My Favorite City Hotel in the USA: 2 More Incredible Stays in a Metropolitan Suite

100   Recommended
Room 1908 , Metropolitan Su
December 18, 2017 by EXPERT

 Map | 9 Reviews | 44% Recommended
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The St. Regis San Francisco
 Map | 9 Reviews | 44% Recommended

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Room 1908

Metropolitan Su

Liked:
Location
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Food
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Metropolitan Su

The St Regis San Francisco is unquestionably my favorite city hotel in the USA, and one of our 13 favorite hotels of all-time anywhere in the world.

I stayed twice (both paid rates) at the St Regis San Francisco this year, once alone for work for 2 nights in mid-Nov 2017 and again for leisure this past mid-Dec 2017 weekend with my husband and our dog, Macallan. As with my three stays in 2016, my stays this year again were absolutely wonderful--approaching the same levels of service I've come to expect from the legendary Amanresort hotels. 

I am posting these latest 2 stays here in the Starwood Hotels Forum. I posted last year's 3 stays in the Luxury Hotels Forum.

The hotel lobby was beautifully decorated for Christmas on our second Dec stay:

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The view from the lobby bar:

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The lobby bar seating areas were very comfortable:

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The hotel restaurant was also nice and comfortable. We had breakfast and Sunday brunch here during our Dec stay:

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The hotel is supremely luxurious and yet very comfortable. It offers the San Francisco sense of chic design and luxury while also retaining a casual comfort that so evokes California.

That being said, the hotel is expecting to undergo a renovation starting sometime in late 2018 to freshen up and renovate the public spaces and rooms/suites.

 

Check In

Check in was, as always, very friendly, quick, and efficient. There was no one checking in before me for my Nov stay, and in Dec there were two couples checking in before me. But I waited maybe no more than a few minutes. 

In Nov, the GM and Assistant Front Office Director greeted me on arrival. In Dec, the Front Office Director and Head Concierge greeted me. Both times, I was escorted by a butler to my suite--despite me indicating that it wasn't necessary. (But it's always nice to catch up with the butlers here!)

In both cases, I had been pre-upgraded to my favorite Metropolitan Suite. I had actually indicated to the hotel that it wasn't necessary in November to upgrade me to a suite, since I was alone. But the hotel insisted and upgraded me anyway.

In both cases, I arrived at the hotel around 2 pm. I previously had been approved for early check in with my Your24 benefit, and my suites were ready on my early arrival for both stays.

 

 

Room

The Metropolitan Suite is extremely comfortable and spacious. I had the exact same Metropolitan Suite for both my Nov and Dec stays.

The entry corridor, with the afternoon sun blazing:

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After lowering the screens a bit to minimize the blazing afternoon sun from the suite's western exposure:

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The TV area and hidden bar area:

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The westward view from the living room onto the Moscone/Metreon complex and hills:

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The spacious bedroom also had plenty of natural light:

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The view from the bedroom was adequate:

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To the right of the wall mounted TV was the closet area:

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The table to the left of the bed had the control center and phone, as well as extra charging station with 2 outlets:

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The sliding doors opened from the bedroom into the spacious bathroom:

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Another slliding door opened to the toilet/shower area:

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Shower pressure was very good, though I think the rainfall head could use a bit more pressure. 

The view from the living room at night was more spectacular, I think (Nov):

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The sunset view was wonderful, too (Dec):

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The hotel had added blackout shades in the bedroom specifically for me in 2016:

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The suite living room and bedroom were truly blackout:

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The room air con also worked very well--though I arrived with that afternoon sun blazing. It was 69 F on arrival. Within an hour, though, and lowering the blinds, it had dropped to 66 F:

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By the next morning, the suite had achieved a beautiful 61 F during my Nov stay. (My husband would never allow me to cool to that level with him in the suite, so we compromised with 65 F in the bedroom and 68 F in the living room during my Dec stay!)

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The suite is beautifully comfortable and spacious, and was particularly wonderful for my Dec stay with my husband and our dog, Macallan:

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The hotel did try to accommodate our big boy despite him being larger than their official 35 lb weight limit for dogs:

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Suffice to say that the St Regis dog bed wasn't quite big enough for our boy! But we were ecstatic that the St Regis allowed us to bring him, nonetheless.

Service

Service for both stays was practically flawless. 

Before even arriving in Dec, the concierge had worked with me to get us confirmed with reservations at 2* Acquerello, 1* In Situ, 1* Luce, and 2* Lazy Bear. We eventually changed things up and substitued 1* Mourad for Luce and 3* Coi for Lazy Bear. The concierge team handled all our requests and changes with ease. Thus far, the concierge team has not once failed to get us a reservation that we wanted--even at any of the 2 * and 3* restaurants in the city.  That's a pretty impressive feat if you ask me.

I had a delicious welcome amenity waiting for me in Nov:

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And we had another delicious welcome amenity waiting for us in Dec:

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Suffice to say that we were most pleased with both welcome amenities! They always greet us so well here.

In addition, I took advantage of unpacking and packing services for both stays. The butlers always do a wonderful job. One of the butlers was actually a transplant from the Ritz Carlton Reserve property in Puerto Rico, as that hotel will be closed through Oct 2018 due to Hurricane Maria. She was absolutely lovely and a wonderful addition to the St Regis team.

I asked for complimentary butler shoe shines during both stays, and they returned the shoes to me in less than an hour:

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I enjoyed complimentary French press coffee service every morning in Nov:

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And again in Dec:

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We also had wonderful turndown service for both stays. The only time turndown was missed was when I accidentally left the DND button lit by the front door! A quick call to the butler and the housekeeping team was there to turndown my room pronto--and with apologies that were unnecessary!

For our Dec stay, we enjoyed the complimentary Bentley car service for 2 of our 3 nights, prior to our dinners at Acquerello and Coi:

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The Bentley car service isn’t guaranteed; it’s first come, first served. But I’ve had great luck at getting drinks in the bar an hour or so before we want to depart and letting the valets know we are hoping for the Bentley. They’ve almost always come and found us in the bar close to when we wanted. A great benefit.

The hotel even allowed us to bring Macallan into the bar with us--quite a nice surprise! They kept offering us water and treats for our most spoiled boy.

Bar service was usually fantastic. It was a little slow for us on our first night in Dec, so I mentioned it to the front desk. The bar manager introduced himself the next day and made sure to apologize--unnecessary but certainly appreciated. The next night, we got incredibly good service! There often was a bit of a wait for seating at the very popular bar between 6:00-8:00 pm, but I never waited more than 5 minutes to find seating on any night during my 2 stays.

Restaurant service was also extremely good. We had breakfast on our first morning and Sunday brunch on our final morning of our Dec stay. The team even allowed us to order from the brunch menu despite having breakfast a good 30 min before the official start of brunch. And our breakfasts were comp'd as part of my Platinum amenity--even for brunch.

Our one big hiccup with breakfast was the butler telling us during our Dec stay that the Sat breakfast service ended at 11:00 am--for us to arrive at 10:40 am and be told the breakfast service in fact closed at 10:30 am. The restaurant didn't handle that so well, but the front desk apologized when I complained--and offered for us to have room service breakfast comp'd as part of our Plat amenity. A very nice service recovery.

I enjoyed excellent room service breakfast for both my mornings in Nov and once in Dec. We also had room service dinner once in Dec. The food was always brought promptly (usually 20-25 min, always less than the stated 30 min) and hot. The server always set up the meal beautifully, as well.

Basically, the service at the St Regis is top drawer. The only mistakes I can recall are the mistake with the restaurant breakfast hours in Dec, an order of hot milk being forgotten once with my morning butler coffee service in Nov, and the bar service being unusually slow that first night in Dec. That's it. And of course, the hotel's service recovery in those instances was wonderful. Otherwise, my two stays were pretty much service perfection. The valets, butlers, front desk, concierge, waiters, bar staff, and everyone really went out of their way to make sure we were happy. 

Coming to the St Regis San Francisco for me is truly like coming home. 

Dining

The food and beverage here really does shine.

For my Nov stays, I had room service breakfast twice and room service lunch once. All were delicious and brought quickly.

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I also met a friend and had a late dinner at the bar. It was a great burger, which went great with the barman's Sazerac!

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For our Dec stay, we had breafkast in the restaurant on our first and last mornings:

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Sunday brunch was particularly enjoyable with some friends who joined us:

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For our second night, we wanted a break from the 1* In Situ, 2* Acqurello, and 3* Coi meals we otherwise were enjoying. So we had room service dinner to enjoy our suite. It was fantastic and easy, just as we'd hoped.

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My burger was great, but the salmon was really outstanding. We were a little nervous ordering salmon, which can so often be overcooked. Not this salmon! It was beautifully grilled to perfection. We were quite impressed.

Our second morning we decided to do room service breakfast since the restaurant was about to close--though we'd be given the wrong closing time. The hotel graciously comp'd our room service breakfast as way of apology.

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Suffice to say that, even in a city with as many amazing food option as San Francisco, the St Regis delivers with gusto in its food and beverage options. 

Location

The location of the St Regis is perfect for me.

For business, it is easily accessed from the SFO and OAK airports and BART/Muni. Its SOMA location makes it very easy to walk or drive into Untion Square, the Financial district, or anywhere else in the city one might need to go.

For leisure, it is literally adjacent to the SFMOMA museum and Metreon 16 complex (where we saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi on opening day). It is a 5-10 min walk to Union Square or to the Ferry Building or the entrance of Chinatown:

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It was just a 10-15 min drive in the Bentley to both Acquerello and to Coi. It was literally a 2 min walk to In Situ (inside the SFMOMA). 

And it took just about 20 min to drive to/from SFO. Perfection.

 

Overall

The St Regis San Francisco is my true home away from home. There is no hotel that I visit more often that truly caters so well to my every luxury whim. The service, the rooms, the bar, the restaurant, the food/beverage, the concierge, the butlers, the restaurant--everyone and everything is truly world-class.

While there were a few mistakes, the hotel showed tremendous service recovery in each instance, going well above and beyond to make us feel valued and appreciated. But for the most part, the service was ridiculously good...and always super friendly!

We already cannot wait to return.

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