The lobby of the Stanford Court is beautiful - a nice place to hang out & get a feel of what San Fran used to feel like years in the past. After viewing the lobby I expected more grand things in our room and was disappointed. The room was fine - it was clean & nice but it smelled like an antique store; old. The hotel is definitely an older hotel in need of some upgrades. The bathroom looked like it'd last been renovated in the 1960's, but was otherwise clean.
What has room for improvement is the price of all the incidentals at this hotel. The drink prices in the lobby bar, the room service prices and the parking was highway robbery. Beware: They only offer valet parking (there's no self-parking available and according to the front desk, none nearby.) The only alternative is street parking, which is metered. I suppose if we'd have wanted to walk several blocks we could have found self-parking, but since we were in the City to go to the opera and a nice dinner we weren't exactly in walking attire. The total bill for one night of valet parking was $46.74 including tax. If we'd been told it was that much up front we could have found cheaper parking & taken BART or a quick taxi ride back to the hotel and saved money. I know San Fran isn't known for its inexpensive parking, but we felt almost $47/night was just a little much.
Overall, if The Stanford Court were to remodel its hotel it'd seem more reasonable to pay the high prices, but with its current condition we feel they’re a bit overpriced. It's worth noting that we paid a discounted rate for our room, otherwise if we'd have paid $200+ night we would have only given the hotel 1-star.
hotel reviews