Hotel Options
 

Hi,

I need to ask a few questions regarding these hotels..

1. JW Marriott 500 Post Street
2. Grand Hyatt 345 Stocton Street
3. Westin St. Francis 335 Powell Street

I'm looking for a hotel that's going to cost me around 300-400/2 nights, and I'm looking for service, amenities, rooms, quality, and best run for the money..

Thanks!

An additional hotel option is:

4. Intercontinental Hotel 888 Howard Street

sounds like a refrain but...
 

what are your interest? Will you have a car? Traveling alone??? Want points? The IC is nowhere near the other ones if that's an issue.

And you want to spend no more than $200 a night if I read this correctly??

I am partial to the Westin St Francis but I suspect the IC will have a bit more well appointed rooms. But it's not in Union Sq ...

I won't.. I'll be using taxis or other services.. And I'm travelling alone. I'm also looking for points, and near the center of the city.. Yes, that does say around 200 a night..

Forget the Marriott - it's a big convention hotel.

I've stayed at the Westin and Hyatt about an equal number of times. I personally like the Westin a little better but if you stay there, be sure to get a room in the new Tower. The rooms in the old building can be a bit depressing.

We usually shoot for the Omni for their superior service, and recently had a great stay at Westin Market Street. Liked it better than the St. Francis.

They have this Grand Deluxe room in the tower, but I'm not quite sure... They've also got some nice rooms at the hyatt..

The Marriott, I'm still divided between the Larger Studio, or Club level guest room..

I'm sure there are special rooms at the Grand Hyatt, however, I really recommend you stay elsewhere. At $110 on Priceline for an admittedly low-level room, the place was .. boring. But I wasn't enchanted with the Mark Hopkins either.

How do you feel about places like Hotel Monaco? Or the Palomar?

Are you sure you're not mixing up the JW Marriott with the San Francisco Marriott? The JW has only 320 rooms, while the SF Marriott (which is much closer to the Moscone Convention Center) has 1500 rooms.

All three hotels originally mentioned are within two blocks of each other, either facing or within a block of Union Square.

The JW (originally built in the later 1980s as The Portman Hotel and later the Pan-Pacific Hotel) is much more upscale than the other two (and therefore the more expensive). John Portman designed and built it as the flagship of a proposed chain of upscale hotels (which never took off), which explains the larger-than-normal room sizes.

The Grand Hyatt (opened in the mid-1970s as the Hyatt on Union Square, on the site of the historic Plaza Hotel) is a typical 4-star establishment - upper floors have decent-to-good views (especiallt those facing southward).

The St. Francis is the historic member of the group. It was built in 1904, and was completely rebuilt after being gutted in the 1906 earthquake-fire. The tower was added in the early 1970s. As noted above, the rooms in the historic building vary greatly, while the tower rooms (some with good east-facing views) are more uniform.

I think the bigger problem at these hotels will be to get a room at $200 a night other than through Priceline (which means you get the worst room)!

I was assuming that the OP either has access to negotiated rates, or is visiting on a non-convention weekend.

So, here are the room options:

1. JW Marriott: Larger Studio Room or Club Level Guest Room with lounge access

2. Westin St. Francis: Grand Deluxe Room or Junior Suite Room

3. Grand Hyatt: King Guest Room/ Regency Club Room

4. Intercontinental: King Executive/Executive Room/Junior Executive Room

The dates of departure is Nov 21/Nov 23