My brother is going to San Francisco and asked if I happened to know any decent hotels there. I don’t of course, but I figure a lot of you good people do. What he’s looking for is as cheap as possible while still being cleanish, not too far from the centre and providing a private bathroom with shower. Got any tips?
Not sure if it’s close enough to the center of town for you, but we stayed at the Nob Hill Motor Inn, close to Fisherman’s Wharf, a couple of years ago and had a good experience. A fairly small 3-level motel run by a husband and wife couple who were very nice—drew a map by hand to help us with places to visit vs. parts of town to avoid. From what we could tell, it was also fairly unique in that it had its own parking (typically you’ll end up paying $20 or so per day for a pay lot.)
More in the downtown area, we’ve also had repeated good experiences at the Beresford Arms, which is about three blocks from Union Square.
Tripadvisor has user ratings/comments for those hotels here and here.
Not sure what your budget is—IIRC the Nob Hill was around $110 and the Beresford a bit more, when we stayed there. San Francisco is pretty expensive, as you may know.
We did not particularly like our stay at the Savoy Hotel, also near Union Square, as the room smelled mildewy and there was a lot of noise from the streets at night. It’s apparently been refurbished as the Hotel California now, so it may have improved.
Some of the lower-end Kimpton hotels were relatively cheap, IIRC.
My wife and I stayed at the Golden Gate Hotel in 2003. Great place that was more like a bed and breakfast (there were croissants in the morning and tea in the afternoon). The staff was helpful and the dog and cats were friendly too. Our room was not large and had no views, but was well-appointed. This was our first experience with a shared bath and found it to be no different than staying at a friend’s house.
The location is pretty central, near Chinatown, Union Square and a cable car line.
From what I can tell, their rates are still pretty reasonable:
It depends on what he considers cheap and near the center.
I recently stayed at the Orchard hotel (corner of Bush and Powell) for $109/night through Travelocity. It’s quite nice, in my estimation, and close to lots of stuff to see and public transportation. Will he have a car with him? If so, he needs to find out about parking fees. Many hotels in San Francisco don’t have guest self parking, so you have to find a nearby garage or pay exorbitant valet parking fees (~$40/day).
If he doesn’t mind a little research and some small amount of luck, he should check out Bidding for Travel (I don’t have the URL with me), which is a forum dedicated to getting the most out of Priceline.
Is he going for business or vacation? If the former, where is his business location, roughly?
The Kimpton hotels are very nice, but are a bit more pricey.
The Personality hotels and the Joie de Vivre hotels are almost all cheaper, and are clean and comfortable. Hotel Diva and the Phoenix are two of my personal favorites.
Hotel Milano is also fairly cheap and located just off of Union Square.
If he’s feeling adventurous, have him check out craigslist, vrbo.com and homeaway.com for vacation rentals. There are plenty in the city for under $120. They are always a much better bargain than a hotel room. Many of the owners offer little things you won’t find in a hotel room - internet access, a bottle of wine, fresh flowers, a garage or a space to park in, all kinds of things. And you can find them right in the heart of neighborhoods all over the city. Some require deposits and charge cleaning fees, but many don’t.
It’s how my husband and I spend weekends in the city now, although for years we stayed in hotels. We’re staying in one next month, $110/night, conveniently located, etc.
Just did a quick scan of what’s on craigslist right now. I can personally recommend 3 or 4 current listings if he’s interested in going that route.
The Superhero and I stayed in the Opal Hotel, a 3 star hotel at Van Ness and Geary, for $50/night (only stayed one night) through a deal on hotels.com around Thanksgiving. It was very nice, clean, we had our own bathroom, and it wasn’t too far of a walk (and a much shorter drive or cab ride) down to shopping on Market Street.
Consider downtown Oakland. BART will drop him off within walking distance of everything. The main station in downtown Oakland is in a pretty good location and it’s not a very expensive trip into the city. Just a thought if San Francisco is too expensive.
No, not Oakland, not now.* Trust me.* Stay away from Oakland until all the riots are over.
Now that you mention it, it was the Joie de Vivres that I was thinking of.
But there’s a certain unquantifiable warm smell there - and long delays between when you check out and when you’re allowed to leave seem typical.
Try the Cathedral Hill Hotel. Try for room 773, but tell them Harry sent you either way.
I’ve stayed at the Pickwick Hotel which is just a couple of blocks from Moscone Convention Center. It’s old but it has charm. I think it runs about $100/night.
Holy crap yes. In fact in SF they’re still protesting Roe V. Wade (yes THAT ONE - don’t ask) and Prop 8, so you might not want to be too near the center of things. Keep in mind that San Francisco is fairly small - you can get end to end in say…20 minutes by cab, 45 minutes by pokey public transit (which is plentiful.)
People have been winning “4-star” hotels in Sf for around $80 on Priceline.
http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/forums/22
http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showforum=432&
You still have to figure in $30-plus a day for parking just about anywhere downtown.
Thanks for the tips all, I’m sending them on.