The W Hotel (San Francisco, California, USA)

I have wanted to stay at this place when it opened a few years back, but I was living in San Francisco at the time; and although it was not uncommon for anybody to stay in a hotel in a city where they lived, it was difficult to get a reservation because the hotel became really popular, not only with the younger crowd, but also with the attendees of the nearby Moscone Convention Center.

Having had my first ever W experience in Seattle only a week or so before, I was curious to see how this San Francisco branch would compare to its Seattle counterpart. W succeeded in creating similar ambients in at least these two locations: each having a dimly-lit lobby area with minimalist décor and a thumping beat of house music that got louder as the day gave way to the evening. The music did not stop there: at each floor in the elevator waiting area, house music kept on thumping. I was afraid that from my room, which unfortunately was not too far from that elevator area, I would be able to hear that noise, but luckily, I could not.

The room had a familiarity to it since I just stayed in the Seattle one: dark wood head-board, brown comforter cover, but this time with four elongated, slender pillows, the shape of which I had never seen before (and I have seen quite many different permutations of a pillow). Even the adjustable bed-lights and the twin lamps by the window seats were exactly how one would find them in the Seattle location. The only difference was the blind: this location used a "window-like" blind where you could actually open inward to reveal the view. The Seattle location used a top-bottom white, wooden draw blind.

So, let's get down to the nitty-gritty of this place. Much of my disappointment with this hotel came from the inconsistency of the housekeeping services. For this trip, I stayed long enough to observe the working habit from day to day. Regardless of who cleaned the room, there should be a check-list of what needed to be done every day. For example, there was only one day when the melted ice in the ice-bin was thrown away. At other times, I came home to find a bin with tepid water from last night's melted ice. There was also the stocking of towels, or lack thereof: twice I looked and found that the two missing bath towels were never replaced. Sure, there were still the other two, but at least even them out by moving one towel to the other stack. It was in such details that this San Francisco W housekeeping lacked.

For a hotel that strove to present itself as hip, the chain should have employed the use of flat screen or plasma televisions. Instead, in both of the locations where I have stayed, cathode-ray tubes were mounted on a pivotable-platform and enshrined in an entertainment center that could be closed up. How quaint!

There was a 24-hour gym, which worked great for late night sleeper like I was. There were about 5 or 6 treadmills and some Nautilus machines. Swimming pool was small and shallow, not that great for lap swimming. Pool was indoor, but directly adjacent to this area was an open-air area with private cabanas.

On the way to the gym one would pass by the in-house Spa with their trademark aquamarine palette (the walls, the uniforms, their products...). I went for the manicure pedicure, which facility lay directly next to the check-in area: noisy. One could don a head-set and listen to soothing music or tune to the selected videos or television programs. Treatment was not up to par. Even a chic salon (called Glow) in Surabaya (Indonesia) delivered a much better service and treatment in this department. I kid you not!

Overall, it was a pleasant stay. Personally, I felt slightly a bit too old for this crowd. W probably scores better among the 35 and under. Every night when I returned to the hotel, I had to fight my way through the dark lobby reverberating with house music and filled with the young crowd. Some nights I would hear noises coming from the hallway; noises that reminded me of drunken hallmates coming back from frat parties during my college days.


The W Hotel San Francisco
181 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
U.S.A.

Tel: (415) 777-5300

Grand Hyatt San Francisco (California, USA)

Location, location, location: this Hyatt is one of a few number of hotels located directly within a block of the heart of downtown San Francisco, the Union Square. Unlike the Westin nearby, Hyatt's entry is from the Stockton Street side, not from the Square (Post St.) side. To avoid the valet overcharges, there is the Sutter/Stockton Garage located conveniently, diagonally across the street.

The hotel could use some updates in the lobby, which always seems to be on the dark side. As any other Hyatt hotels, the Grand Club level (akin to the Regency Club level) allows you to have a separate breakfast area in the designated Club Floor. Breakfast up there is standard fare of juices, bagels and toasts, cold cuts, fruits and yogurts, coffee and tea, and a good supply of newspapers. If you get a window seat, you will consume breakfast with a nice view of the city.

On higher floors, silence envelopes your surrounding. You have the vista of this beautiful city in front of you and the vibrant Union Square beneath you but without all the cacophony of downtown noises. After ten or eleven at night, the City goes to sleep anyway, not like New York and Tokyo that stay up late and party on (not that there is anything wrong with that.)

Hyatt's almost square-like building makes the corridor within much shorter than a typical hotel, which can be a nice feature, eliminating the need of trotting a long way from the elevator to your room. The Hong Kong Ritz Carlton has a similar feature. It works for me.


Grand Hyatt San Francisco
345 Stockton Street,
San Francisco, California, USA
Tel: 415 398 1234 Fax: 415 391 1780

Mark Hopkins (San Francisco, USA)

Mark Hopkins Room 1238
Originally uploaded by bloompy.

During my recent stay at the Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental Hotel in San Francisco, I asked to be moved from a room near the elevator to another room elsewhere in the floor. They gave me a room at one end of the hallway, right next to the emergency stairwell. When I entered room 1238, I was more than happy to accept this new assignment.

Upon entering, one will find a foyer or a mini hallway. With the door wide open, no one standing at the door could see the bed, desk, bathroom, and windows: privacy is guaranteed. At the end of that foyer, one will come into a room that has three windows: two windows in the bedroom area and one window in the bathroom. This is the beauty of the room: a source of natural light from the big window in the bathroom that allows one to have a wonderful view of the outside, day and night! The only flaw the bathroom had was the noisy toilet flush (in both rooms the flush caused a horrible noise).

The location (at the corner of California and Mason Streets) is only 5-6 blocks away from the Union Square, the heart of downtown San Francisco, and the city being a walking city, it is not a bad distance at all, except that it includes some of the steeper hills of San Francisco.

The room service leaves much to be desired: the California cuisine the City is known for does not seem to reach anywhere close to the vicinity of the hotel's kitchen. The lobby level restaurant is, I hope, in the middle of a renovation; otherwise, what I saw was a poor layout and a bad interior design.

The internet was not too reliable. In both rooms, at times I had to re-sign-in, causing double or triple billing (which the reception desk staff kindly took off once he knew what had been going on). According to him, the current internet system was just installed a couple of weeks before (my stay started on March 16, 2005).

Mark Hopkins was once a luxurious hotel. My parents stayed there decades ago, but not I. As a result, I do not know whether the Inter-Continental chain had improved it or bring it down a notch. Overall, I enjoyed my stay there, but if you want to run errands in the Union Square area and want to be at the utmost convenience, get a hotel right there (the Grand Hyatt, the Westin St. Francis, the Triton hotel, the Campton Place, etc.)


Intercontinental Mark Hopkins Hotel San Francisco
Number One Nob Hill
999 California Street
San Francisco
California 94108
USA
Tel: (415) 392-3434
Fax: (415) 421-3302