My wife & I along with another couple are going to SF in September. We have never been, but the other couple have & they have narrowed down our hotel choices to three. They went a couple of years ago & stayed at the Maxwell & loved it, but want to stay either there again or somewhere else. So, they have selected Maxwell, Kensington or Hotel Rex. They said they would let us pick out of the three choices! How nice of them, huh?! We have had other friends give us advice on other hotels & they gave us different hotels that we would enjoy better. Hotel Monaco, Four Seasons, Orchard Hotel, etc., but our friends are determined to stay at one of the three they chose! My wife & I are about to call the whole trip off & go by ourselves at another time, but they are our very best friends, however, after this trip, they could end up our worst enemies! Ha! Which hotel would you choose? Any advice would help. Thanks!

Robert, I think the hotels you list are in a few different categories. If you can afford the Four Seasons, I'd imagine it can't be beat. The Hotel Monaco gets great reviews and is considered upscale. The Rex and the Maxwell are boutique hotels, probably smaller rooms but nice common areas and personable service. So, it really depends on what kind of hotel you are seeking. Have you considered that you don't have to stay at the same hotel? Most of these you list are in the Union Square area and walking distance to each other. Might be a better option than ending up enemies! Also, do some searches here for more reviews of the hotels. Good luck.

Robert- my wife and I just returned from a 2 night stay this past weekend at the Four Seasons and it was excellent. The room was excellent (as you would expect at a Four Seasons) and the service was fantastic. The first night we had a dinner reservation and asked the bellman to get us a taxi. They instead had a driver from their hotel car take us and pick us up from dinner- a nice touch. Upon returning from dinner, they had a nice piece of chocolate cake with "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate on a plate awaiting us in the room (when making the reservation, I informed them it was for my wife's birthday). When you're paying top dollar for a nice hotel, the little things make a nice difference and Four Seasons made us feel like celebrities even though we're far from that category.

we have stayed at the Kensington once on New Years Eve. It is centrally located and ver nice. High ceilings, REAL wooden furnitire, tasteful decorating, kind of small though. I wouldn't think it would be the same experience as the Four Seasons! We were on a tight budget at the time. We got a great show and room rate.Sounds like it should not be your first choice.

I just stayed at the new Omni property, which rates 5 stars. It's centrally located on California, between Kearney and Montgomery. I booked it on HOTWIRE for 139.00 per night which was a SPECTACULAR bargain.
This was my 3rd hotwire booking and I'll always book SFO using it!

Tell your friends that you'd like to stay at the Maxwell since they loved it so much, but that you wouldn't mind if THEY wanted to try one of the other two hotels so that you'd get a chance to see the rooms at two different places.

This way you'll be sure to get some "space" from your friends when you are in San Francisco.

staying at hotel monaco in mid sept. they have really great rates right now...call their central reservations line.