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A Little Bit Of Inception From The Top Of The Mark

Where: 999 California St [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

How’s this for an Inception moment? There we were, yesterday, having lunch at the Top of the Mark in San Francisco’s Intercontinental Mark Hopkins, looking idly at the view of the Transamerica Building, the Golden Gate Bridge and Twin Peaks when we cast our eyes southwest and noticed The Clift. We’d stayed there last week, so that tickled us.

But then our eyes panned a little to the right and saw a tiny rooftop oasis with palm-type plants and bushes and sun loungers. And as we were thinking how cute it was, we realised that it was the penthouse at the Hotel Adagio. And, coincidentally, our room, since we’d checked in at 11pm the night before to find the hotel full. The only room available? The penthouse. So instead of walking us to another hotel, lovely Peter at the front desk did us the honors.

So there we were in the rooftop bar of one hotel, looking at our ex hotel and our at-the-time-current hotel room. Yes, it was as convoluted as a Christopher Nolan script.

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Hotel Renovations / Grand Hyatt Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / → All Tags

The Grand Hyatt San Francisco Tries to Give New Rooms a Residential Feel

Where: 345 Stockton St. [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

The Grand Hyatt San Francisco is in the midst of a $70 million renovation, giving its lobby, open-kitchen restaurant and lounge and meeting facilities an upgrade, but the rooms are finished with their makeovers.

All 630 rooms received a facelift, and 21 were converted to hypoallergenic accommodations. The rooms were made to be more residential, but we're especially digging the technology inside them.

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Romantic Hotels / Proposal Packages / Intercontinental Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / → All Tags

This Hotel Now Has a Dedicated 'Proposal Desk' for Clueless Romantics

Where: 1 Nob Hill [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

If you don't have deep pockets like Kris Humphries to propose to your own Kim Kardashian with a $2 million rock, you gotta get creative. Luckily, you can get some help: Take your smitten self to the InterContinental Mark Hopkins's Proposal Desk.

The San Francisco hotel's new service will brainstorm with you and execute the perfect way to ask your lovey-dovey to marry you. Whether it be filling a hotel room with her favorite flowers, hopping on a hot-air balloon or having an airplane ask the question in sky-writing, the Proposal Desk will make it happen.

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Hotel High Tea / San Francisco Hotels / Crescent Hotels / → All Tags

San Fran's Crescent Hotel to Host an Exotic Pop-Up Tea Salon

Where: 417 Stockton St. [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

It's summer and a hot cuppa may be the last thing you want. But we'll risk overheating to take some sips at Crescent Hotel's pop-up salon, but there won't be an egg salad sandwich or Earl Grey in sight.

Dubbed Kettle Whistle, the exotic three-flight afternoon tea will feature Taiwanese oolong and some untraditional pairings. The event will take place throughout the Bay Area each month. The inaugural pop-up tea salon will take place in the hotel's Burritt Room on June 25.

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Hotel Bars / Fairmont Hotels / Hotel Cocktails / San Francisco Hotels / → All Tags

We Got The Tonga Itch At The Fairmont SF's Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar

Where: 950 Mason St [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

We know tiki bars are having a moment, but in the case of the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar at the Fairmont San Francisco, that moment seems to have frozen in, oh, 1984. And it's awesome.

We pretty much built our entire three-day stay in San Francisco last week around a visit to this gem of a place. And while it's technically a restaurant, and there is a comprehensive menu of Pacific Rim dishes available, we didn't even get to the free buffet that was available during Happy Hour. You know us: we were all about the drinks.

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Hotel Deals / Orchard Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / Hotel News / vegas hotel deals / → All Tags

The Orchard Hotel in San Fran is Offering 10 Nights for Just $1,010

Where: 665 Bush St. [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

If you are among the superstitious who think that Sunday's perfectly numbered 10/10/10 date, which happens every 100 years, has special meaning, this hotel deal is for you. Or if you just like hotel deals in general, we think you'll like this one as well.

San Francisco's Orchard Hotel is monopolizing on the magic-numbered date for its Once in a Decade Deal.

Okay, this kinda made our head spin, so follow carefully: To mark its 10th anniversary, the hotel will hold a 10-day sale starting on 10/10/10 where you can book 10 nights—usable any time—for $1,010; the package includes 10 minibar coupons, a $10 discount on minibar treats, and 10 $10 coupons for the onsite Daffodil Restaurant.

That's a lot to process but it has us excited because it's so similar to JetBlue's All You Can Jet Pass. Could this be the start of more All You Can Sleep passes? We hope so!

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Hotel Bars / Interviews / San Francisco Hotels / Crescent Hotels / → All Tags

Speakeasy Sips At Crescent San Francisco’s Burritt Room

Where: 417 Stockton St. [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

Back in July, we shared the opening announcement of the Burritt Room at the Crescent San Francisco--a new bar capitalizing on the speakeasy and market-fresh cocktails trends that seem to have taken the nation’s cocktail culture by storm.

But while we were in San Francisco last week, we actually had the chance to head in there, check out the historical space, and sip through their list of locavore libations. We even managed to capture Beverage Director Kevin Diedrich on camera for a brief interview to explain just what makes the Burritt Room so special, and to show us how he mixes up his favorite specialty cocktail of the moment.

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Hotel Bars / San Francisco Hotels / Crescent Hotels / Pet-Friendly Hotels / → All Tags

The Crescent San Francisco Opens The Burritt Room Lounge and Bar Tonight

Where: 417 Stockton St [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

After having soft-opened last fall, The Crescent San Francisco tells us they are now officially open from top to bottom and to celebrate the accomplishment, the hotel is opening their second floor bar, The Burritt Room.

Starting tonight, The Burritt Room will offer a nightly bar menu from 5pm until midnight Sunday-Thursday with extended hours until 2am on Saturdays and Sundays. Bartender Kevin Diedrich will be mixing up cocktails with "fresh and seasonal" local ingredients and putting his own spin on classic drinks.

There's also an adjacent space which can be rented out for private parties and live music events, which the hotel says will be invite-only. Perhaps a nod to the Rose Bar Sessions at GPH?.

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San Francisco Hotels / Hotel Packages / Cirque du Soleil / Holiday Hotels / → All Tags

This San Fran Hilton Has a Jumpin', Tumblin' OVO Package for Cirque Fans

Where: 750 Kearny Street [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

Get up close and personal with the cast of OVO in San Francisco

Cirque du Soleil: fascinating or freaky? Discuss! Personally, we find the acrobatics of Cirque troupes impressive, though we're often perplexed by some of the shows' themes, which tend to flirt with the edges of eccentricity.

In any case, there is a strong following for the dramatic shows, and San Francisco Cirque fans can now get their fill of slackwire artists and the like with OVO currently in town. If you're visiting the city and want to catch a performance, the Hilton San Francisco Financial District has both Standard and Deluxe OVO-themed packages you can book this holiday.

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Hotel Openings / Gregory Peck / San Francisco Hotels / → All Tags

The Crescent San Francisco is Still in a Soft-Opening Mode

Where: 417 Stockton Street [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

Yesterday we ran our review of the Crescent San Francisco which we liked for its "free WiFi access, a Kurt Vonnegut book bedside, and easy classical streaming when we arrived."

What we didn't like was the "lukewarm shower water in the morning, an anti-view of a dingy alleyway, and a refrigerator with someone else's mystery leftovers sitting inside of it." We were fully aware that the hotel was in soft-opening mode as only the top three floors of the hotel were open to guests and we deemed it a "work in progress." Still, we weren't all that put out because we were able to snag a room at The Crescent for just $105.

Yet hotelier Greg Peck wrote into us to reiterate that the hotel was still in a soft-opening mode and that what we saw was definitely not the finished product. He writes:

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HotelChatter Reviews / Hotel Video Tours / Guess the Hotel / Anti-View / San Francisco Hotels / → All Tags

Leftovers and Lukewarm Water at The Crescent San Francisco

Where: 417 Stockton Street [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

We know you've spent the last 24-hours waiting with bated breath to find out the answer to yesterday's edition of "Guess the Hotel"—at least that's what we'd like to think. Wait no longer, because the moment of revelation has arrived. Our Thanksgiving leftovers mystery hotel is...

...The Crescent San Francisco.

We've been closely watching this newly opened, Gregory Peck-helmed redesign of San Francisco's historic Allison Hotel, located just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Union Square. Normally, rooms in this bustling shopping neighborhood start in the high hundreds, but thanks to the Quikbook deal we reported, we scored one for $105 per night.

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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

Where: 950 Mason Street [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94108

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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