The Westin St. Francis, San Francisco

...stay on our tour of the United States. Our first destination was to be San Francisco and we did quite a bit of research ourselves, as well as taking advice from our long haul specialist at Thomas Cook. We wanted something central, near to a tram stop for easy accessibility and exploration of the Wharf district, somewhere near some of the famous stores but most importantly, somewhere where the staff would make us feel special on our first couple of ...
...St Francis seemed to be the only hotel that met all those needs and I have to say we weren't disappointed one bit.

***The Location***

Union Square in San Francisco is the heart of the city and this is the only hotel that overlooks this beautiful area. The square is also surrounded by stores such as Saks and Macy's and has a main tramline stop that can take you down to Fisherman's Wharf area for a small fee. The hotel ... more

***Background***

Every couple wants their honeymoon to be special and it took a lot of planning to decide where my new husband and I were going to stay on our tour of the United States. Our first destination was to be San Francisco and we did quite a bit of research ourselves, as well as taking advice from our long haul specialist at Thomas Cook. We wanted something central, near to a tram stop for easy accessibility and exploration of the Wharf district, somewhere near some of the famous stores but most importantly, somewhere where the staff would make us feel special on our first couple of nights as a married couple.

The Westin St Francis seemed to be the only hotel that met all those needs and I have to say we weren't disappointed one bit.

***The Location***

Union Square in San Francisco is the heart of the city and this is the only hotel that overlooks this beautiful area. The square is also surrounded by stores such as Saks and Macy's and has a main tramline stop that can take you down to Fisherman's Wharf area for a small fee. The hotel also has valet parking but this can be expensive at $49 per night. There is a parking facility available directly under the square too but we didn't manage to check the prices there and as we weren't picking up our hire car until the end of our stay, this wasn't something we had to use.

***The History***

What attracted us to this hotel, apart from the fact that I had heard it was gorgeous inside, was the history of it. This hotel dates back to the early 1900's and first opened it's doors in 1904. Due to a fire following the earthquake in 1906, the hotel had to be closed for a while for refurbishment and when it opened it was bigger than it had been originally with an extra 200 rooms. Extra wings and towers have been added since then of course and it offers an amazing amount of rooms, suites and facilities for conferences and banquets.

One of the oldest accessories in the hotel is the Magneta Grandfather Clock, which was installed when it reopened in 1907 after the earthquake. It has amazing detail on it and is a real centrepiece in the beautifully decorated lobby.

***Facilities***

The St Francis has many facilities to offer its guests including a wonderful fitness suite and in-room spa facilities, should a guest feel the need to be pampered in private.

There are three restaurants in the hotel to choose from so everyone's tastes can be catered for, whether it is an elaborate meal at the luxurious Michael Mina Restaurant, a more traditional meal in the tastefully decorated Oak Room or a snack and coffee in the Tower lobby where Caruso's is situated, you are sure to find something you like.

The hotel also has a kids club for those travelling with children and can help plan and cater for weddings of any kind.

Other facilities available are room service, concierge service and other requests such as wake up calls, dry cleaning and helping with luggage.

Rooms also have a mini bar, a safe and ironing facilities in them. There was also a lovely range of complimentary shampoo, conditioner, luxurious bath soap and hydrating cream on arrival.

In the morning you should find a copy of the USA Today newspaper on your door handle.

The hotel also has both conventional and wireless internet facilities at a charge, however, we had already been told that it was easy to pick up free wireless internet if you went down to the Square below and this is what we did when we wanted to check up that our kids were ok by email or using Skype.

The hotel is completely non-smoking which means that everywhere smelt lovely and fresh throughout. Rooms all have air-conditioning that is easy to control.

***The Arrival***

I have to say that I am totally ashamed of myself when we arrived at this hotel but before I tell you why I will say in my defence that after the wedding I had only 2 hours sleep before getting up at 4.30am on the Sunday morning to leave for Edinburgh Airport, then on to Heathrow where we had to wait til our flight at 2pm. Following a 10-hour flight to San Francisco where I only slept for about 30 minutes in total and then organising a door-to-door shuttle from the airport, I was absolutely exhausted when we finally walked through the doors of the hotel.

The reason I was so ashamed of myself was because I failed to notice any of the amazingly beautiful interior and just concentrated on the welcome desk. All I could think of was getting to my room and getting some sleep. It was around 7pm over there so with it being 8 hours behind the UK my body thought it was around 3am and was refusing to do anything, much to my new husband's disgust, lol.

I do remember though that the welcome we received could not have been better. We were booked into a standard room but because it was our honeymoon we were instantly upgraded and were given a king room with a few extras. We were told about some of the facilities available and assured that if there was anything we needed we could ring down to the concierge or reception and someone would help us.

One thing I do remember was getting into the elevator, as they are very fast and have an outside view although to be fair it wasn't the best of views, near the centre of the building. We were staying in the Towers area rather than the original section of the hotel and were up on the 11th floor, which wasn't too good with my fear of heights.

At check-in you have to hand over your credit card details for any incidental expenses you incur whilst staying. You get card keys for your room.

***The Room***

The room was everything we could have hoped it would be. A huge king size bed greeted us and was covered in a pristine white covered duvet and ample pillows. Also in the room was a desk and chair, a comfortable chaise long and bedside cabinets with square shaped table lamps that gave off a warm and welcoming glow. For clothes storage there was a walk in wardrobe that also contained the safe and the iron with ironing board. The television was stored in a heavy dark wood cabinet, which had 4 drawers underneath for storing any other clothes that didn't need hanging up.

Nearer the bathroom the tea and coffee facilities could be found along with a fridge stocked with mini-bar items. We decided against using anything from there though, as not only were the products quite expensive but there was a re-stocking fee too, which was also quite high.

The bathroom was beautifully decorated with gold fittings on a background of cream marbles work-surfaces and tiles. The shower had a two headed fitting which meant that you could aim them at every bit of an aching body. It was just perfect for easing away the pains after spending a long time cramped on a flight. The bathroom lighting was lovely too. There were a couple of options to choose and you could have the brighter main ceiling light on or just the wall lamps at either side of the mirror if you wanted a warmer glow. The bathroom also had shaver point facilities and housed a hairdryer too.

The large window had both curtains and blinds so really blacked out the city lights and the early morning sun when we were desperately in need of sleep. The view was classed as a city view but bay views are also available.

***Our Experiences***

You can stop worrying about this heading right now. I'm not going into 'those experiences'.

As soon as we got into our room I relaxed and quickly got out of my shoes and clothes and headed straight for the shower. We had eaten on the plane before landing so we weren't very hungry and we knew we had a long day ahead the next day with the sightseeing tours we had pre-booked, so light unpacking and getting some sleep was all that was on our minds.

While I was in the shower, my hubby went to charge up his laptop so we could contact the kids the next day. That was where we encountered a small problem in that the adaptor we had taken with us wasn't working. After a phone call down to the front desk we were advised that one would be brought up to us shortly along with a complimentary bowl of fruit since it was our honeymoon. We both thought that this was a lovely touch and sure enough it wasn't long before we had both items brought up to us by a very polite young man.

This was a perfect end to a bit of a stressful and tiring day and we felt very special as we snuggled up on the amazingly comfortable bed and shared the apple, pear and peach between us.

Downstairs in the lobby the next morning I was amazed to find the gorgeous décor that I had completely passed by the night before. The lobby is filled with beautiful chandeliers, cornicing, mirrors and plants. The high backed chairs and rectangular mirrors have a bit of a Rennie Mackintosh feel to it and I instantly fell in love with it.

The most amazing part though had to be the old grandfather clock, which had so many intricate details on it. This stood under a throughway to the entrance where clocks were situated with the times in Tokyo, Honolulu, New York and London, as well as the time in San Francisco itself.

After a tiring day out we returned and decided to share a light supper between us and had pizza and some ice cream in our room. Not the most extravagant of meals but we were able to choose the topping we wanted and were able to chill out in our room while we ate. Jet lag had also caught up with hubby now and we were too exhausted for a night out on the town after visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz (more about them in other reviews I think).

The food wasn't too expensive but you have to remember that tipping is extra and that food is generally cheaper over in the States. There was an extra charge for the delivery too but again it was nominal and it was easier than going down to one of the restaurants.

Unfortunately our 2-night stay at the St Francis was over very quickly and the next morning we had to check out. This was made easy by the bill being slipped under your door early in the morning with any incidentals marked on it. If this was correct all you had to do was sign it and put it in the express checkout box on the way out. Check out time was 12pm but we were checking out early to collect our hire car (now there's another review too and not such a happy one).

***The Cost***

Our room was part of a package deal with Thomas Cook so I'm not exactly sure off the top of my head how much it cost us, but I have done my homework and for the King Size Deluxe room you are talking about £160 per night. Normally we wouldn't think of paying this much but with it being our honeymoon we felt we deserved it and we also got a free upgrade to this room so it would have been a bit cheaper.

***Summary***

The hotel really is a classy establishment to stay in and looks wonderful in the evening when it's all lit up in the square. Everything about it says luxury and although it's on the expensive side we would definitely recommend it for it's comfortable airy rooms, beautiful and tasteful decoration and polite and friendly staff. The location is excellent with lots of stores within walking distance for those shoppers, bakeries and delis for those who want a light breakfast and a tram stop just outside the doors for those who want to explore the Wharf area.

This really was a great place to start our wonderful honeymoon. 

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