I've been told that I have "interesting" reviews, so here goes...

I stayed with my bf on Jan 1 to Jan 5 2004, room 2117.

As a diamond, I had expected to be upgraded to a corner room or a suite, but we were assigned a standard bay view room. They said there was a wedding party that had booked all the suites and corner rooms. I felt sad after hearing all the good reports on FT, but we did have a view of the bay down battery street.

They gave us a choice of welcome amenities, though there wasn't a printed list. We selected the 1/2 bottle of white wine and the "chefs special" which turned out to be several slices of chocolate cake and cheesecake. It was nicer than I had expected and we enjoyed it very much.

The softgoods were nice. Soft sheets, comforter, duvet, and two Frette bathrobes. Pillow-top mattress.

A few minutes after we were in the room, a person from housekeeping came in to inventory and restock the minibar. The thing was that she knocked and came in right away before I could get to the door. I thought it was odd that she didn't just come back when we weren't there. We let her do her thing.

I liked that they have complementary shoe shine service. Also they had pre-printed my name on the shoe shine form and breakfast certificates. They did a great job on our shoes and they were delivered early the next morning.

The room had a Nakamichi SoundSpace 1, which sounded very nice. Our remote control didn't work, probably needed new batteries.

Breakfast at the Park Grill was great but, as with most hotels, rather expensive if it wasn't subsidized. Over four days there were at most 2 other tables when we were there. The service was good, as it should be when there are only two tables. I did find a dirty fork one morning.

We used the parking valet for one night. They were good, usually having the car ready for us before we could get down. The other nights we parked on the street, or overnight in the Embarcadero #1 building lot across the street. Valet was $38 + Tax (~$43) parking lot was $27.50 for 24 hours including tax but no in/out.

We booked tickets to Alcatraz and got several recommendations from the concierge staff. They were very good, but sometimes a little busy.

The fitness center had a good assortment of equipment and was almost always empty in the mornings.

[This message has been edited by Tummy (edited Jan 07, 2004).]