My stay at Hotel Whitcomb was "whatever". The room was a bit tiny, but I didn't mind because the price I got through hotwire.com was reasonable. However, the toilet kept making a short flushing sound in a one minute interval. I don't know whether it was just my room (room # 732) or if all the other rooms' toilets were making that sound. I didn't complain because I was mostly out during the day and too tired at night to complain. If you're someone who gets annoyed with periodic sounds, then you should be cautious about their toilets.
It was nice that Hotel Whitcomb offered free wireless internet. However, the hotel staff seem not to know how to use it. The front desk person told me to call the hotel operator. The hotel operator told me only about half of the information I needed to use the internet. I told her that she needed to tell me the wireless network of Hotel Whitcomb but she just transferred me over to the hotel's wireless company. Little did I know that the hotel was charging me for "long distance call" by transferring me over to their internet service company. I will save you the money and trouble by telling you that this hotel's wireless network is wanderingwi-fi. The hotel operator will tell you the username and the password. Connecting to wanderingwi-fi will take you to a page with a blank spot for email and a blank spot for password. Even though the username is not remotely close to an email address put the username in that spot and the password in the password spot.
I had a difficult time communicating with the front desk person. He had a thick accent and talked really fast. Honestly confused, I had to keep asking him to repeat what he just said. I think he took it personally because he was a bit rude when he repeated. Later on that day, I saw him and another customer having a rough time communicating. Oh well.
Overall, the hotel was okay. The wireless internet was a plus and the location was a plus. I liked the down-feathered blanket here rather than the thin sheeted blankets other hotels offer. The other reviewers complain about the unsafe location of this hotel but I honestly feel like if you want to stay in the heart of San Francisco, you have to cope with the "ghettoness" of this hotel's location. You can't avoid it.
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