable car to the Ferry Building; Washington Square; China Town. If you're not so into walking then there are plenty of bus services running nearby
- free wifi
- breakfast included.
Now the negatives:
- the reason I stayed in two rooms was because the first was horrible. Very little natural light which gave it a gloomy almost dingy feel. This was made worse by the heavily patterned wallpaper and dark green carpet (which had a big hole in it). The mismatched furniture and old-fashioned bedding just added to the depressing ambiance. I was given the first room because I'd specifically asked for a quiet one-it was at the back. Yet I still got woken up by something clanking and hissing somewhere in the building. The second room was much lighter, with a bay window which could be opened to let in air: but it was really noisy. I was on Octavia Street, but the six lane highway that is Lombard Street was only a few feet away and kept me awake. Once I'd fallen asleep I was subsequently woken up by people shouting in the street and my neighbours talking in their room (they weren't being noisy, the walls are just paper-thin). I was then kept awake by the extractor fan in an upstairs bathroom going on at 2.00am and not switching off - it was like sharing a room with a drill!
- sheets, blankets and a very scratchy bed cover. Doesn't every modern hotel have duvets?
- basic breakfast.
The only reason I'd stay again would be if it was significantly cheaper than other similar options.
hotel reviews