mphall

I was the original poster for this. We stayed in mid May and received a corner room. The view was beautiful. Housekeeping kept the room very clean. Since it was a corner, it was very quiet. We used the workout facilities. Breakfast was great fruit buffet and hot if you wanted it but there is no made to order items. We ate the first night in the restaurant/bar. I had a great hamburger and the place also has a nice view. I love the texting service the hotel uses to ask if we are happy. They sent us over to the next door Hilton (kind of stark) for the bar on the top floor where watched the sun set over the Golden Gate Bridge. We used Lyft the entire time and all the drivers came quickly. There is shopping out the front of the hotel and you can take a cable car down the hill if you want. All in all a great choice for a big city.

My only negative note is how awful SFO has become as a homeless magnet.
At one point, in a car, I thought they were filming a zombie move but it was a entire block of homeless people just hanging out. Everywhere we went there are homeless from the waterfront to Golden Gate Park to Chinatown to Financial District. It is so awful because of so much trash they leave behind.
With all the high power companies there, I can't imagine how terrible it is for the employees to try and navigate the street to get to their offices. It's always been bad but I think this might be the last time visiting. SFO is beautiful at the top but underneath it's pretty ugly. So tragic.

worldiswide

Not to get omni on this thread but maybe the high powered companies in the area could help with solutions for homeless. It's a community issue and will affect visitors and tourism. Sorry to hear how bad it has become. I noticed the same thing recently in San Diego as well.

davie355

I have never stayed at this hotel so this is all second-hand, but my blood is boiling just reading some recent reviews from another major, uh, trip-advising website.

And I don't know what to say to this guy:

::facepalm::

Now, I've stayed at the Hilton NYC Midtown where they also upcharge Golds for hot breakfast but they at least did it in a dignified manner, e.g., no seating segregation (how absurd).

Whoever's in charge of the breakfast offering at Parc 55 ought to be absolutely ashamed of themselves. I'm almost inclined to go to business school, get an MBA, get a management job at Hilton corporate, travel to this hotel ask the GM what the expletive they think they're doing.

Until then, I'm voting with my wallet (I'd booked the Parc 55 before reading reviews):

kpbadger

Sadly this is true. I agree that it's infuriating that what amounts to a 10 foot wide table against a wall with some pastries and beverage counts as a "continental breakfast." I swore off the Parc 55 when I was a gold. As a gold in my opinion you made the right decision to choose the Marquis - decent lounge and lounge breakfast as of a couple years ago when I stayed there.

I have stayed at Parc 55 as a Diamond (where the arrangement is the continental buffet in the restaurant, or hot food for an upcharge of $10 plus tax). As a diamond I've always been put on one of the top floors which have good views. So as a diamond I've been mostly happy there.

Mods: Merge with Parc 55 San Francisco - A Hilton Hotel {US-CA}?

storewanderer

This is pathetic. I too will be canceling an upcoming stay at this property.

I am honestly okay with a grab and go, but Coffee as the only drink option? I don't drink coffee. Can't they even spring for tea? Water? Those things are cheaper than coffee is... especially once you add up the cost for cream/sugar added to the coffee.

What a stupid hotel.

What an insult.

Cymro

If anyone from the hotel is reading this and thinks that the golds in question above are whiny, over-entitled elites... by all means think that, but those who are posting it might be more forthright in giving an opinion but *many* golds who learn about this or experience this first hand will either be cancelling bookings or vowing never to return.

Do they really want guests to leave the property with a bad taste in their mouth? (And I'm not talking about the coffeee!) And if so, what do they think it's doing to their marketing costs and occupancy rates?

arlflyer

Probably nothing, considering the property is asking $300-450 over the next week on days when it's not sold out, of which there are a couple. This is higher than what the Union Square or Financial District properties are asking over those days, and they're still selling rooms.

And therein lies the problem...the economy is up, business travel is up, big cities are popular, and people aren't spending their own money. We can scream into the wind all we want about how we'd like better benefits, but the properties simply aren't seeing it hurt their bottom lines.

Come next recession, of course, they'll be rolling out a fine spread and begging us to stay.

Kacee

I take it you've never stayed at the HHV

IMO this is no worse than giving you a $10 Starbucks voucher and calling that "breakfast."

There's a reason I'm not making any effort to renew HH Diamond.

jamesteroh

I haven't stayed there since they closed the lounge, but some diamond's from my office stayed at the Chicago Hilton and were given a voucher for only $15 and LAX Hilton lounge is so overcrowded (they won't give diamonds a restaurant voucher if there are no seats in the lounge like some Hiltons) that if I have an early morning flight I'll just head over to LAX early and eat restaurant in the skyclub because it's better quality. Doubletree French Quarter now only gives diamonds a voucher that is only for like $10 at the coffee kiosk downstairs or a food credit.

When I was gold year's ago the breakfast benefits were sometimes better then they were as a diamond now but Hilton didn't hand out status like candy.

As freely as Hilton hands out gold in the US, I don't think their restaurant would have enough seating for all the gold's and diamonds at breakfast. Instead of cutting benefits like this and punishing the people that stay at Hilton's they need to stop giving out that high of status with a credit card.

And the breakfast benefit has declined at Parc 55 for Diamonds as well. They used to provide the full buffet to diamonds for free or the server would waive the charge (which I think all Hilton's should do since their competition offers a full breakfast if their is no lounge) and the last couple stays I was told there was an upcharge.

Kacee

This is undoubtedly a big part of the problem. And I say that as someone who has benefited from CC status and the Diamond match.

Hilton's apparently made the deliberate decision to trade numbers for quality. Which is kind of the position they've carved out in the US market with their properties as well.

Duke787

Agree - sadly I'm stuck here in a couple weeks at an absurd price (thankfully business travel so not out of my own pocket) because everywhere else was booked up when I made my reservation.

They can get away with this nonsense because the hotel market in SF is as absurd as the housing market. Until businesses stop holding conferences and events in SF, the mega-chain hotels will keep it up (especially since most people who attend those things aren't paying out of pocket but are on OPM and can either get breakfast for free at the conference or expense it out if they want more than what is being offered at the hotel for free).

In my case I'm just thankful that I got into a chain hotel so I can at least earn some points on my stay instead of ending up in some non-chain hotel.

jamesteroh

With the number of gold's they have now I wouldn't be surprised if Hilton stops giving Gold's free breakfast in the next couple years seeing the status you get with the competitions credit doesn't give breakfast (unless you are talking about a $400 a year credit card like the Ritz Carlton card) or they start requiring a $20K spend a year with credit card spend for gold like the Surpass used to do before the Reserve credit card came out seeing Am Ex will have no competition on January 1.

Sad thing is the people that spend over 30 nights a year with Hilton are the ones to suffer.

And I'm going to join the credit card diamonds in 2018. I'm so fed up with the poor upgrades and diamond breakfast and no late checkout (the late check out is the thing that really ticks me off) that there's no reason to stay loyal to Hilton if I can get the status with credit card spend. The breakfast benefit as a Hyatt diamond is a lot better and I love the 4 p.m. checkout but they don't have the properties Hilton has and I get a 4 p.m. checkout and better upgrades at some SPG than I do Hilton with the Delta crossover program.

The one thing Hilton has going for it is all their locations in the US which is why I don't understand why they make getting status so easy when it's pretty easy to achieve through stays with all the US locations they have.

Which is one thing the Parc 55 has going for it. PERFECT location. You take the escalator up off the bart/muni stop from the airport and you literally across the street

Fredd

We've watched benefits change one way or the other over the course of many stays at the SEA Hilton and DT over the years, going from full buffet to "grab and go" at the coffee bar to a $10 credit and back again. It's hard to keep track of what we'll get unless somebody has posted recently.

We really enjoyed two stays this year at Parc 55 as a Diamond household. Both times we've had grandchildren with us, and the hotel provided continental buffet certs for all of us, along with assigning us to pleasant rooms with good views on upper floors. The continental buffet was quite an adequate spread and we felt no need to upgrade.

If and when we drop to CC Gold after 2018, we'll be sure not to return to avoid being disillusioned.

^ And a short walk from a cable car terminus, with the F tram running to the waterfront just across the street. Really good for tourists.

jamesteroh

Location, location, location.

I've actually been treated pretty good at the Parc 55 as far as upgrades, etc go (iritates me they won't give me a 4 p.m. checkout and are charging diamonds $10 to upgrade breakfast though).

I've been treated really well as a diamond at the Hyatt union square and last time I stayed there they had Amazon gift cards one of the choices for the welcome gift.

I have a stay in SF tomorrow through Sunday and for some reason the Hilton Union Square was a LOT cheaper than Parc 55 or the Hyatt so they are getting this stay. I think the Parc 55 is a lot nicer hotel than the Union Square.

Portolan

We'll be staying one night pre-cruise at the Parc 55 next May and this thread doesn't dissuade me because it's location, location, location. My expectations as a Gold and formerly a Diamond for many years is so low for domestic perks (other than full breakfast at HGI) that they can only be exceeded. We do, however, travel quite a bit overseas and even as a Gold we've almost always been upgraded and given lounge access where that can be a very good thing.