SFO Hotels
 

My girlfriend and I are visiting SFO for the first time and need a hotel booking on 4 April for 5 nights. We currently have a booking (which we can cancel without penalty) for the Clift Hotel but I subsequently read some bad reviews on Trip Advisor. Can anyone comment on the Clift? What else would you recommend in that price range (max $300/night for a double)?

We also stay one night on 14 April and I've booked the Mandarin Oriental - good for a splurge, I hope?

Thanks!

Lots of threads on SF hotel recommendations and travel tips. Skim back through the threads in this forum. Unless a huge conference is in town, I would think you would have lots of choices of good hotels within your budget. www.quikbook.com is often a good place to look. For a less well-known chain, check out http://www.jdvhospitality.com. I have not stayed in their hotels in SF itself, but I have stayed at others in the area and had generally excellent experiences.

(Disregard the following as I was confusing Clift with Cliff): Clift Hotel is on the far western part of the city, and can be a long bus ride to typical places where first timers want to go. The broad area around the intersection of California and Powell would be a much more central location.

Clift vs. others
 

The Clift is a cool looking hotel, but we have experienced major attitude from staff there.

In all honesty, one of my faves in SF is the Four Seasons. It's lovely, albeit not as funky as the Clift, and the service is EXCELLENT. The Campton Place is also very nice, and you can find good internet rates at times on their website. Good location too, right on Union Square. I also like the Mandarin Oriental.

If you are looking for something a little more hip, you can try the W San Francisco. I've put lots of friends and relatives up there, and with good results. You'll find a rate within the price range you specified.

One last pitch. The Nob Hill Spa at the Huntington Hotel is to die for. Super service in a feng shui setting. http://www.huntingtonhotel.com/nob_h...b_hill_spa.cfm

First link is incorrect. It should be www.quikbook.com . (Hint: you might want to use the Preview Post feature to check your links before posting.)

ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY INCORRECT!!! The Clift Hotel is at Geary and Taylor, just two blocks from Union Square, and very, very central. (Perhaps you were confusing the Clift Hotel with another landmark, the Cliff House, which IS on the western edge of the city, on the Pacific Ocean. However, the Cliff House is a restaurant, NOT a hotel.)

Kathy is absolutely correct in describing the location of the Clift. It's a perfect venue for walking to the "must sees" of The City. Stayed there several years ago and it was fantastic in all respects! ^

The Clift is an Ian Schrager-Phillipe Starck re-do of a classic San Frnacisco hotel which was one of the city's finest from the 1920s. It was especially renowned for its majestic Redwood Room, decorated with large prints by Gustav Klimt. The man who owned the Clift was nototious in the latter '60s and 70's for banning men with long hair from the Redwood Room. In the '80s it was taken over and upgraded by Four Seasons, who operated it until they gave up management in order to open their new-construction hotel on Market Street.

The location is perfect if you're going to see theatre, as the Curran and Geary theatres are essentially next door, in the same block. Union Square is just another block further down Geary Street.

Close to your price range, another alternative to consider is the Omni, which is at the corner of California and Mongomery Streets (and just a block or so down from the MO). While not in the very middle of the shopping/theatre area, it is just a few blocks away, and it is also an easy walk to Chinatown, North Beach. Nice rooms, excellent, personalized service. Good seafood restaurants (Tadich Grill - historical, and Aqua - modern) are just another block down California St.



For your night at the MO, consider getting one of the "two-bridge" rooms, with views of both the Golden Gate and bay Bridges , or alternatively, one of the Bay Bridge view rooms with a glassed in soaking tub :)

The Four Season is fantastic, I attribute much credit to the fantasic management team they have; of Starwood I'd recommend the W Hotel or the Westin St. Francis, or the St. Regis - Stay FAR FAR away from the Palace Hotel.

-Vincent

Actually the Palace is excellent and one of the 10 best hotels in the US; but not to everyone's taste. It was built post-gold rush to be the most expensive and opulent hotel in the world, hence the gorgeous Tiffany ceiling in their lobby restaurant (this space was originally the courtyard entrance to the hotel). Renovated in the 1980s by Japanese owners at a huge cost (something over $100 million), it has the best swimming pool and the best Japanese restaurant in SF. Some of the rooms are lavish, others are much worse (these old hotels believed in a social hierarchy and room size was related to status, unlike modern hotels where rooms are mostly alike). This explains the wide diversity of opinion about the Palace.

The 2 best hotels in SF are the Palace and the Clift; next are the Ritz Carlton if you stay on their club level, and the Park Hyatt. W is also quite good. Finally if you want a quiet hotel with great service, try the Pan Pacific, it over-achieves.