Travelodge by the Bay, San Francisco

...San Francisco, staying in the Travelodge by the Bay for a second time.

I would recommend this if, like me, you simply want somewhere which will be a good base to explore the city, and you’re happy to eat outside the hotel/motel.

I don't know what it would be like to stay there with kids but think that given its value for money, proximity to public transport and choice of rooms, it would probably be ok as a family option. ...
...blocks of Lombard Street. The Travelodge by the Bay is at 1450 Lombard Street, between Franklin and Van Ness. We ended up at this particular branch in March 2003 because it was one of the cheaper ones and a booklet listing all the Travelodges in the US and Canada indicated that it had won awards based on customer feedback. We found it a comfortable and convenient place to stay with friendly, helpful staff and someone always available. So when we ... more

Introduction

My boyfriend Mikey and I recently enjoyed a third visit to San Francisco, staying in the Travelodge by the Bay for a second time.

I would recommend this if, like me, you simply want somewhere which will be a good base to explore the city, and you’re happy to eat outside the hotel/motel.

I don't know what it would be like to stay there with kids but think that given its value for money, proximity to public transport and choice of rooms, it would probably be ok as a family option.

Decisions, decisions – where to stay?

There are 6 Travelodges in the city of San Francisco and two out near the airport. Also, three of the city ones are confusingly close together, within 14 blocks of Lombard Street. The Travelodge by the Bay is at 1450 Lombard Street, between Franklin and Van Ness. We ended up at this particular branch in March 2003 because it was one of the cheaper ones and a booklet listing all the Travelodges in the US and Canada indicated that it had won awards based on customer feedback. We found it a comfortable and convenient place to stay with friendly, helpful staff and someone always available. So when we decided to spend another week in San Francisco this year, it seemed logical to go back there.

Location

Lombard Street going west from Van Ness has lots of motels along it, and there’s quite a choice of cafés where you can get a takeaway coffee or eat a substantial breakfast/brunch in. This isn’t the very centre of the city but we found everywhere we wanted to visit was in easy reach by foot or public transport, and I feel a bit safer in this area than in downtown San Francisco. Buses down Van Ness go downtown, and cable cars from just a few blocks away run to the shopping area of Union Square. We walked down to Fillmore some days to get the 22 bus to Haight-Ashbury and the Mission. Touristy Fisherman’s Wharf is not far away, and nor is the Ferry Building or North Beach. A popular tourist attraction, the city’s “crookedest street” is just a few blocks east of the hotel, as is Macondray Lane, immortalised as Barbary Lane in Armistead Maupin’s novel Tales of the City. Enough rambling! I will not go into more detail here because I plan to write more about our holidays in San Francisco in a separate review of the city.

The Hotel

Rooms

This hotel has 72 rooms, some at ground floor level, and more above – there is a picture at the website. Last year we had a room up the stairs and away from the street, but this time when offered the choice at reception, Mikey plumped for a ground floor street facing room, rather than drag a suitcase packed with books up the stairs. He later appreciated that this might not have been the best choice – I preferred being away from the street from a noise and privacy point of view. The www.travelodge.com indicates that there are “handicapped rooms/facilities” and the disabled parking space was outside our door. Rooms open straight on to the car park or the walkway, but the front desk is staffed 24 hours and anyone in the office should have a good view of things happening. You can choose to book non-smoking or smoking rooms, and there are different combinations of beds available.

Our room had a one queensize bed (you can usually choose number/size of beds from the options listed on the website, particularly if you're booking well in advance and/or a quieter time of year as was the case for us. The small private bathroom contained a shower (no bath). There was a small cupboard/wardrobe, two chests of drawers and a bedside table with more drawers/storage space and a lamp on each side of the bed. So, there was some space to stash my holiday shopping (mostly books) out from underfoot, and we could each keep that must have junk of our choice close to hand. It wasn't that big a room but it sufficed for our needs for the week.

My main grumbles:

1. A horribly noisy heating system, a sort of wall mounted fan heater, which I assume would also serve as an air conditioner in summer. Fortunately the climate in San Francisco is mild even in late winter, and 10-20 minutes of that racket was usually enough to warm up the room.

2. There was no fridge, and we had to ask for a “cooling cupboard” to be removed from our room as it had gone really smelly. This little hiccup is not a complaint as my impression was that it was an aberration, and when we spoke to Lorette, who worked days at the front desk, it was dealt with very promptly and effectively.

Overall, the room was quite clean and pleasant, and anything in the control of front desk or housekeeping staff was just fine (I assume they didn’t choose that noisy heater!)

There was a coffee maker in the room and free sachets of coffee provided every day, but the concoction we were able to brew from this was pretty disgusting and I sent Mikey out for takeaway coffees each morning. Some Travelodges have free coffee “on tap” in the lobby, and this was the only thing I was a little disappointed by.

There was a colour TV although the selection of channels was limited. Mikey appreciated being able to watch English football games which are only shown on Sky at home.

We had a telephone in the room – all our local calls were charged at 75c, and I had a prepaid card for calls outside city boundaries. If you just wanted to book local services reception would help you with that and we were advised to do this if we needed taxis, for example, rather than pay for phone calls, though as it happened we didn’t need that service. Front desk would take messages and there was always someone there to check what these were if the red light was flashing on our phone. As we were trying to arrange to meet up with quite a number of different people during our stay this was useful.

Other amenities – the Travelodge website lists most things as being available on request or nearby, with extra fees for parking ($10/day) and pets staying ($20/night, smoking rooms only). There is a laundrette on site and we spent $3 washing and $5 drying some of our favourite clothes – supposedly open until 10 but we were allowed to take the key from reception and do it later on at night.

Price

We booked a couple of days in advance online in 2003 and paid c $69/$79 plus 14% tax in March 2003, and several months in advance paying c $59/$67 plus tax in February 2004. This was a bargain rate, and Travelodge in the US has a new loyalty points rewards scheme but our rate was too low to be eligible. As pound to dollar exchange rates have shifted over the last couple of years very much in our favour (about $1.80 to the £ this year compared to $1.56 or so in 2003) I didn’t mind that. Generally, I think this kind of budget accommodation in the US is of a much higher standard and better value for money than in the UK. Rates are higher on most weekends (Friday/Saturday) and in the summer.

Check-in and Check-Out

We were pleased to see Lorette at the desk when we arrived this year as we remembered her friendly, helpful attitude from last year. She was also on duty the day we left. She was very efficient and polite. On the last morning we had asked her to book a shuttle to the airport and when they were running late she chased them up. I took the trouble to fill out a positive comment card and made sure I left a tip for the maid who cleaned our room.

Conclusion

Very few frills but a clean, comfortable and convenient place to stay if you’re on a limited budget or want to keep your holiday money for spending on souvenirs/ nightlife/shopping/books/whatever takes your fancy. (My priority: books, books, and more books!) I would happily stay there a third time.

Booking

Internet: www.travelodge.com

You will need to go through various screens on the website but I have used this to book online several times (twice for this Travelodge and a number of times for other branches, sometimes on very short notice), and the site has lots of information and shows the choices of rooms available, and special rates etc. They will send you a confirmation email with the relevant booking reference and information, and you can check/alter/cancel the details online so long as you have the reference or the number of the credit card you booked on. You will need a valid credit card, but the bill will not be charged to this until you check out. If you decide to cancel a booking and give the required notice you will not lose out. Keep your booking details and confirmation email somewhere safe.

When I had to ask a question about my booking separately by email, replies came through quite quickly and helpfully (allowing for the time difference).

To book by telephone, call 00 1 415 673 0691 - this may be a good idea if you have any particular needs. California is almost always 8 hours behind the UK, so our evening is quite a good time to call.
 

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