Hotel Tropicana is great for a young person on a budget.
Most inexpensive hotels in San Francisco are in undesirable, touristy, dangerous, and characterless parts of the city (e.g. Tenderloin, Civic Center, etc). Hotel Tropicana, though, is located right in the center of one of SF's youngest and trendiest neighborhoods: Mission Dolores. Just a block away on 18th st are some of SF's hip health food hotspots like Bi-Rite Creamery, Delfina, and Tartine. It's also 2 blocks from Dolores Park, which has become a sort of hipster haven. Also, it's 2 blocks from the 16th st Bart stop, meaning that you can get to most parts of town in just a few minutes. Valencia St. has just been redone and turned into a pedestrian-friendly corridor; it's becoming a magnet for lots of furniture stores, clothes shops, antique outlets, and restaurants.
While the location is great--especially for a young person--I will say that the amenities at the hotel are very spartan. My room was not cleaned during my week-long stay, although it was very clean when I arrived. If you go for the really cheap rooms, then you'll be sharing a bathroom. But, at half the price of a typical SF budget hotel, I'm not complaining.
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