STAY SMART | SAN FRANCISCO | HOTELS
San Francisco hotels for less than $200 a night
Thirteen San Francisco hotels under $200 a night: Two Ben Franklins will buy you a stay at a stylish boutique hotel, but don't expect a pool.
AH, San Francisco — where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars and so have hotel prices.
Hotel occupancy rates in this tourist and business magnet remain high — almost 73% this year through June — and prices reflect that. The average cost of a room in the city proper in the first five months was $165.84 a night before the 14% tax (which pushes the total over $189), according to the San Francisco office of PFK Consulting, which tracks industry trends. That figure includes lower-end places and cookie-cutter chains but excludes bed-and-breakfasts of fewer than 20 rooms. (By contrast, the L.A. average was $20 a night cheaper.)
For many travelers, the hotel is just a place to rest one's head. For others, the hotel enriches the experience, but as experienced travelers know, charm comes at a price. My challenge: to find hotels with character and class without ballooning the budget.
In late July, I set out to find a dozen or so places where the rooms may cost the average price but are anything but average. We set $200 as the upper limit, including the 14% room tax. I excluded B&Bs and extended-stay accommodations and avoided the chain hotels.
I stayed in six boutique hotels, chosen to include different areas of the city as well as a variety of styles, traditional as well as contemporary. I visited 13 others, including a few super-budget hotels with rooms well under the $200 limit. And I also checked out some hotels that are being renovated and should emerge as particularly attractive $200-and-under choices.
Quoting exact prices is futile because, like airline tickets, hotel prices fluctuate according to demand; some hotels no longer print cards that show "rack" or "brochure" rates. The variables include special packages, AARP or AAA rates, Internet rates and so on. But this story will list the price I paid, which includes the tax.
In my booking experience, I found that hotel websites generally had the best prices, although smart shoppers know it pays to call too.
Here's what you can generally expect for about $200: a clean room with a comfortable bed, Internet access, elevator, cable TV, radio and clock, telephone, bath amenities and iron and board.
What you may not get: free continental-plus breakfast, room service, CD player, fitness center, wireless Internet in-room, robes and an on-site restaurant.
What you probably will not get: swimming pool, flat-screen TV and air conditioning. Although A/C is not usually a necessity here, it was on my visit because of a heat wave.
In setting our $200 limit, we did not include parking, which, with tax, can cost as much as $57 for 24 hours. But the city is compact and has good public transportation. My advice: Forgo the car.
I visited these hotels, where I was shown rooms within the $200 limit.
Parking: $20
Amenities: Room service, Internet access for a fee, use of nearby health club with pool, $10 daily. Bellman. Free cab vouchers to city center weekday mornings for corporate guests. No pets. Nonsmoking.
Pros: Lovely old mansion in quiet lower Pacific Heights. No air conditioning. (Ceiling fans are being installed.) A fighting fish named Catherine Beta-Jones sits at the front desk.
Cons: Nine blocks from Union Square (there is a bus line a block away).
I knew I was going to like this hotel the minute I walked up the marble steps into the elegant pillared lobby. The 58-room hotel, occupying a restored Edwardian mansion built in 1902 by a railroad magnate (and once home to film stars Joan Fontaine and Olivia deHavilland), is furnished in French and English antiques. Rooms have canopy beds and feather pillows. I saw a standard queen with heavy drapery, dark woods and claw-foot tub/shower and found it dark and depressing. But Room 203, a junior suite at $165, was delightful, with a four-poster queen bed, fireplace, large bath with twin sinks and claw-foot tub and huge bay window overlooking Sutter Street.
Amenities include robes and Gilchrist & Soames toiletries. The library off the lobby invites curling up with a good read. Free wine and hors d'oeuvres are served in the lobby in the evening. The restaurant and bar, closed since 2001, has been undergoing remodeling and was to reopen in the near future.
1500 Sutter St., (415) 441-1100 or (800) 869-8966, www.thehotelmajestic.com.
Parking: $35-$40
Amenities: No room service, but upscale seafood restaurant Farallon next door will deliver, as will Waiters on Wheels (from selected restaurants). Free Internet access, 24-hour business center with free high-speed Internet. Free morning coffee. Bellman and concierge. Small exercise room on-site and use of Hotel Diva fitness center. Pet-friendly. Smoking permitted on one guest floor.
Pros: Good location close to shopping, theater, restaurants.
Cons: The rooms could use updating. Only those on the three Royal Court Floors have been renovated.The lobby of this 96-room hotel has a painted beamed ceiling, Queen Anne antiques, marble floors and a crystal chandelier. There's a free sherry and tea hour with a pianist Thursdays through Saturdays. The 1925 building started life as an Elks Club, and the Elks still occupy the lower floors. The Post Street Theater is on the third floor. Each guest floor has coffee and tea stations. Standard rooms have floral bedspreads, dark furniture and small baths, but some have great views of Union Square or Nob Hill.
450 Post St., (415) 788-6400 or (800) 553-1900, www.kensingtonparkhotel.com.
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