SkiAdcock

Isn't there an Avis place in downtown SF? Drop the car off there if there is one (and there's no drop-off fee).

Cheers.

apodo77

I travel to the East Bay for work regularly (Safeway is a customer) and I much prefer the San Ramon Marriott to the Pleasanton Marriott. Better lounge, friendlier staff, better location. If you can get a comparable rate I would suggest moving.

Also I saw you mentioned the Walnut Creek Marriott above. I would never stay there personally. Not a good hotel at all in my experience.

As far as your rental car you need to drive to downtown by 1pm or so or traffic will be miserable. Here is a dropoff location in downtown you should be able to use and not far to your hotel:

Union Square, San Francisco, SF1
675 Post St (between Jones & Taylor)
Union Square
San Francisco CA 94109 ,
U S A
(1) 415-929-2555
Location Code: SF1 Operating Hours:
Sun 6:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Mon - Thu 6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Fri - Sat 6:00 AM - 6:30 PM

arizonawildcat

Thanks apodo77. That was incredibly helpful. I will take your suggestion as well and switch to the San Ramon Marriott. I really appreciate it!

apodo77

Hope you enjoy it. I have never had a bad experience there and been going there for 9 years.

Stayed at the Pleasanton one a few times and it is an old Crown Plaza or something that has been renovated into a Marriott. And although a nice reno you can tell it was a lesser brand at one time. A room right on the freeway can get real noisy also.

If you workout on the road the San Ramon Marriott has one of the better fitness centers around.

Target and Whole Foods are walking distance from the hotel as well. Great bagel shop in the strip center also.

Armani

Have you ever stayed at the Renaissance Walnut Creek? We plan a vacation there next year for a few days and would appreciate hearing people's experiences.

apodo77

I have stayed there many times and is my other hotel I stay at in the east bay. It is on the older side (built in 2002 and no reno to date on rooms) but has been meticulously maintained. would recommend to stay there. Not sure if kids are with you or not but the on site restaurant is kind of eclectic in my opinion and not a big fan.

One of the best category 4 hotels around if you have certs or using points.

Just curious why you are staying in the Walnut Creek area though? Great downtown area but not an area I would consider as a vacation destination and is far from San Francisco and a long BART ride to boot.

If you like to workout you have full access to the Club Sport gym attached to the hotel

Armani

Thanks for the helpful information. We lived in the area several years ago, and plan to use it as a base. We probably will only spend 1-2 days in SF and will use BART, and will likely spend 1 day in Napa. Having access to the Club Sport gym is also a factor because I can better enjoy the great food and wine in the area if I work out. The category 4 classification also saves a lot of points, and the hotel provides free breakfast to platinums on weekdays.

arizonawildcat

Wow...how about this luck? I just booked a room for one night at the Marriott Marquis and it included free valet parking for a single night. Great single night rate too. Guess I won't have to worry about taking the car back after all and just just pay the extra day and drive it back to OAK on Saturday morning to return it prior to my flight. Booyah!

apodo77

Love the Club Sport and hard to beat for the workout enthusiasts.

If you are eating dinner at McCovey's one night consider me jealous. Not the best food around but always had good food and great ambience.

charms81

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FTers who have been to both, which one is better? Tripadvisor gives Renaissance a higher rank, but its ranking is someone geared towards value vs price paid. Assuming prices are the same, which one do you like?

OT: The Fairmont on Mason St is excellent as well, but its loyalty program doesn't earn me much because of limited presence.

NJUPINTHEAIR

There are many threads on each of these hotels and a search can easily provide you with responses.

In addition, there is no JW at SFO -- SFO is an airport; SF is shorthand for San Francisco.

Moderator -- please consolidate somewhere.

CJKatl

All things equal, I prefer the JW, but mine is the most recent TripAdvisor positive reveiw for the Ren Stanford Court.

Ren Disadvantages: The rooms are a little noisy, being on the cable car line, unless you get a room looking into the middle court, which means you see other rooms. It's on top of the hill, which means no matter what you do in SF, you will have to walk to the top of the very, very steep hill at the end of the day. Speaking of the hill, you can take BART from the airport and walk to the JW with luggage. While I regularly walk TO the train from the Ren, walking FROM the train is difficult. An UG is still a small room.

JW Advantages: They UG to sweet suites. The bathrooms are very nice. Very large, nice CL. (The Ren CL is nice, but not as big.) Quieter rooms.

Ren Advantages: Better views. Cool bar.

VickiSoCal

On the Stanford Court- you can take the cable car(all three lines) to/from its doorstep, but when it is busy, chances are cable cars will be full when they pass by and you may have to wait for many or not get one at all.

charms81

Thank you for the detailed info! This is of great help to me, I'll go with JW since I know going up Nob Hill is a pain and since I'm not renting a car (valet is $63) and I need ot go to/from hotel multiple times, I'm better off with JW.

charms81

The tram during busy hours going up Nob hill is always full... I've seen that from visitors point of view. So I'm going with JW. Thanks for the feedback though.