Hilton HHonors - San Francisco Hilton Financial District Trip Reports and Reviews

I just spent a night at the new Hilton Financial District (on Kearny) in San Francisco. This is a trip report:

Making the reservation (and explaining their very high rates): "We consider ourselves to be one of the two best hotels in San Francisco."


Getting to the Hotel: As I got into the taxi at the aiport, the driver said "oh, that's the old Holiday Inn." Not the best start.

Checking in: Sorry, we are full. No upgrades available. The lounge is not operational yet so here are breakfast coupons. After some small talk found out they did a $40 million remodel.

Entering the Room: Rooms are still being remodelled. Construction noise in the hall. Very nicely furnished but small. Well, it looks like a Holiday Inn sized room. The windows are terrible, there is no view (tops of buildings) and the noise from the city is unbearable. No double paned windows!

Changing the room: (Called to find a quieter room): Given room on other side of building facing the bay. Gorgeous view. If you go to hotels for the view, this is worth it. Also a tad bit quieter, but still not what I would expect. Cocnierge explains that the original windows opened and the city law prohibits windows that open in hotels for safety reasons. Since guests like windows that open, they grandfathered in the old ones and didn't change them. Maybe, but double glazed windows add to the comfort of the stay and save energy and the old ones don't fit. Also found out that the top two floors, where all the suites are, are still under construction. Why didn't they tell me that at check-in instead of saying they were full and no upgrades were available? Not a good sign!

The Lobby. Very nice. Wireless Internet (as in the rooms, for the usual $9.95 per day from Wayport.) A Tully's instead of a Starbucks. Not my choice, but I never got to try their coffee because the "just ran out" of soy milk (which I use).

Sleeping: Nice bed, but hard to do with all the noise. This is still a Holiday Inn IMHO. The walls are very thin so you can hear neighbors pulling the shades! And there is a lot of traffic noise, and they left the motel-style coke machines and ice makers at the end of every hall. Give me a break! Four star? No way!

Fitness Center: Mostly treadmills, some bikes, some weights, everything new, blasting TV, somewhat small for a hotel this size. Just fine, but nothing special. Once again, the size is probably a hold-over from the property's days as a Holiday Inn.

Shower: The shower head is really low! Kind of bizarre. Must be left over from the Holiday Inn again.

Breakfast: Choice of free continental breakfast with Diamond coupon or $11.00 credit (cheapest item is $12.00 and coffee is $4.00). The continental breakfast was cottage cheese, packaged pastries and a plate of fruit. I've seen better in by far in Best Westerns and Holiday Inns. So I went over tot he restaurant. Long wait for a waiter who did not speak English and I had to stop three times from giving me coffee. I ordered a poached egg, and when it came the waiter swiftly removed my spoon, so I had to borrow one from the next table to eat it. Where were these people trained?

CONCLUSION: This is a dressed up and overpriced Holiday Inn with a great view on one side. It's fine for people who don't mind a lot of noise. Maybe in a month or two they will have completed the remodel and the Concierge Level will be worth it, but I am sure the price will be astronomical, even for San Francisco. This is a great disappointment. It does not live up to its self-image.

Making the reservation (and explaining their very high rates): "We consider ourselves to be one of the two best HILTON hotels in San Francisco."


You sure this isn't what the agent said? ;)

Might be going there in November. Anyone have any updated stay experiences at this property? Thanks!

Might be going there in November. Anyone have any updated stay experiences at this property? Thanks!

I was just there last week and got an upgrade to room 2507. Wonderful bayview, nice workplace, good bed, small room and bathroom, though. Room somewhat noisy due to old windows, but as I use earplugs I had no problem. No in-room mini bar. Lounge on 26th floor served nice spread for breakfast. Did not try it in the evening as it is closed at that time om Fridays and Saturdays. Corridors look very dull but are generally clean. Reception area is nice with a Tully's coffee bar and a nice bar. Outside area is obviously China Town and gives a somewhat dirty impression. Bell staff is very helpful, as is front desk and concierge.

A little pricey for the room size (which admittedly is small) but a not a bad choice. On a scale from 0-10 I would give it an 7.7-8.

Thanks for this review. We have duplicate reservations for this hotel and the Renaissance Parc 55. Neither has stellar reviews but our stay at the Renaissance would be about $100 less per night. The Renaissance is starting to look awfully good.

I Pricelined this hotel for $70/night -- awfully hard to justify any regular hotel price in SF when this quality hotel goes for this price for a Saturday and Sunday night.

Don't know if they will upgrade me and/or/neither lounge access, but Tripadvisor posts seem to indicate some benefit to being an elite.

We had another great stay at the SF Hilton Financial District for 6 days on a GLON award. After earning 240.000 points on a 4.000 Dollar stay in New York earlier this year I thought it would be time to burn at least 175.000 points for a full week in San Francisco. We decided to return to the SFHFD and did not regret it.

I had made contact to the ever so helpful concierge Erik who made arrangements for several good restaurants and a bay view room. We took the BART from SFO to Embarcadero and the California Street Cable Car to Kearny and a two minutes walk to the hotel, very convenient (Be sure to buy a Muni pass as soon as you arrive downtown, Cable Car single fares are a rip off).

At the hotel they surprised us with a "Signature Room" at the top floor (27) with a balcony - but city view. We went back to reception and they changed it to a room on 26 without balcony but the best hotel-view over the bay SF has to offer (to my knowledge). Room was fairly new, neither big nor small, flat screen panel, king bed, extra sofa and a huge working area along the huge panorama windows, storing room was sufficient, bath room small.

Lounge was still on 26 and still small. Unimpressive breakfast (Cereals, fruit, pastries, coffee, juice), enough for us. Two PCs with internet access. We hade the choice of getting a six dollar discount on the full breakfast. Light snacks in the evening (one hot choice eg Spring rolls and cheese platter) plus free soft drinks, again not impressive but sufficient.

Hotel services were quite good, location is still great. We made extensive use of the Muni (three bus lines, both north - south and east - west) in front of the hotel, all cable car lines in a distance of two blocks, China Town, North Beach, California Street at the doorstep and Embarcadero in walking distance.

I personally like the China Town area better than Union Square or the Fisherman's Wharf location. It is by far more central and close to all Cable Car lines and the restaurants in North Beach. The view from the top floors is fantastic. The hotel as such is not really a category six (compared to European standards) but the location and the view is unbeatable. I would not choose this place as long as I cannot be sure to get a room on a floor higher 20 with a bay view, but with both, it is simply a great experience.

Great to hear that Erik is still there. IMO this guy is best concierge in the Western USA, and certainly the most helpful, honest and friendly in the world. He helped us to plan out a six week tour around the West Coast, and all of his advice was spot-on. He organised about 30 deliveries we had to the hotel in the week perfectly. Every item was delivered straight to our room, moments after it arrived at the hotel. Which if you've ever arranged for anything to be delivered to a hotel you'll appreciate is a rare occurrence. If anyone from Hilton is reading, I would love to recommend Erik as Concierge of the decade. One of Hiltons finest assets.

Pity that they still didn’t sort out the breakfast at this hotel, it was very poor last year as well. Ask Erik though and he’ll get you a great place to eat breakfast.

Looking at the dates on these posts it has been a while since anyone commented (at least in this forum). I'll be staying there tomorrow night (Thurs - Dec 6 - 1 night) for work and after I'll post my findings.

I'm Diamond so let's see what it gets me ;)

I stayed at this hotel in April of this year and had a great experience. The rate was reasonable, but I don't remembe what it was. As a diamond member, I was given a (regular) room that faced Coit Tower on a floor that was just below the lounge floor. I believe that was considered an executive floor also. I think there was free wifi internet throughout the hotel. The snacks were ok, but the apetizers were quite good. After seeing the breakfast in the lounge we opted for the restaurant. They gave us something like $10 credit each for the restaurant breakfast. The food was pretty good. The gym has some nice treadmills that have TVs in them. It is on a lower floor and is the size of maybe 3 hotel rooms. Overall, I thought the hotel was quite nice and staff was nice too. I would definitely stay there again.

Just returned from 5 night stay there. My 4th visit to this hotel this year.

Bar staff are exceptionally helpful and friendly. Howie, Joseph and Henry are great back-up concierges.

Breakfast in the exec lounge is the only real weakness. Oh, and sometimes elevator access--but only on Sunday mornings.

I recommend.

^^