Ah, if only we could get inside the minds of this year's presidential candidates. We'd know for sure then, whether Obama intentionally plays the race card, like McCain alleges, or whether McCain really thinks like a wealthy elitist, as the Democrats allege, or how candidates choose hotels to host fundraisers ... You think they use TripAdvisor?
Because really, if you're going to ask a bunch of C-level execs to fork over $2,300 for dinner you want to make sure the place has unrivaled bay views from atop Nob Hill, or an innovative lavender salt-crusted beef tenderloin on the menu.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
If you want to get this great view over the San Francisco skyline, you need to find a way to get up onto the private deck of a suite at the Mandarin Oriental San Francisco.That's what HotelChatter tipster derek did--thanks for that--before he dropped this great shot in the HotelChatter Flickr Pool.
The Mandarin Oriental is advertising that its high-in-the-sky suites have all been renovated (except they call it "transformed") recently and we're thinking for this view the 2000 square foot Taipan Suite might do the trick. It even comes with its own telescope so you can enjoy every square inch of the view properly.
Naturally, this is a suite in a Mandarin Oriental so all this doesn't come cheap. If you do want to save some pennies, book online. The internet rate of $1,800 a night is significantly cheaper than the standard rate of $3,100.
We hate to be a buzzkill here on a Monday morning but we have to remind you that summer doesn't last forever and before you know it Labor Day weekend will be here soon.
If you're thinking about making one last run before the unofficial end of Summer, you should start reserving your rooms now.
Several hotels have summer packages that expire Sept. 1 like this one from the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The Cable Car package offers a guestroom and two all-day tickets on the city's famous Cable Cars.
We took a look inside the HotelChatter Flickr Pool and were delighted to see a new batch of pics from member Pat+ of the St. Regis San Francisco. Here he got an inside look at the hotel's Astor Suite which looks pretty sweet to us. However, don't judge a suite by its gadgets. Pat+ writes:
The suite's corner living room offers a great view on downtown SF, and the fog adds a mystical dimension. The suite includes a sound sytem, multiple plasma screens and DVD players, Remede bathroom amenities, a rain shower, and butler service. Overall though I found the walls to be somewhat bare, the living room design a bit uninspiring; and the service I experienced definitely didn't meet the St. Regis standards.
Whoops. Good to know before we dropped $700 on this room.
Every so often we feature a hotel review from one of our readers that we feel should be shared with the rest of you dear hotel guests. These reviews are highlighted because they are timely, about cool hotels in cool places and are relatively level-headed. Think you can submit one just like this? Send it in. Now, we present you with solid reviewer Michael S. Dacko's review of the W San Francisco which got a new look. Enjoy.
The W San Francisco was one of the original W's that laid the foundation of what "W" stood for in 1999. Fearing that I was going to spend 2 weeks at a trendy hotel to find "wear n tear" left and right was my main concern. Boy was I wrong!
The W San Francisco has renovated their interior quite a bit to keep sleek and posh like the rest of the new Ws, but original and unique just as all the Ws are. Since San Francisco has such an Asian influence in the city, the designer took much of that Asian influence and incorporated designs in with it. (Check out the elevators!)
We think the execs over at Westin Hotels may be having a bit of an identity crisis, because lately it seems like the company wants to less like a hotel and more like a personal trainer.
To wit: First, they introduced WestinWORKOUT rooms, complete with in-room exercise equipment; then, with RunWESTIN, they created guided running tours of select cities; and most recently, they partnered with Nintendo to net customized Wiis in their health clubs. Sounds suspiciously like Jillian Michaels á la The Biggest Loser, doesn't it?
The latest property to join the Westin Wii craze is San Francisco's The Westin St. Francis. So now, in addition to the 4,600-square-foot facility filled with strength training and cardio equipment, four spa treatment rooms and two locker rooms with steam rooms, guests of The Westin St. Francis can jump on the Wii balance board to "play" tennis, golf and baseball, as well as box and do yoga.
(That's the St. Francis' workout room above. We hope it's part of the hotel's own extreme makeover plan.)
No pain, no gain kids, so start booking those hotel rooms.
Taking an $11,000 bath in Evian water may sound like the bee's knees to some germ-o-phobes, but for most of us level-headed decadents, if we're gonna shell out serious cash, we want to at least get out of the bath with a nice bubbles buzz.
Luckily the St. Regis San Francisco offers a bath menu for a variety of rich addictions. For couples in love, the Rose petal package is right up your alley for throwing on a snorkel and diving mask momentarily and coming up with a diamond for proposing.
For those of us looking to just straight kick-it all luxe, there is a Chocolate Extravagance package and two separate Champagne packages.
But our favorite is the Krug Ultimate Bath which includes Caspian Osetra Caviar paired with a Magnum of Krug. A Magnum of Krug, our idea of perfect alone time.
On Monday, we let you know that hotelier Gregory Peck was continuing on his own way (without "frenemy/hotel partner" Matt Moss) by opening the Crescent San Francisco in the city's Union Square nabe.
All we knew then was that he was going to redo the old Allison Hotel. Today we have some more detes.
The Crescent Hotel Group (Greg's company) is developing and redesigning the Allison. The Crescent Hotel Group will also manage the hotel once it opens. That opening could happen in nine to twelve months.
Like the Crescent BH, the hotel will have a restaurant and lounge. There will be 83 rooms, some with views into Union Square. With the other rooms presumably, the standard San Fran city view will apply.
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by jennm
