San Francisco Travel Guide
Tags: Hotel Strikes / San Franciso Hotels / Hotel Employees / Starwood Hotels / Hyatt Hotels / → All Tags
More Hotel Workers in San Francisco Go On Strike, This Time at The Palace
Do not expect this scene today at The Palace Hotel.
Over the weekend, hotel workers from the union, Unite Here, staged a three day strike in front of The Grand Hyatt San Francisco to protest the contract negotiations that have been ongoing. The workers have been working without a new contract since August and the main sticky point, as ever, is the issue of health care.
Hotel workers have repeatedly gone on strike over contract negotiations in the last few years but rarely does it ever happen back to back at different hotels. Last night, hotel workers at the famed Palace Hotel which is part of Starwood's Luxury Collection, began a three-day strike as well, at a time when the hotel was at 100 percent occupancy, thanks to a few conventions that are going on.
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Galleria Park Hotel Helps Visitors Experience a Faux Snow Day in SF
San Francisco natives know that the closest thing the city gets to snow, sleet, or anything of the sort during the holidays is Union Square's perilously crowded ice rink. You can either hightail it out of town—to Lake Tahoe or Big Bear, for instance—for a taste of the real thing, or you can fake it with the "Snow Day" package being offered by the Galleria Park Hotel. Its perks are a far cry from being caught in a bonafide flurry, but when you're a coastal Californian or holiday visitor, faux is the best you can hope for.
The Galleria Park is located in Union Square, whose holiday decorations are really impressive, despite their kitsch: a fully tinsel and wreath-beckdecked MACY*S, a gigantic Christmas tree in the main plaza, and even more lights than usual. What the package offers in addition to being squarely in the middle of these surroundings are complimentary valet parking, which usually runs for $35 per night, two tickets and skate rental to said ice rink, and two cups of Valrhona (a.k.a. the way high-end version of Swiss Miss) hot chocolate upon returning to the hotel at midi.
Tags: New Year's Eve 2009 Hotels / New Year's Eve Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / California Hotels / Fairmont Hotels / → All Tags
Luau in San Francisco for New Year's Eve
It's hard to believe, but New Year's Eve is less than two months away, which means a parade of hotel party tickets will soon be—or already are—available to the public. Most of these are highfalutin affairs where you'll find women competing in unofficial "Who has the shortest skirt?" contests, and where bottles of champagne circulate throughout the evening. These swanky soirees are easy enough to find, but for an unusual change of pace, you may want to consider heading to The Fairmont in San Francisco, where an inaugural New Year's luau will be held at the historic Tonga Room.
HotelChatter reader Mark, a long time Tonga Room patron, tipped us off to this unique NYE event and had good things to say about his experiences there:
On ocassion I visit the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar to have a drink and some appetizers. It's a historic restaurant and bar...and unusually so has a rain storm every half hour or so...right in the bar area! I just heard from the staff last week that for the first time they are [having] a luau for New Year's Eve, and this isn't in Hawaii...it's in San Francisco! Kinda off the wall and should be fun.
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Inside the Intercontinental San Francisco
Last week, we told you about the Michelin-starred grub at Luce, the restaurant at the Intercontinental San Francisco, but today, we’re going to take you on a video walkthrough of a standard guestroom there so you can get a feel for the entire hotel experience.
Our favorite features of the room? Enormous windows (though not such awesome views), a cozy work desk-sitting area, a huge flat-screen TV on which to watch Anderson Cooper spout off on CNN, an iPod docking station, huge marble bathrooms (though the sliding doors were kind of unwieldy and didn’t lock!), neutral-toned patterns and fabrics, and well stocked minibars.
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What The Michelin-Starred Grub is Like at The Intercontinental San Fran
Though Michelin decided to skip rating Los Angeles restaurants this year, we caught word of their just-released 2010 San Francisco rankings and noticed that Luce at the Intercontinental San Francisco just got its first star under the direction of recent Iron Chef competitor, Dominique Crenn.
After our meal there this past weekend, we totally understand why.
The meal begins with an unassuming amuse bouche of panna cotta-textured celery root mousse with citrus foam to get your palate ready for the unexpected flavor combinations still to come. Appetizers on the menu, which is small but still impressive and diverse, run the gamut from a warm and hearty autumn vegetable medley, to a streamlined Kona kampachi tartare served with pickled apples and shaved cauliflower with bright green celery sorbet, to a combination of both styles in the modern dressing up of an erstwhile working-class comfort food: roasted bone marrow (served in-bone lest you have any doubts) with garlic confit, fried capers gremolata and grilled bread.
Smear it all together and you’re transported back to a 19th century farmer’s table.
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The Crescent Hotel San Francisco is Open But Rooms Are Sold Out
The Crescent San Francisco Hotel is opening today but when we went to check on reservations, dates were unavailable until October 28th. Rates were available then for a low, low rate of $105 a night but we wondered what was up with the supposed delay?
We checked in with hotelier Greg Peck who told us that hotel is indeed opening today. The reason why you can't make reservations until the 28th is actually quite simple: the hotel is sold out. Peck also added that he would be onsite all day today working with staffers to get the hotel ready for its first guests.
While this weekend is out for a stay at the Crescent, if you need Halloween accommodations in San Fran, the hotel is still going for $105 for both Friday and Saturday nights for a Crescent Junior room. It's a tiny room, about 185-sq.ft. but if you want to pay extra for a larger Crescent Suite (300 to 400-sq.ft.), that's only $147 a night.
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Inside The New Renaissance Stanford Court
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.
Named after and on the site of the former mansion of Leland Stanford, a San Francisco railroad baron, The Renaissance Stanford Court shares Nob Hill with the Mark Hopkins InterContinental (next door), The Fairmont (across the street), The Huntington (a block uphill), and The Ritz-Carlton (a few doors downhill).
While Union Square is only a few blocks away, the short climb to Nob Hill is steep. Really steep. It had been a while since my last time in SF, and even though I stayed at the Mark Hopkins at the time, I do not remember it being that steep. For most people, it should not be a major issue, but if you are less able to walk or traveling with someone that is, then keep this in mind.
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$850 'Bargain' Package at The Huntington Hotel San Francisco
Socialites, smoking jackets, and stiff cocktails all come to mind when we think of San Francisco's Huntington Hotel. When we say it's old school, we mean it: Think jacket required, heavy wood accents, and decor that's world's away from what you might find at hyper-modern hotels like The Clift and W. Here it's a decidedly older crowd that reigns supreme, but that doesn't make it any less of a novelty experience for young travelers.
The Huntington is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year, and in it for guests who give a defiant finger to the recession is a package that's all over-the-top frills. It's only available through December 30th of this year, so you'll need to whip out your credit card soon if you want to take advantage of their one-night $850 "deal." That's right, $850 qualifies as a bargain basement rate according to The Huntington.
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Showing Up in Your Halloween Costume Could Get You a Free Hotel Stay
Who says you're too old to dress up and go trick or treating this Halloween? Of course, we aren't talking about putting on a Care Bears costume and using your Care Bears pillowcase as a candy bucket as you skip from house to house. No, there's a much more adult to way to trick or treat this year at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District.
Over Halloween weekend, guests can choose from "treats" such as Hilton HHonors points, food and beverage coupons, museum tickets and Halloween candy. But if you arrive in costume you will be entered in the hotel's costume contest where the winner will get one free night on the hotel's 13th floor. Awesome! Wait, is it? Most hotels don't have a 13th floor. Nevermind, the Hilton promises to give you a free stay on an actual floor that exists.
Just checking in for the weekend? Room rates start at $169 a night. But beware of the black cat crossing your path. That's Clarence, the hotel's supposedly good-natured house cat.
[Photo: Ivanx]
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The Soon-To-Open Crescent San Fran Now Has Rooms Starting at $105
The countdown to the opening of San Francisco's Crescent Hotel is on, with its official unveiling set for October 21st. Hotelier Gregory Peck staked a claim on prime Union Square real estate (the former Allison hotel), gutting the property and giving it a 'classic San Francisco with a modern twist' look.
If you left your heart in San Francisco, then you'll be happy to hear about site-specific touches that we previously reported on, including iPod playlists crafted by local DJs, a locally-focused wine program to enjoy in room, and library with "West Coast-centric" reading material.
Tags: Hotel Packages / Fairmont Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / Sonoma Hotels / Wine-Tasting Hotels / → All Tags
Fairmont Lures Us In With Chocolate and Pinot Noir
Fairmont Hotels may have opened up three new hotels along the ancient silk road yesterday (Cairo, China, Abu Dhabi) but they still have a special place in their hearts for California with their new “Chocolate at Pinot” Package available at their San Francisco and Sonoma hotels.
Some people get their antioxidants from green tea, and others get them from blueberries. Us? We prefer fight free radicals with red wine and dark chocolate. Hey, it still counts, so don’t judge us. Now thanks to Fairmont, we can indulge our (healthy, we swear!) cravings with this new four-day package.
With it, you can spend the first two days, Willy Wonka-ing it up at the Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square, which is actually in the former world-famous Ghirardelli Chocolate factory facility in the heart of San Francisco. Then take the second two days to relax from the bustle of the big city out at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa, a grandiose pink resort with a nearly century-long history of gentrified rustication near many of Sonoma’s most famous wineries, and just a couple miles from the town of Sonoma itself.
Tags: Anti-View / Convention Center Hotels / InterContinental Hotels / San Franciso Hotels / Business Traveler Hotels / → All Tags
Lovely View of the HVAC at InterContinental San Francisco
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
This morning we let you know that the chef at the Intercontinental San Francisco would be leaving the property to fight it out on "The Next Iron Chef" and as we were browsing for photos of the hotel, we came across this anti-view. Eee.
Then again, this hotel is adjacent to the Moscone Convention Center, making it the best choice for folks who plan on spending most of their days in the convention hall. But as large as the hotel looks, there are only 550 rooms in the hotel--22 per floor and as you know, InterContinental is a chi-chi business traveler brand.
So hopefully, the amenities in-room--like flat-screen TVs, iPod docks, bathrobes and especially, the private in-room bars--make up for some not-so-chi-chi convention center views.
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