richard
Apr 2, 00, 5:01 pm
I've been going to SF every week since late last year, almost, but I want to talk about SF and the hotel situation in Silicon Valley and SF and esp. the Grand Hyatt at Union Square.
Hotels are very hard to come by sometime in Silicon Valley. I make my reservations at the last minute and I couldn't find a hotel. One was the Grand Hyatt and I have stayed there before and I love it.
This week it is completely booked as is EVERYTHING it seems like. Even the airport hotels in Burlingame. Even the hotels in San Jose. Everything, you name it, is booked.
But getting back to this trip, I arrived for the 5:30pm flight to a very crowded Dulles airport. By the time I waded through to the C club it was time to board. All the way there I was doing a board meeting by cell phone which made it a bit stressful. At the club they had my tix mixed up and I had to hang up on the conference call and then call back after they straightened it out. I've commented on UA ground people before and this was no different. I've had delightful experiences with UA in the air but often poor ones on the ground. I can't complain too much this time except that the RCC person kept a special upgrade coupon I had gotten, which I was unware of because I was absorbed in my call (I had been given two, they are good for a 72 hour upgrade domestic, TV10 coupons, and they RCC person kept them both.)
I got the upgrade to 1st class (I had a discounted C ticket) and boarded and sat in 1C on the 767-300. It is a lovely cabin with great seat pitch. First class was attentive although the meal was identical to that in C. I sat next to a guy who chairs a medium sized bank in California and it was nice chatting with him. I used my NC10s after we chatted for most of the flight. I had to ask for Channel 9 and then the captain turned it on (lately lots of UA flights don't seem to have channel 9 although I always ask if they don't)
Food choices were chicken on cumin rice, crab cakes with a pepper sauce, and something else (forgot, sorry). They usually offer movies but for some reason they offered my seatmate a choice of movies but not me. I went up and asked them later and of course they were very helpful. Actually the inflight service was fine.
When I arrived, I went first to the service center and asked about the missing coupon. They advised me to go to the RCC. So I went to the RCC and I had to talk to a supervisor and wait a half hour. The club in Dulles had closed so there was no way for them to verify that I had given the extra upgrade coupon to the staff there in Dulles. This is not of course the 500 mile coupon, it's worth $125 or so I figure (5 upgrade coupons X 500 miles for a transcon run) so I didn't feel like kissing it goodbye. The supervisor came and advised me to write in. I convinced her, finally, to help me on the spot. She gave me a "downgrade kit" which is a coupon good any time in advance for a one segment one class upgrade. That is worth more than the coupon I lost, so I am happy now.
I rented a LeSabre from Avis and drove to the Grand Hyatt for my second stay there.
They greet you at the curb and the doormen are very attentive right from the start. Parking is $30 per day with in and out privileges, although you are better off cabbing it or walking if you have downtown business (a car is a liability right there downtown in SF). A house limo can sometimes drive you gratis to whereever you have to go, too.
I had to wait quite a while for check-in but as usual they were very polite and helpful. My room was up on the 27th floor and a funny thing happened to me there, it made me feel funny. I stepped into the elevator and there was a young lady and a man. The man got off on a middling floor and said goodnight, it was obvious he and she were business travellers together. I rode up with the lady. We get out at the exact same floor and I am walking behind her. At this point she is feeling obviously very paranoid that I am following her. We go to the end of the hallway and each turn together and she is extremely vexed, it is obvious. Turns out she is across from me in one of those little cubbyhole hallways. She disappears rapidly and slams the door and click click locks and bolts the door. It is the first time I have been taken for some kind of nut but I completely understand her concern, travelling by herself in a strange town. On a hotel with 32 floors this *was* quite a coincidence.
The Grand Views restaaurant on the top of the Hyatt is excellent. The views are spectacular, you can see Alcatraz, East Bay, downtown, the bridge, Treasure Island, etc., and the food is very good. I have eaten one of the best pork chops there ever. The service is impeccable. The waiter for breakfast was very friendly and caring.
The room had a magnificent view, excellent bed, perfect bathroom, really a great room. There is lounge access with a concierge during breakfast on those particular floors and an evening honor bar and hors d'oeuvres. It is rather expensive but so is everything in SF it seems like. Soundproofing is generally great, although the HVAC system can make noise and be disturbing depending upon the room. It is much quieter than the Hyatt Regency near Embarcadero which is an atrium hotel.
I took the redeye back to Washington that night. I almost made the upgrade but missed by one. I am a lowly Prem Ex on UA and often don't get these upgrades. US was sold out or I would have taken it for the sake of going back in F. I took my lumps in an exit row in E+ which had actually extremely good pitch, better than F, but with a seat with hardly any recline on a full (completely full) flight. Because I had waited for the upgrade, there was no overhead bin space and I had to check my bag (arrghhh!). It was miserable taking the redeye back with the seat that hardly reclined.
The only event on the way back came during takeoff. I was listening to Ch 9 (didn't have to ask this time) and the "clear for takeoff" and then about ten seconds later, as we careened down the runway, ATC said "UA 206 please abort takeoff." There was another plane in the way, a little mistake. Very efficiently, the pilots applied the brakes, the spoilers, and reverse thrust. Then the captain came on the PA saying that everything was perfectly fine and that we had to start over again. We did, and the rest of the flight was uneventful. As usual on the UA redeye the FAs did an initial meal service and basically nothing else, even in F.
Hotels are very hard to come by sometime in Silicon Valley. I make my reservations at the last minute and I couldn't find a hotel. One was the Grand Hyatt and I have stayed there before and I love it.
This week it is completely booked as is EVERYTHING it seems like. Even the airport hotels in Burlingame. Even the hotels in San Jose. Everything, you name it, is booked.
But getting back to this trip, I arrived for the 5:30pm flight to a very crowded Dulles airport. By the time I waded through to the C club it was time to board. All the way there I was doing a board meeting by cell phone which made it a bit stressful. At the club they had my tix mixed up and I had to hang up on the conference call and then call back after they straightened it out. I've commented on UA ground people before and this was no different. I've had delightful experiences with UA in the air but often poor ones on the ground. I can't complain too much this time except that the RCC person kept a special upgrade coupon I had gotten, which I was unware of because I was absorbed in my call (I had been given two, they are good for a 72 hour upgrade domestic, TV10 coupons, and they RCC person kept them both.)
I got the upgrade to 1st class (I had a discounted C ticket) and boarded and sat in 1C on the 767-300. It is a lovely cabin with great seat pitch. First class was attentive although the meal was identical to that in C. I sat next to a guy who chairs a medium sized bank in California and it was nice chatting with him. I used my NC10s after we chatted for most of the flight. I had to ask for Channel 9 and then the captain turned it on (lately lots of UA flights don't seem to have channel 9 although I always ask if they don't)
Food choices were chicken on cumin rice, crab cakes with a pepper sauce, and something else (forgot, sorry). They usually offer movies but for some reason they offered my seatmate a choice of movies but not me. I went up and asked them later and of course they were very helpful. Actually the inflight service was fine.
When I arrived, I went first to the service center and asked about the missing coupon. They advised me to go to the RCC. So I went to the RCC and I had to talk to a supervisor and wait a half hour. The club in Dulles had closed so there was no way for them to verify that I had given the extra upgrade coupon to the staff there in Dulles. This is not of course the 500 mile coupon, it's worth $125 or so I figure (5 upgrade coupons X 500 miles for a transcon run) so I didn't feel like kissing it goodbye. The supervisor came and advised me to write in. I convinced her, finally, to help me on the spot. She gave me a "downgrade kit" which is a coupon good any time in advance for a one segment one class upgrade. That is worth more than the coupon I lost, so I am happy now.
I rented a LeSabre from Avis and drove to the Grand Hyatt for my second stay there.
They greet you at the curb and the doormen are very attentive right from the start. Parking is $30 per day with in and out privileges, although you are better off cabbing it or walking if you have downtown business (a car is a liability right there downtown in SF). A house limo can sometimes drive you gratis to whereever you have to go, too.
I had to wait quite a while for check-in but as usual they were very polite and helpful. My room was up on the 27th floor and a funny thing happened to me there, it made me feel funny. I stepped into the elevator and there was a young lady and a man. The man got off on a middling floor and said goodnight, it was obvious he and she were business travellers together. I rode up with the lady. We get out at the exact same floor and I am walking behind her. At this point she is feeling obviously very paranoid that I am following her. We go to the end of the hallway and each turn together and she is extremely vexed, it is obvious. Turns out she is across from me in one of those little cubbyhole hallways. She disappears rapidly and slams the door and click click locks and bolts the door. It is the first time I have been taken for some kind of nut but I completely understand her concern, travelling by herself in a strange town. On a hotel with 32 floors this *was* quite a coincidence.
The Grand Views restaaurant on the top of the Hyatt is excellent. The views are spectacular, you can see Alcatraz, East Bay, downtown, the bridge, Treasure Island, etc., and the food is very good. I have eaten one of the best pork chops there ever. The service is impeccable. The waiter for breakfast was very friendly and caring.
The room had a magnificent view, excellent bed, perfect bathroom, really a great room. There is lounge access with a concierge during breakfast on those particular floors and an evening honor bar and hors d'oeuvres. It is rather expensive but so is everything in SF it seems like. Soundproofing is generally great, although the HVAC system can make noise and be disturbing depending upon the room. It is much quieter than the Hyatt Regency near Embarcadero which is an atrium hotel.
I took the redeye back to Washington that night. I almost made the upgrade but missed by one. I am a lowly Prem Ex on UA and often don't get these upgrades. US was sold out or I would have taken it for the sake of going back in F. I took my lumps in an exit row in E+ which had actually extremely good pitch, better than F, but with a seat with hardly any recline on a full (completely full) flight. Because I had waited for the upgrade, there was no overhead bin space and I had to check my bag (arrghhh!). It was miserable taking the redeye back with the seat that hardly reclined.
The only event on the way back came during takeoff. I was listening to Ch 9 (didn't have to ask this time) and the "clear for takeoff" and then about ten seconds later, as we careened down the runway, ATC said "UA 206 please abort takeoff." There was another plane in the way, a little mistake. Very efficiently, the pilots applied the brakes, the spoilers, and reverse thrust. Then the captain came on the PA saying that everything was perfectly fine and that we had to start over again. We did, and the rest of the flight was uneventful. As usual on the UA redeye the FAs did an initial meal service and basically nothing else, even in F.