venk

Sorry for the confusion. Those were two separate comments. One for PL stays and one for upgrades on paid/award stays.

doug 2205

I ALWAYS request an upgrade,even if I have no status.
Often I get one, I assume because the hotel would rather put it's customers in a nicer room, and leave the least desirable ones empty, unless they're fully booked.

bigjim

I agree that it doesn't hurt to ask; HOWEVER, for a customer with no status on a very low rate, I don't think that the hotel is doing itself any favors by giving out its best remaining rooms. #1, any walk-ins would be paying a higher rate for the nicer rooms, #2, those walk-ins would be entitled to the nicer room since they are actually paying for it. Congrats on getting a nicer room - I would probably offer you an upgrade if I were responsible for revenue management and give you a nice surcharge for it as well.

My concern is that there appeared to possibly be a sense of entitlement to an upgrade if one has status, even on a priceline stay and that has been beat to death already.

spellbound2

We will stay here for Valentine's Day, and I hope we don't get a windowless room since I don't find that romantic!! We are hoping for a Platinum upgrade, but who knows... I'll report after our stay. Has anyone been to Michael Mina in the hotel? Are the rooms redone? We stayed here years ago and the only reason we haven't tried it again was the rooms. They said they were recently redone, so we are trying it again since I like the location on Union Square.

kluau88

Haven't been to Michael Mina yet, but everything I've read is positive. Even after being forced to close due to the hotel labor dispute, since it's reopened Michael Mina doesn't seem to have lost a step. I hope you already have reservations

seadan

I ate at Michael Mina last time I stayed at the St. Francis. Managed to get walk-up reservations that day--they must've had a last minute cancellation. Service was great, ambiance was great, food was great. I didn't quite know what to expect, so the menu caught me a little off guard, but the presentation is fantastic. Every item is prepared 3 ways, and each dish has 3 corresponding sections. The portions look really small, but it ends up being a lot of food because you have essentially 3 items in each course

lesteryen

I stayed at the Westin St. Francis in the past weekend (March 11-13). I booked a Heavenly Weekend package, which included Standard Room accommodation, American buffet breakfast, daily newspaper and late check-out at 4pm.

I really find the Westin St. Francis to be centrally located, however, I am not satisfied with the service that it has provided during my stay. As a Starwood Preferred Gold Member, I queued at the Starwood Preferred Guest Line for check-in. There was a family checking in at the SPG counter and the receptionist responsible for the SPG members was busy helping them check in. Me and a bunch of SPG members stood on the line, but the other receptionists did not notice our presence and continue helping other normal non-SPG members check in. They should have let us jumped the queue and get our room as soon as possible.

Finally, the family in front of me finished checking in and it's my turn to check in. I have requested a month ago and phoned the hotel several times stating my request to have a room at the Tower Wing. The receptionist told me that the hotel was fully booked and she could only upgrade me to a larger room at the Main Building with 2 double beds. My room was on the fifth floor of the Main Building and got some street views. It was pretty big in size and I found the bathroom to be pretty good. The Westin Heavenly Bed was very comfortable and I slept very well for the 2 nights at the Westin St. Francis.

I have expected to have newspaper delivered every morning as this was included in the Heavenly Weekend package, however, there was no newspaper delivered during my whole stay. Therefore, I called up the Housekeeping and then they sent someone deliver a newspaper for me.

The American breakfast buffet at the Oak Room was lousy. This is a Westin hotel and the buffet breakfast had very limited choices of food. I think they should definitely improve the breakfast as it is definitely not up to the Westin standards.

I checked out on March 13 and again, I queued at the SPG member line and waited for a long time before a receptionist approached me. I have asked her for the comment card and wrote all the problems that I have encountered during my stay.

In conclusion, I think the hotel has an excellent location, but the service and the breakfast need to be greatly improved.

Eastbay1K

I agree with the check-in situation. They have one dedicated SPG person, and sometimes a second one comes to help at the next desk. If anyone has any sort of "issue", a crisis arises. On my last stay, check-in took quite some time, and I was third in line. (10 to 15 minutes)

This hotel's 2 main plusses are its location and its beds. The views from the right rooms are really good, too. I'll be back this weekend, eating at Michael Mina.

lesteryen

I will be staying at the Westin Copley Place starting tomorrow for 2 nights on an award stay (March 16-18). I have already used 3000 points for upgrading my room to a Junior Suite (as 3 of us will be going), do you think there will be any chances to be upgraded to a better room as I am a SPG Gold Member? Thanks.

I will post a report on Westin Copley Place after coming back this Friday.

sbtinme

Never hurts to ask, but I can tell you that this hotel has PRECIOUS FEW real suites. Plenty of junior suites, most all of them with great views of both the Charles River (Cambridge) and of Copley Square/DT. I love those rooms.

Just don't be disappointed if you don't score a full suite. They're as scarce as hens' teeth.

FWIW, this hotel does a consistently good job and the location is supreme. Hope your experience is a good one.

wth

As they say, YMMY.

I'm sorry to hear of your frustrations at the St. Francis. I just experienced my first stay at the St. Francis this weekend on a two-night weekend certificate stay and had a very different experience.

First, I found the SPG line to be very helpful. Importantly, they actually man it, which is more than I can say for 95% of the Starwoods (or Hiltons, for that matter -- yeah, yeah, I'm thinking HHonors check-in) properties at which I have stayed. Check-in was quick and efficient and faster than the regular line.

As a Plat. member I was upgraded from the basic award room (one double bed in original or Main hotel -- 175-200 sq. ft.) to a spacious king room on 24th floor of the tower with a nice east bay view.

Two things really impressed me at this property. First, the level of service and attention to the customer was consistently high -- from the front desk, bellman, room service, etc. Everyone was courteous, professional and extremely helpful. I'm tired of hotels where the staff can smile and be friendly, but they can't even assist you with the basics.

Second was room service. This is an area that disappoints and frustrates so many times. However, every time I called they promised delivery w/i 25 minutes (and it was a busy weekend). And, every single time, they beat that promise by 5-10 minutes. And the order takers were knowledgable. I mentioned the name of a wine and they immediately knew it was a sauvignon blanc. At many hotels, the room service people don't know an SB from a cabernet sauvignon ( I lost count how many time I order SB and get a red!).

And for the final room service triumph! The last morning, I decided to go down to the Oak Room for breakfast. There was a long line, so I decide to grab a Chronicle and go back to my room and order room service. I decided to order eggs benedict. Now, usually, I never order EB in my room because, by the time the server brings the order to the room under cover, the yolks continue to cook and harden. However, given my positive previous experience, I decided to put them to the test. And they delivered with flying colors! The yolks remained runny. And they served the hollandaise on the side. Nice touch.

In fairness, my room upgrade is probably the difference between Plat. and Gold (esp. on a busy weekend), but the service angle is not. And, if they promised a paper as part of the package, it should've been delivered. As a Plat., I didn't receive a paper -- even though some Westins do offer a Sunday paper (e.g. Portland, OR). And, if the buffet was not satisfying, they should have allowed you to to credit that vaue against any item on the menu.

All in all, the St. Francis has my attention and will be seriously considered for all future SF trips.

ConsultantFlyer

Just checked into the St. Francis for one night and will definitely be filing with Hotel Customer Service in the morning. Booked a Grandview Deluxe non-smoking room in the Tower, and was given a wheelchair accessible room on a smoking floor. Front desk clerk, while pleasant was very insistent there were no rooms in the reserved category on non-smoking floors, no upgrades available, and kept repeating "For next time be sure to call ahead so we can block the room type for you (...) are you sure it's a handicapped room because we're sold out?". Between having the only door bell in the wing, strobe lights in the room labelled "Door/Fire alaram", plethora of grab-bars in the bathroom, and hand-held shower (guess they don't make these with the Heavenly double-heads)....I'm pretty certain.

Platinum desk showed availability of other rooms in the same category, and I also saw suites on the screen as the clerk first did a general search for rooms, then tried to cancel out quickly and restrict the search to a more limited criteria. Since it's almost midnight and I have the makings of a gruelling day tomorrow, I wasn't going to push the issue.

prncess674

The Westin St. Francis is a HUGE hotel stuck in the middle of a tourist area. I try to avoid this hotel if at all possible. My hotel of choice in SFO is the W. It has a much more intimate feel. The front desk staff remember my name (but that could be the fact that I checked in every Monday for 6 months ). The good thing about the W is even if given a standard room I was happy which if staying at the Westin St. Francis a "regular" room was not to my standards. I realize the W concept is not to everyone's liking and the area may not appeal to some but I just can't stand the busy area that the Westin is located.

rhetor

Have they cleaned the windows? Really disgusting (not dirty -- filthy). Given that the view is supposed to be a selling point, I found this incomprehensible (we asked to see other rooms--all were filthy).

peter11

I have stayed at the St. Francis on a number of occasions. The location is great for shopping. However, it is a very busy and congested area of the city. The hotel has far too many rooms for the amount of public space it has. Therefore, the restaurants, lounge, front desk, room service etc, seem to always be overwhelmed when I have stayed there. The reason to stay here, however, is for the views from the tower building. The staf genuinely tries to give great service. However I have learned not to expect flawless service. With nearly 1200 rooms they just cant do it. I will stay here again though because of its location and views.