I have to attend a conference in San Francisco in September. The conference hotel is the Parc 55 Hilton at 55 Cyril Magnin Street, and we will be having some sessions at the AMC Metreon theater.
The conference rate for the hotel is $229 plus taxes and fees, so it will total well over $250 a night, over $1,000 for my whole stay. When I travel I usually try to spend less than $100 a night.
I know that SF is famously expensive for everything, but I’m hoping to find something cheaper. The problem is that everything cheaper in the area seems to involve either a dorm/hostel – which is out of the question for me, don’t suggest it – or a tiny room and a shared bathroom. I’m okay with a small room, since I’ll only be sleeping in it. But I’m concerned about the bathroom. I don’t think I’ve shared a hotel bathroom in 20 years, and the idea is not appealing.
I’m not a squeamish germaphobe, but I am concerned about timing. If I have to wait 10-20 minutes or more for another guest to get out of the bathroom, it could seriously upset my schedule. Does anyone have any experience with shared bathrooms in hotels that they can pass on?
Or can you recommend a hotel with private baths that’s relatively close to the Hilton/Metreon and has room rates substantially under $250? I’d like to get there in no more than 15 minutes on foot, or 30 minutes combined walking and public transport. I’ll be carrying a heavy bag each day, so much longer walks are impractical. I may consider using cabs if necessary, but I’d prefer not to.
Airbnb or go on priceline and bid under 100 for something. Priceline lets you pick the basic neighborhood and minimum number of stars, and shows what the average rack rate for that type of hotel is. You can often get stuff for 50% of rack rate, but it may depend on how busy hotels are that weekend.
ETA: whatever amount you bid will have taxes and fees added on top of it, so take that into account.
I’d suck it up and stay at the conference hotel. That’s actually a good deal for that part of the city, and it will save you time - even a 15 minute walk, there and back, can be tiring on a day you’re already giving a lot. There’s also lots of homeless people around, which can make the walk unpleasant or even threatening.
You really get what you pay for. There are cheap options (e.g., The Taylor Hotel) but I wouldn’t, personally.
Isn’t your employer paying your travel expenses? Does the conference have scholarships or reduced rates for students (if that applies to you)? Always worth asking about IME.
Hostels sometimes have rooms with private (ensuite) showers. It looks like the HI Downtown hostel has them for $145 (just punched in some random dates in September) and is literally right across the street from the conference motel. The private rooms are usually kind of ship-cabin-like but you can’t beat that price for that area!
I thought of AirBnb a couple of seconds after posting the OP. I’ll check it out.
Does Priceline tell you whether the rooms have private baths? I checked Hotwire, which is similar to Priceline, and I don’t think Hotwire made that clear. I don’t want to be stuck with an pre-paid, non-refundable room, only to find it’s a shared bathroom.
You’re right about the convenience of course, but it looks like money may be tight then, and I want to try and save as much as possible.
I’m self-employed, and although I have had a nice deal with the conference in previous years, it’s not available this time.
There is no way Priceline or Hotwire would ever have rooms available without private bath in the United States. I’ve used both often. They’d get too much angry feedback as shared bath is extremely rare in the USA outside of hostels or university dorms.
One convention I went to, it turned out our best bet was to get a bunch of people to split a hotel suite. There was only one bathroom in the room, but the hotel lobby had a bathroom with multiple stalls available as well, probably because the pool was right outside and they didn’t want wet people traipsing back to their rooms. That meant that we had a couple of options when it came to using the bathroom, and it was only the shower in the room that we ever had to wait for.
This arrangement brought a $250/night room down to $50/person. And we got the free breakfast too.
I am considering looking for someone to share a room at the conference hotel, but that depends on finding someone I like well enough whose expenses are not being paid by his employer. (I didn’t say “his/her” because I don’t think my wife would be happy with the idea of me sharing a room with a woman, under any circumstances.)
Can anyone else confirm dalej42’s statement that Hotwire and Priceline only offer rooms with private baths? On Kayak, so many of the rooms in the general area were shared baths that I was hesitant to book on Hotwire.
GreasyJack: That hostel does look pretty good. The location is great. The last time I stayed in a hostel was in England in 1976. Does anyone have any experience with modern urban hostels? Are they pleasant? Noisy?
I personally love 'em. I’d way rather have a tiny private room with genuinely useful communal areas than a big hotel room I’m going to barely use. The staff are also usually genuinely helpful and knowledgeable about the area, which is not to be expected with similarly-priced cheap hotels. I’ve stayed at some marginally sketchy ones (though never anywhere I felt unsafe or anything) but the HI ones are usually super nice.
Since they’re pretty much all tourists staying there, they tend to be busy around the morning and evening meal times, but quiet otherwise. I think the major annoyance with them is just trying to compete for the communal areas during busy times, but that’s only really an issue if you’re trying to cook. Some of them avoid the morning rush issues by cooking you breakfast, which IME has actually been quite good.
I was actually kind of surprised that at least the ones I’ve stayed at in this country (mostly in California) have had more families with kids than college-age people, and usually about half Europeans. The HI ones also I think usually don’t allow alcohol (although who’d know in your private room?) which cuts down on potential rowdiness.
Oh, one other thing is I think the prices quoted on the site are for members of HI. I think they charge you an extra $5 or something if you’re not one.
I stayed there in 2013 … I had a private queen room with private bathroom for a week. It was a BIG room! Was really fabulous for an inner city hotel (of course normal noise from being in a city). It wasn’t anything like hostels I have stayed in in the UK … more like a hotel.
The definition of the first star in hotel ratings is that there is a bathroom in the room (among other things): Hotel rating - Wikipedia. So make sure you list a one-star minimum!
There was a private queen room available at the hostel, so I’ve booked it ($580 for four nights), since the location is so great. I’ll continue to look, and if I cancel the hostel it’ll only cost me $45.
Thanks! I’ll take a closer look. I hadn’t heard of VRBO before.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a decent hotel in SoMA near the Metreon at under $250. The price you were quoted sounds very good compared to the usual going rate in that area. If I were you, I would check with boutique hotels in Union Square or even Tender Nob. I usually stay at the Chancellor Hotel where you can get rooms for under $200, (not including tax).
Another hotel I stayed at a few years ago when all my other usual hotels were fully booked was the Cornell Hotel, up and around the corner from the Chancellor. Rates were like $150-$160 and were very inexpensive, but they might have gone up since then. If you’ve ever stayed in Parisian hotels and liked it, you’ll feel at home here. One quirk they had, (if I’m remembering it correctly), is that they lock the front door after midnight and you have to use your room key, (or get buzzed in?) I don’t recall this being a hassle and wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again.
Both hotels are a 10-minute walk away from the Metreon.
I’ve never stayed there, but they have a very nice steak house and piano bar at the very top with a nice view of the city, especially at night. I think we were the only people in there under the age of 60.