Originally Posted by
HookEm
Here’s an extremely important caveat to post #5 above:
At St. Regis San Francisco, you only receive butler service complimentary if you book a suite. Butler service is one of the top benefits of St. Regis. But a suite is staggeringly expensive. If you are super rich and part of the top 1/10th of 1%, then no problem. Otherwise, this hotel is disappointing for the price you pay.
The St. Regis is my top choice even without the butler. After that I would choose the Palace and then the Ritz. The price increase is usually worth it for me for the St. Regis, but I've always thought the Ritz is a bit overpriced for what it is. The Palace rooms are on the small side though, so if I'm with my spouse or family, we'll usually pick the St. Regis or the Ritz since the base rooms are a decent size.
And I think your last sentence applies to almost all of my San Francisco hotel stays; hotels in the city all seem expensive for what they are. They've been this way for years, but I still haven't adjusted. Early on in my travel days one of my first stays was at the St. Regis for ~$200/night, and I was upgraded to a Metropolitan suite, which at that time was one of the nicest rooms I'd ever seen. I think that set the bar way too high; I have stay an upcoming stay in September and a base room was $610/night.