We traveled to San Francisco to get married and chose the Intercontinental based on it's star rating, reviews from other travelers and location. The rooms were spacious, room service food was delicious and the location of the hotel is very convenient for getting to/from SFO and various points of interest in the city. There were some aspects of our stay that I think will be useful to other travelers considering this hotel:
1. The hotel places a $200 HOLD on funds from your credit card or debit card for EACH DAY of stay. Those funds are not available to you during this period of time. At the end of your stay, your actual expenses are then totaled and any remaining balance from the frozen funds are released back to your card. This is not spelled out on the hotel's website or third-party reservation websites and posed a problem for us, as we were not prepared to lose $200 of spending money each day. This information should be made available to guests prior to their arrival. The hotel desk clerk informed us that this information was not relayed to us by Expedia (whom we used to book our stay), but I checked Intercontinental's website and could not find this information there, either. If it is there, it should be more prominent. They also could have mentioned this when I called to confirm our reservation the day before our arrival. Let me be clear: I don't have a problem with the policy of holding funds, but there is no reason why guests should be surprised at check-in, when they can be informed beforehand, which would allow guests to plan their travel budget/spending accordingly.
2. The front desk service is mediocre. Not very friendly (although not rude) and I was surprised that no one ever even asked us why we were in SF. Given that this is a convention hotel, perhaps they just assumed we were business travelers. Not the case. It would have been nice to be asked. Also, we were not wished an enjoyable stay, nor were we asked if we were satisfied at the end of our stay..minor points, but when it comes to service, the little things count.
3. The bar and restaurant are woefully inadequate to handle all of the conventioneers and other guests (i.e. US). After getting married and having our photos taken in and around the city, we returned for some celebratory champagne..We found seats in the very-crowded lounge area, but the waitress that was taking orders ignored us. We fought our way up to the bar and eventually got some attention.
4. And perhaps the most annoying part of our stay..the comfort of our room. Our room faced east and when the sun rose each morning, the room became hot. Not just warm. HOT. We had the thermostat adjusted to the lowest possible setting and the fan turned on "high," yet we still roasted the morning of our wedding as we showered and dressed. We were told the hotel was booked to capacity, so no other rooms were available. Some things cannot be controlled or fixed, but this was still disappointing. It didn't ruin our day, but a pickier bride and groom-to-be might throw a fit.
Finally, the parking is quite expensive. We were told that we would be charged $43 per day for parking at the hotel. It was $53 on check-out. Luckily, we found a garage DIRECTLY behind the hotel (and probably the one they use for guests' cars) that charged $32/day.
While this may all sound very negative, we were not UNhappy with the hotel. But we won't choose it again. Overall, I would say it's great for conventioneers, and mediocre for people traveling for leisure/special events.
NOTE: We did not tell the hotel we were getting married. We did not expect or want preferential treatment. The criticisms noted above have to do with basic service and are not based on an expectation of special treatment. Every guest is entitled to comfort, care and a clear understanding of the cost of their stay.
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