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dpb132

I respectfully disagree with your disagreement. I and others have noted rooms and public spaces in need of renovation, as well as poor service in the restaurant and lounge. Yes, the views are great from the lounge, but that's assuming you can even get a seat during breakfast (I had to wait in the hallway for access!). Plus they play games with awards and upgrades per several other reviewer experiences. Now a resort fee? Thanks but no thanks.

Kacee

I'm no fan of this property, but the product itself is certainly competitive. In the immediate vicinity, you have Marriott Union Square, Westin St. Francis, Hilton Parc 55, JW, and Hilton Union Square. All decidedly mediocre properties. SF is just overall a really crappy hotel city.

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Pickles

Yes, very competitive price points. This is for a Thursday in September.

skj

What are the rates for nearby properties for the same date ? I suspect they are similarly outrageous … In the fall, San Francisco is host to some huge events, like salesforce.com's Dreamforce and Oracle's OpenWorld. The events bring 10's of thousands of attendees to the SF bay area and the host companies block rooms at just about every hotel from San Mateo to Santa Rosa.

Kacee

You mean during Dreamforce?

Exactly.

Pickles

I don't care if it's the Messiah that's coming or the Dreamforce from outer space, whatever that is. If that's the going rate, why not stay at the St. Regis or the FS instead?

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Kacee

Maybe because the "going rate" is hundreds of dollars higher at those properties for the same dates?

Pickles

Maybe, but I wouldn't be so sure. Besides, at that point, if you're going to pay those kinds of rates, might as well get some value covered. Let's say that the "fair" rate of the GH San Francisco is $200, and the one at the St. Regis is $400. If the GH is $1,200 and the St. Regis is $1,400, which of the two is more guilty of price gouging? The 6x price scalper, or the 3x scalper?

platbrownguy

The flaw in your argument (or a flaw, I should say) is that you presume that the "fair" price is the lowest-occupancy rate (indeed, the StR SF is going for $355 on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve). That rates are higher when demand is higher is a feature of the system, not a bug.

Pickles

Sure, the "fair" rate at any point is whatever the market will bear. But a good baseline to determine the value (not the price) of such a good is to see what the lowest price is, that is, the price at which it won't go below. That price ratio is probably a good indicator of relative value. So, for example, the GH can be regularly be found at $200 during weekends and other low periods (e.g. Christmas Eve), while the St. Regis doesn't go much below $400 or so even in those periods. So that's the baseline value comparison between the two hotels, and sounds about right. All-in the St. Regis is probably "twice" as good a hotel as the GH.

So when market demand spikes (during a show or conference), prices of course rise, but if you're going to pay a multiple of fair value, you want to leave as little as possible surplus to the seller. In this case, the GH is charging you 6x the fair value (i.e. think of it as it "selling" you 1 room for the true value of six), while the St. Regis is only "selling" you 1 room for the value of 3. The dollar differential may be the same ($1,000), but those $1,000 of surplus captured by the hotelier are much more profitable to the GH than to the St. Regis given their baseline fixed costs (which determine the value price at the lowest point). Makes sense?

Kacee

No. They charge what they can. That's how the market works.

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