On a recent (workish) trip over to San Francisco, my friend and I were debating which hotel to do. We did through due diligence on this decision, which means we went over to Flyertalk and saw that people’s reviews were. Despite it’s age, the Westin St. Francis San Francisco scored good marks on it’s renovations, elite treatment and staff, which is why we ended up booking this. I am happy to say that the positive reports are true.

Overview

We have covered many Westins on the blog (see the Westin tag), but the brand is split between old (I’m in my late 20s, so everything is old), or modern, slightly soulless hotels. Westin tries to differentiate itself through it’s health and wellness angle, which results in famous things like Westin’s Heavenly Bed or it’s Body Lotion. This Westin St. Francis San Francisco is OLD, as in more than 100 years old: the first parts of the building were built in 1904, with later additions during the 20th century. We luckily stayed after renovations to the Landmark lobby, and so found the hotel quite charming.

Location

San Francisco’s downtown can be…not the best at night, but the Westin St. Francis San Francisco has probably one of the best locations for tourists. Located smack dab in the middle of Union Square, the hotel is steps away from fantastic shopping, food, entertainment and most importantly a McDonalds.

One thing to note is that this was a bit far away from any proper grocery stories, so this may be an issue for larger families.

Check In

We typically used the Powell Street entrance (see above) due to its proximity to Union Square. Upon entering, we were greeted with what looked like a magic show, in the form that there was something massive that was covered in the middle of the room.

The actual lobby was massive, with plenty of colored marble and other stones to invoke a sense of grandeur from the roaring 20’s.

Check in was located to the side - while there were up to 10 desks for check-in, when I arrived there were only 2 staff members. They processed my check in quickly, and noted that while I had been upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite (specifically the Parkview suite), it wasn’t ready to due Titanium Members using late checkout (looking at myself).

I elected to explore the rest of the ground floor, which was massive. Beyond the atrium, there were several conference rooms, a bar, shoe shine stand, shopping arcade and restrooms. I don’t have that good of a memory, I just took a picture of the sign =P.

To be honest, the shopping was disappointing given most of the stores were closed when I visited; however, given the plethora of shopping outside I can understand why no one would want to stay inside.

Given it was almost Christmas, there were several cute decorations that dotted the hotel, as well as a small Christmas tree.

There was also a wine tasting room, and I saw several groups joyfully partaking.

Finally, I strolled over to the older tower, which was previously home to residential units (but now are home to rooms).

Unfortunately, I had to be at a dinner by 6, and by 5:30PM the hotel still didn’t have it’s rooms ready. And so, the enterprising front desk associate went back, presumably to discuss with his manager, and came up with a creative yet simple solution…

The Room

The hotel, mindful of security, required room cards to get up to particular floors (this was funny, as my friend forgot his card one day and needed me to go get him downstairs).

For an over 100 year old hotel, the décor was surprisingly tasteful: it combined elements of modernity with the 90’s furniture vibe. This meant that the The Westin St. Francis San Francisco brought over some personality, unlike the Westin Wall Centre Airport.

When I initially got our room key, I was confused because it had 2 room numbers on it. But upon entering the room, I understood.

Instead of a suite, the Westin St. Francis San Francisco Union Square had elected just to give us 2 connecting rooms: my best guess was that it was 2 Grand Deluxe King beds. This was perfect, as I had no desire to get to know my travel buddy better (jk, he’s the best). The interesting part was that one of the rooms was decorated as if it was a suite and the other more a Deluxe King. I took the smaller room, which is shown below.

The centerpiece of both rooms was a king bed, featuring Westin’s famous Heavenly Bed. I do think this one was better than the one at the Westin Harbor Castle.

There was also a chic bathroom, abet one without a bathtub.

This room contained a pretty useful desk that I used to brush up my resume (and on what exactly was going on in the tech world). That being said, the chair was a bit weird, and didn’t really have any back support.

There was also a TV in the room, which I didn’t use - it was a bit far from the bed, which made me question what was it’s purpose. And while there were a few chairs in the room, they were not facing the TV (and away from the window, which is a shame because the views are beautiful!).

I also found it funny that the coffee maker was put in front of the TV - I’m sure there has been a few clumsy guests who may have accidentally split something! On the topic of coffee, the coffee provided was a generic hotel coffee, and wasn’t anything special, but still appreciated.

Now, onwards through the magic connecting doors! You could obviously lock the doors on each side, and so I wouldn’t worry too much about intruders.

The other room had more furniture, but I felt had a smaller bed (maybe due to the contrast from the sheer amount of furniture).

I think the designers of the room tried to split the room to make it into more of a junior suite, but unfortunately this just ended up with an overall weird design.

In keeping in line with the theme of more furniture, there was a weird lounger, along with an additional desk / TV combo on the other side of the wall.

Finally, we have a bed, which I think was a Queen Bed as it looked smaller than the one in the other room.

The room did have it’s own bathroom, which had a similar look and feel to the other one.

Thus, it looked like the hotel had just given us 1 Junior Suite and 1 King room, and called it a day. Not that I was complaining, as this was one of the first great markers of Elite Treatment by this storied hotel.

Amenities

The Westin St. Francis unfortunately does not have a pool. What it does have is a relatively well appointed gym that was quite empty the several times I visited it. It is a multi-story affair, and contains a plethora of machines and free weights.

The hotel didn’t have a lounge for guests, yet it made up for this by having a great breakfast selection. Select elite members could choose 3 items per person from the café, or have a proper sit down breakfast; given my friend and I were in a rush, we just chose 3 items from the café each day. For the 3 items, you were able to chose up to 2 hot ones (think sandwiches), along with pastries and made to order drinks.

Note that you don’t get access to a breakfast buffet, and get to order an individual items on the menu. My friend said that he had trouble ordering for himself off the menu, and that the waiter said that ideally both people needed to be present for the Elite breakfast.

Finally, despite being a city hotel in the middle of a major metropolis, the Westin had fantastic view overlooking Union Square…as it’s called the Westin St. Francis San Francisco ON Union Square.

Service

The service stuck the right balance between helpful and annoying, and was overall quite well done. The room upgrade notwithstanding, the hotel associate seemed genuinely concerned that our room was not ready at 5PM, and I think pro-actively talked with his manager on how to resolve the process. When I asked for amenities like body lotion, they were promptly delivered, with the hotel associate even asking if they could send more up to my room. This was further accentuated by the fact most associates seemed happy to be there, and at least pretended to be cheerful when answering any questions.

The Point

We paid around $200 a night for this hotel, which I will say is an absolute steal (perhaps due to the negative connotations of living in downtown SF). The hotel, whilst old on the outside, has been renovated in such a way that is retains its older charm yet offers a modern sleeping experience. The elite recognition and treatment by the staff was wonderful, much more so than perhaps even a 5 star hotel people have stayed in. Overall, I would stay here if I came to SF again, though to be honest I don’t like SF (but do like the hotel!).