The other day we gave you an update on what was next for Personality Hotels including the renovations of two hotels--the York and the Maxwell.
We mentioned that rooms at the York (which will be called the Hotel Vertigo by August) were as low as $89 a night but that you could be in the middle of a construction zone. However, Hotel Maven Brandon sent us this extremely helpful hotel tip:
Saw the piece of posted yesterday about the York Hotel transformation into Hotel Vertigo, and wanted to chime in.
I'm at the York Hotel at the moment, booked a room via Expedia for $89/night, and was given the "model" room, which is a sample room of what the rooms will look like post-renovation. I have to say, it's really beautiful.
[Ed. Note: We thought bed bugs were sooo last month. But much to our dismay, they are still around. An intrepid Bed Bug ninja managed to capture the bugs at a San Francisco hotel but got no reaction whatsoever from the front desk.]
On April 26 and 27 of this year, I was a guest at the Heritage Marina Hotel,room 456. I was with a tour group from San Diego and this was our last stop. When we checked in on Saturday the 26th and went up to our room, the toilet had been used and still soiled and we had to call the front desk to send someone to clean it.
That first night I felt something crawling on my arm as we slept and I thought it was a mosquito. I was so tired and totally unaware of any bedbug problems that I fell asleep right away. In the morning I noticed some bites on my legs and didn't pay much attention thinking it had been a mosquito.
But by the morning of the 27th, my arms, legs and other parts of my body were full of bug bites (I took some pictures of the bites). As I was sitting on the edge of the bed putting my shoes on, I saw something crawling on the pillowcase. I carefully took a zip-lock type plastic bag and caught the little bug. I knew right away what I was dealing with.
I removed the sheets off the bed and found more bugs. I went to the front desk to report my find, and to my indignation, the person that was in charge didn't seem to care much. He absently told me he was going to report the incident to the manager. Even after I showed him the bites and the bugs in the bag I did not get a "We're terribly sorry" or "Is there something we can do for you", at the very least offer me some lotion for the itching and inconvenience.
It makes me think they are in the habit of dealing with bedbugs.
You know the drill, a shiny new hotel walks into your life and you fall in love. Despite the fact that she lives right next to Fisherman's Wharf, and that she is always talking to lost-looking tourists, you love her.
She has free WiFi, exposed brick, comfortable beds, and a view of the Bay. Her quirky nautical theme is cute, not annoying, at least at first.
Then, after a couple years, you realize, she is still hot, but the things that you use to love about her now annoy the hell out of you. Her maritime obsession drives you nuts, and every time you are there she is always putting you in rooms with bad views without exposed brick.
She's still fun and you would rather hang out with her than her sometimes-snotty downtown friends, who will no doubt abuse your credit card if you spend enough time with them, but alas, you have a wandering eye.
We still love the Argonaut because the service is top-notch, and the rate is usually very good, but next time we are ready to try a new SF hotel. For those of you who still want to give the Argonaut a try, request a room with a bay view. And if you can put up with the nautical kitsch and the touristy location, you will not be left unsatisfied.
As a matter of fact, we are willing to bet that once we go astray we'll long for our days at the Argonaut and run back to her with our tail between our legs--isn't that always the way?
While we once snagged a room for $109 on Hotwire.com back in the day, we aren't complaining about the special "Hot Dates, Hot Rates" which has a room for $129 on certain days each month.
The rooms must be booked 14 days in advance and cannot be cancelled so make sure you are coming to San Francisco.
Located near Fisherman's Wharf the kitschy nautical themed hotel is more family-oriented than most so beware of children. But there's free wireless access and really that can't be beat.
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.
When you check in to the Argonaut you might be expecting views of the Golden Gate Bridge, or Alcatraz, and we have no doubt some rooms at this hotel provide just that. However, some rooms provide you with a view of...other rooms, safe to say room #310 is one such room.
Anything you say about the "Makin' Whoopi" package at the Commodore Hotel in San Francisco is probably funny.
For $129 a night, the hotel favored by Men at Work band members is offering a deluxe king guestroom, champagne upon arrival, complimentary self-parking, a 2pm late check-in, a surprise "Love Game", and (ewwww) "Slip Inside, Luxurious Cream."
Since there are just too many directions to go with this one, we will only say shouldn't "whoopi" be spelled "whoopie" with an "e"? We love Whoopi Goldberg and all, but not when we are spending a romantic night in a hotel with our lover.
Budget Travel has written up a San Francisco hotel deal that lets you not only stay on the cheap but explore the city as well.
Available through Mar. 31, the Hotel Carlton (a Joie de Vivre property) is offering rooms from $109 nightly, along with access to culturally themed events, and a 15% discount at the hotel restaurant, Saha, a Yemenese Arabic-influenced eatery.
For each night's stay, guests can choose one culturally themed event that takes place in the diverse neighborhoods of San Francisco.
Some options are communal baths at Kabuki Springs & Spa in Japantown,
Peruvian and Latino Nuevo Fusion Cuisine at Limon in the Mission, Traditional tea service at Chinatown's Imperial Tea Court and espresso and treats at Steps of Rome in North Beach's Little Italy.
One recent guest enjoyed the hotel so much she didn't mind that it still smelled like fresh paint, or that she had to sleep with the windows open, that the beds seem to be a weird-size or that it's adjacent to a Fire Station.
It was really noisy and I had trouble sleeping because of all the sirens. But that wouldn't prevent me from going back! I would recommend it to anyone, it's really adorable and captures the essence of San Francisco!
Deidre, of Luxist.com fame, was up in San Francisco for the weekend and shares her thoughts on her Union Square hotel stay with us:
I was in San Francisco this weekend for a reading and stayed at the Commodore Hotel.
It's every bit as colorful as it looks on the website, but a bit more worn in person.
Our room was New York tiny (although with a huge walk-in closet) and the bathroom had a louvered window that vented into some sort of crawlspace full of pipes.
What was remarkable was that at this hotel we actually did some minor celeb spotting. We came up the stairs one afternoon to find Brian Posehn checking his email at a public computer and later my boyfriend swears he saw Colin Hay from Men at Work and a bunch of musicians struggling to get their gear into the Commodore's minuscule elevator.
--Men at Work, once on top of the world, now just another mid-level band struggling with the limitations of the Commodore elevators.
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by juliana
[Ed. Note: We thought bed bugs were sooo last month. But much to our dismay, they are still around. An intrepid Bed Bug ninja managed to capture the bugs at a San Francisco hotel but got no reaction whatsoever from the front desk.]
This deal requires no commentary from us. 
