I agonized over the choice of Marriott's for the family vacation.
Overall, I was satisfied with the Marquis. The location for younger kids was not ideal, its better suited for convention or shopping trips. There are not that many activities to walk to with the kids. I would probably try closer to fisherman's wharf only becasue we seemed to be in that area frequently. The staff was very good at the hotel, the conceirge desk was staffed with at least 2-3 ppl at all time and when I asked questions they were very helpful. We had breakfast at the restaurant one day and I would say that it was average (suggestion to ease up on the peppers and onions in the hashbrowns), we also ate in the conceirge floor for 3 days and say the staff and food was excellent. It was very busy but food was always refilled and tables cleaned fast to keep up with the demand (suggestion to upgrade the facitilty with more tables to sit). I ordered room service 2 nights and found it average as well. We had an executive suite and found the extra room with a family of 5 was well worth the extra money. Again, nothing wrong with the hotel even though it is very busy, the staff handles it well.
As for the vacation itself a few hints and suggestions. If you go to Muir woods (I highly suggest a trip) and plan to drive you had better get there as early as possible or you will walk a looong way. Alcatraz is highly suggested, book at least a week early and go early am to get in before its too crowded. Take advantage of any tours being given (the escape one was very good) the staff is very knowledgeable. We also visited Pier 39, its a tourist spot for sure but has many kid friendly restaurants and there was a nice magic show by the water. Make sure you see the sea lions laying on the docks, kids thought the "barking" was hilarious. One other suggestion, visit Exploratorium, its full of experiments that target kids as well as adults (under 5yrs old might be a little bored).
A trip down Lombard street is always fun especially with kids...they enjoyed walking down in the middle of the street.
hotel reviews