I prefer the Palace as their best rooms are better than the best rooms at the RC; however the worst rooms are also worse than at the RC, and you either have to book a higher rate or have SPG Plat status to get one of the (few) great rooms at the Palace. Hence the widely divergent good/bad reports about the Palace. On the plus side, it has a huge pool (maybe the biggest of any city hotel in the US), a good Japanese restaurant (a legacy of Japanese ownership of the building), and one of SF's historic great bars. The RC is usually praised for the quality of its club floor, presumably not included in your rate.