After a cab ride down the Nob Hill to Embarcadero station, it was back onto the BART to head out of the city (whilst most of it was watching the Seahawks showing why they were going to be NFL Champions in the end).



Heading into the station

As I got to the platform, I saw that a train to SFO was about to arrive. Convenient timing indeed!





The BART made its way through downtown San Francisco, loosing a lot of passengers on the way. Soon it was out in into the open, where the California sun was giving a wonderful display



Another 25 minutes, and the BART service pulled into San Francisco Airport, with me leaving the train here





Non-Futuristic C type train.

Exiting the BART, my next stop would be the hotel shuttle to the Crowne Plaza. But not without passing through the stunning International Terminal






Again, sheer luck was on my side with a shuttle bus arriving about 10 minutes after I exited the international terminal. This is important as the shuttle to the Crowne Plaza is every 30 minutes as opposed to every 15 or so to the Hyatt

A short ride later, the shuttle bus passed the Mariott and the Hyatt, and finally reached the Crowne Plaza.

Crowne Plaza San Francisco Airport
Rate Paid: $89++





Entrance

After a short wait to check in, I was seen to. My rate was confirmed and keycards issued. Helpfully, there were shuttle bus timetables photocopied and waiting for collection. During check-in, I was offered a choice of three amenities:

• A Drink in the Bar
  
• A bottle of water
  
• 600 IHG points

I was dissuaded away from the bottle of waters as I was given Club access (where there was water), and I didn’t value a drink in the bar… so I went for 600 points (which posted the next day). Considering I earned only 1,227 points on this stay, that was basically 50% extra points for nothing.





Public areas

With that, I headed for my room on the 9th floor.






Retro.

The room itself is a pretty standard Crowne Plaza room… and that’s no bad thing in this case, as it provided the facilities I needed for the night - a bed, a bath, somewhere to wash and relax.





Bed area and TV







Bathroom

The view… well… it wouldn’t win any awards…



Since I had Club access, I decided to use it (if just to get a bottle of water). And I’m glad I set my expectations low in this case…

What it was - well it seems like two rooms were knocked together to create a lounge area



Meanwhile, loosing a game…




Seating




Kitchen Area



Fruit and cookies.

The kitchen area had a few bits in, namely a coffee machine, bottles of water, cookies, and fruit. Completely unexciting.

Although I avoided the fruit.



Oh dear.

By this point, evening had fallen, and the night had begun.



I turned in early myself as the flight in the morning was at 7am, and I wanted to be gone from the hotel by 5am. Thankfully sleep came easy to me by 9pm, with me back up by 3:30. This gave me time to finalise packing. With that done, and 4:45 passing, I checked out with no further details needed.

Overall: It did the job as a crash pad for the night (and in some respects a lot better than the Ibis I had in Paris - certainly more room per pound... It was clean, but its age is showing. There are better choices near the airport, but from a value perspective - pretty hard to beat.

This being an early morning shuttle, the hotel shuttle bus back to the airport was full of airline crew, and thankfully the shuttle was on time .



With everyone aboard, there were a couple more hotel stops, and then down the freeway back to the airport.