Hubby and I stayed at the Hilton San Francisco for one night in November 2008. The hotel is in a good location, only a few blocks walking distance from Union Square. The main entrance to the hotel is on O'Farrell Street and it has a very large lobby area with a Starbucks off to the side. When we stayed, it happened to be at the same time as the American Anthropological Association's annual conference. My tip to any traveler would be : do not stay at this hotel when this conference is on. There would have been about 200 people in the lobby when we got there, sitting on the lobby chairs (and there are many of these!) or standing around chatting (about Anthropology, I assume!). The only other non-conference people I saw there were airline crew who also stay at this hotel and the staff who work there. It was quite overwhelming! The front desk agent was helpful enough in a cookie-cutter, non-personal, forgot your name kind of way. He gave me our room keys and instructions on how to get to our room. We were in Tower 3 on the 17th floor. The fact that this hotel has 3 towers with 17 floors should give you a clue to it's enormous size. In fact, it reminded me of hotels in Vegas, but without the glitz or the gambling (yes, the interesting bits). We finally got to our room, only to find that the key didn't work. Hubby returned downstairs to get another key. Meanwhile I waited outside the room and started reading a book. I should have brought a thicker book. Anyway, hubby finally gets back to the room and tells me the front desk person wouldn't give him a new key as the room was booked in my name and they needed to see ID. Good Lord! So, I leave hubby there with the book and off I go to the front desk. After waiting in line for over 15 minutes I get there and the same front desk agent gives me a new key.. and did not ask for or check any ID. Hmmmmm.
So, an hour after we finally arrive, we get INTO our room. The rooms are nice enough, I think they may have been recently renovated. Like another reviewer has said, they are not large. I have stayed in SF many times and have not yet come across a large hotel room, so this was to be expected. The bathroom was a surprise, I didn't realize you could fit a bath, shower, toilet and hand basin into a room the size of a dime. The Hilton San Francisco has proven that this is in fact possible. The facilities in the room are comfortable enough, comfy bed, comfy pillows.. all perfectly adequate. Regular kind of TV (not LCD) along with mini-bar, overpriced room service .. the usual Hilton fare.
Both of the rooms on each side of ours were unoccupied so I don't know about the thin walls mentioned by a previous reviewer. The cleaners start vaccuuming the hallways at about 7.30am so if you want a sleep in make sure you bring ear plugs. The check-out process included the seemingly obligatory 15 minute wait in line and the standard cookie-cutter farewell that lacked any sincerity or warmth from the front desk agent who has clearly seen it all before (many many times).
We waved farewell to the American Antropological Association who seemed to have multiplied since the day before and headed out to catch our shuttle back to the airport. After waiting for half an hour, we discovered that the shuttle pick up point is actually on the secondary hotel entrance which is on Mason Street, not O'Farrell - this would have been handy to know! Fellow travelers - consider yourself informed.
All up, a pleasant enough trip. This hotel had no personality, no flair and was perfectly adequate. The location was good and so was the price (a last minute deal at $90 a night), just don't go here expecting any warmth, caring, authenticity or large bathrooms.
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