Kacee

Don't book the Marquis or JW for the breakfast - you'll get a standard US lounge breakfast (except at the JW on Sunday, where you will get nothing). Not exactly honeymoon material. The St. Regis or W would be a better choice if breakfast is a key consideration.

hi55us

Will be there on 2 weekdays, so the quality of the lounge would also be another factor.

CalVol

My wife and I are looking at spending 3-4 nights in June. Between Courtyard, Marriott and Sheraton at Fisherman's Wharf, what is the collective wisdom as to the best place to stay?

Thanks!

TechnoTourist

The Sheraton at Fisherman's Wharf was undergoing renovations when I was there last year. It should be done by now, but worth checking. It was a bit dated looking when I was there.

I like the San Francisco Marriott at Union Square as it's closer to Moscone for conferences as opposed to being at Fisherman's Wharf for the tourist activities.

I have not stayed at either of the Courtyards.

acrophobia

Eujeanie

Are you asking about just the FW locations of these hotels, or citywide? I've stayed at the Sheraton FW ages ago with kids, and the Marriott FW a few years ago just us (older couple now), and both were "fine", nothing special, nothing bad. Sometimes it's fun just to hang out at the wharf. If you go, don't miss the Musee Mechanique, filled with old carnival games, lots of throwback fun.

CalVol

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I'm just looking at FW area. My wife wants to stay there. So, just trying to see if there was a clear winner/loser with those properties

WillBarrett_68

I haven't stayed at the FW Courtyard, but the FW Marriott doesn't have a lounge. Otherwise it's fine, pretty standard.

The sheraton has an "express lounge" which has coffee/tea/sodas/bottled water, and a pretty skimpy breakfast in the morning (hard boiled eggs, yogurt, granola, fruit, bread/pastries). They are pretty generous with the breakfast benefit, I got 4x full buffets for each day.

The Sheraton is being renovated, I was there in ... august? of 2018, and they implied that they would have a "real" lounge after renovations, but not sure how long that will take.

I personally like the Sheraton location more, but it's not a huge difference. Pretty easy walk to the alcatraz ferry, cable cars, etc. and embarcadero streetcars right out the front door. Safeway and trader joe's directly across the street. Tons of great north beach restaurants in walking distance.

Honestly, even when I'm in town for business I like this area. Not for every trip but it's definitely a change of pace from the union square area.

WillBarrett_68

Thanks for bumping this thread, btw, a couple of new properties have shown up on the booking engine

Courtyard at Van Ness and Geary (currently The Opal), opening in June 2019

The courtyard at 2nd and Folsom is being rebranded as "The Clancy" autograph collection. I'm always leery of ACs that are new builds or just reflags of existing Marriott portfolio properties, this says it will be open January 2020.

Both of these properties are described as "downtown."

crimsona

Have a pair of 50K certs to use for a weekend trip, wife has Titanium status so someplace with a hotel breakfast instead of points/closed lounge would be preferred. based on my reading, would it be correct to opt for the Le Meridien or one of the Autographs? Travelling as a family of 3 (with a 4 year old child)

WillBarrett_68

Le Meridien is a nice property, I believe it was originally a Park Hyatt. The financial district location isn't great for leisure trips but it does have the advantage of being very quiet at night. This property is also good with elite upgrades.

I have not been very impressed with the Adagio on the two visits I've had there. It's decent, average even. Location might be a bit better depending on your tolerance for the union square area crowds and tenderloin denizens, but even among the union square-area properties this is the furthest west (and hence, the most tenderloin-ish).

note: I can't speak to breakfast at either as I always take the points and just get coffee out in the city.

HNLbasedFlyer

Van Ness and Geary is definitely not downtown. Further, it isn't a very nice area.

2nd and Folsum is downtown - When I stayed at the Courtyard, they had recently plowed a ton of money into room renovations - and the room was very nice prompting me to think this is way to nice for a Courtyard.

Kacee

I like LM (they are great with suite upgrades) but concur with WillBarrett_68 on location. It is relatively central, but pretty dead on weekends. The W would be my next choice.
That's not downtown. It's south of market.

WillBarrett_68

it's more downtown than van ness/geary!

Kacee

I've been around long enough that "downtown" will always mean Union Square to me, not the financial district, and certainly not SOMA.

It's curious that Marriott would refer to either location as "downtown" since "South of Market" has more cachet these days. Meanwhile, that part of the Van Ness corridor is something of a tweener. Could be polk gulch, could be civic center. If they were selling condos, the realtors would probably call it lower nob hill.