The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco

...big wedding as much as the next person. However when it was my turn, I did not want to spend a year planning anything large and instead chose to go overseas to celebrate only with immediate family. The first six days of our combined wedding and honeymoon trip were to be spent in San Francisco. I was looking for somewhere special to stay because one of these days was to be the wedding day. There are a handful of five star hotels in San Francisco but ...
...I was won over by the impressive white façade complete with roman pillars.

===_Booking, prices and pre-stay_===

We did not book the hotel directly ourselves but rather this was part of a Kuoni holiday. I have to admit I am not sure exactly what rate we got but it was somewhere between £200 and £250 per night. I felt that this was reasonable as I had carried out some research on-line and the best rate available for a ... more

I love a big wedding as much as the next person. However when it was my turn, I did not want to spend a year planning anything large and instead chose to go overseas to celebrate only with immediate family. The first six days of our combined wedding and honeymoon trip were to be spent in San Francisco. I was looking for somewhere special to stay because one of these days was to be the wedding day. There are a handful of five star hotels in San Francisco but the Ritz Carlton is one of the highest rated, had just had a $12.5m refurbishment and I think I was won over by the impressive white façade complete with roman pillars.

Booking, prices and pre-stay

We did not book the hotel directly ourselves but rather this was part of a Kuoni holiday. I have to admit I am not sure exactly what rate we got but it was somewhere between £200 and £250 per night. I felt that this was reasonable as I had carried out some research on-line and the best rate available for a standard room was about £230 to £250 and indeed this is about the rate today as well.

Before we travelled to San Francisco I had reason to contact the hotel about a couple of things. The first was that I explored the possibility of holding my wedding dinner here and I made contact with the hotel by completing the query form in the wedding section of their website. To save on phone bills I liaised with them by e-mail but was not entirely satisfied with the responses I got mainly because of the poorly explained pricing structure and I am an accountant and understanding such things is not normally a problem for me. We went back and forth many times and I finally calculated that a private wedding meal for eight people would easily be over $4,000 (£2,200) and so decided to pass.

I also used the "request for services" form on the website twice more before we travelled. Once was to explain it was my wedding and to enquire about facilities for having hair / make up done and the other was to try and book a table for dinner in their restaurant "The Dining Room". This is one of the best restaurants in San Francisco and I wanted to make sure we got a table on the day / time we wanted. I did not receive a response to either query and this troubled me slightly before we travelled. Happily, my concerns proved to be wrong.

Arrival and room

We travelled the fourteen miles from the airport by taxi and it took about half an hour. The hotel is in the charmingly named Nob Hill area of the city just off California Street and within easy walking distance of China Town and Union Square. The walk back is not quite so easy being up one of those very steep hills that San Francisco is famous for, but cable cars help out here. These are frequent, convenient and a nice way to get around the city they also stop very close to the hotel.

Upon sweeping up to the hotels entrance on our first day, we were immediately greeted by very smartly dressed doormen who dealt with our luggage and led us to reception. There were about three people manning the reception and we had to wait just a few minutes for our turn to check in. From this point on, we were greeted by name each and every time we entered or left the building or walked to / from the lifts past the reception desk. After checking in we headed up to our room and our luggage was delivered a few minutes later. The recent refurbishment included all guest rooms and this was evident as it was beautifully furnished. It contained a king size bed which was almost completely covered by pillows and cushions, a chaise longue, armchair, desk, 30 inch flat screen TV, DVD player, safe and minibar. The room had wifi access and we were given two vouchers each allowing us one movie and a bowl of popcorn from room service. I was equally happy with the marble bathroom especially the double sink as we are always fighting for space around the sink as my other half does not travel light when it come to beauty products.

Food and drink

During our six days we made use of a few of the eating and drinking options. We had room service breakfast three times and one evening we had dinner. Menus offered plenty of choice and we received our meals within thirty minutes of calling each time. The meals were served with style too, huge trolleys, heavy silver cutlery and plenty of complementary bread and iced water. For a five star hotel, I thought the prices were very reasonable, about $15 (£8) for the average main course for example. Like all American hotels I have been in though, the cost does mount up once they add on a few more dollars for delivery and 15% gratuity.

We also visited the lobby lounge a couple of times for drinks, service was very quick, polite and being accustomed to London I thought the prices were nothing out of the ordinary, about $8 for a glass of wine for example. Every day high tea is held in the lobby lounge (similar to our own Ritz in Piccadilly) but we did not have time for this.

On our last night we had dinner in the restaurant called "The Dining Room". This is one of San Francisco's most renowned restaurants, has accolades coming out of its ears and unsurprisingly is not only frequented by hotel guests. There are a few dining options, you can either chose one of the chefs tasting menus which have six to eight set courses for $90 - $100 (about £50) per person. If you don't fancy six courses then you simply chose your own three courses for one price of $68 (about £40). We opted for this and had 15 starters to choose from and 10 main courses with a slight emphasis on fish but there really was something for everybody. The food was fantastic, service faultless and I can confidently say this was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had and an absolute bargain for this price. When we returned to our room later we had a card thanking us for visiting the restaurant.

Service

The service provided by the staff at the Ritz Carlton was simply outstanding and not least because it was provided by each and every person we came into contact with and not just the ones with highly visible roles such as the greeters on the door. Whenever we left the hotel we were offered a complimentary lift to our destination if there was a hotel limo, which was more often than not. Room service was always delivered with a smile, wine was poured for us and the dishes were explained, this was not just for a good tip either because they don't accept tips (having already added service to the bill). On my wedding day I remember having a giggle with a couple of chamber ladies who I had summoned to zip me into my dress and later that evening I got back and they had left me a little note wishing me all the best. Even though we did not actually hold our wedding at the Ritz, we had champagne in the lobby lounge afterwards and obviously they could not fail to notice our outfits, so when we retired that night they had decorated the bed with rose petals, left champagne on ice and a plate of strawberries which had not just been chocolate dipped but the chocolate was painted on as dinner jackets! They left another plate the next night too.

Summary

There is no need for a long summary here. I have stayed in many five star hotels and all I can say, with my hand on my heart, is that this was and remains the best hotel I have ever stayed in. 

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