Okay...my plans have gone awry! I've had to change my plane reservations and am now staying in San Francisco an extra night but cannot find a hotel room for my anniversary night! They're all booked! Does anyone know of a room in the Union Square area left? I have reservations at the Cartwright for the 4th of March but need a room for the 5th. This convention has taken all of the rooms! Any help is so welcomed!

OK, go to hotelres.com (a San Francisco hotel consolidator), click on Union Square and see if you can't find something. If there is nothing on their website, spend the $ and call them directly and tell them your plight. They have found rooms for us during convention times, and they are very helpful and nice. Be sure to aske them their own opinion of the hotel they may find for you and tell them you don't want anything in the Tenderlaoin. (Actually, I don't think they book hotels there.)

I just went to the site and found these listed as "possibles".

Union Square

Hotel 480 (used to be Crown Plaza, now undergoing renovation after a large chain bought it...but they are open.)

Parc 55
Hilton Union Square.

I found three possibilities in Fisherman's Wharf, 4 in the Financial District. All of these are OK neighborhoods.

Now, the problem is that sometimes if you click on the "possibles" you come up with "nothing available for 1 night on your date". Just in case some of these have 2 night minimums (unlikely on a weekday?) try saying you want to reserve for both the 4th and 5th. You could always cancel the Cartwright...pity, though.

This site is fast to use because you know which are "possibles" and can quickly run through them to find out if the "possibility" can be a "vacancy".

Good luck.

Also, go to tripadvisor.com click on forums, go to California forum then San Francisco forum and ask your question there. Lots of locals with good advice.

The convention [DH is going] had blocked almost all rooms in SF - something like 10,000 Ortho docs.

We are staying at The Mosser, but doubt there are any rooms with private bath now and I am sure you don't want hall bath.

I recently cancelled reservation at The Rex. It probably is gone now, but worth a try. It was for the period around the 5th of March.
Good luck.
Deb

Boo Hoo...couldn't find anything at all in the Union Square area so I decided to stay at the Cartwright for the 4th, ck out on the 5th. Hopefully they can hold our luggage for a while so that we can roam a bit more and then we will take a taxi to the Bay Landing hotel near the airport. Since we are leaving in the morning of the 6th this will have us close to the airport the day we fly out. Not what I wanted but next best thing.

Being obsessive-compulsive I just did a search on hotelres.com and found the only vacancy they seem to have, at the Royal Pacific Motor Inn on Broadway in North Beach. This is just a motor inn, and it is not fancy, but its location is great. You can walk to Fisherman's Wharf and North Beach and the Embarcadero.

Its reviews on Trip Advisor are not five star, but they love the location.

I just went to the website, and, as of now, you can reserve for March 5th.

http://www.royalpacificmotorinn.com/area.html

This would be a lot better than going out to the airport. Good luck and let me know if it worked.

Also call the manager at the hotel you already have booked and explain your plight. An insider may have a solution for you that the internet can't provide.

Hello normal, you have been given some good advice. Do call the manager at the Cartwright and see if they will extend your visit for one night. If not, I would reserve a room at the RoyalPalace that jrandolph posted for you. You could have a wonderful evening right there in North Beach! I never knew they exsisted! Jrandolph knows SF inside and out..the location is perfect for having an anniversary dinner. In fact our March 8th Fodor's GTG will be right across the street (Columbus and Broadway) from the RoyalPalace. Best wishes and Happy Anniversary to you two! . May you have many more decades of love and joys.

The four sisters inns is a collection of nice B&B's. There is the white swan inn and petite auberge. Give those a try, they are in a good area near Union Square.

I'm assuming that the room you book near the airport can be cancelled up to the day of arrival? If so, there is always a good chance that you can extend your stay once you are there. Most hotels do get last minute cancellations, and they'd be happy to give one of those to someone already in a room, that just let it sit empty or wait for a walk-in.

Try Quikbook, I checked March 5 for one night, 2 hotels available. The price is out of my reach, of course, but I don't know if you are willing to pay $300-400.

Fainaagain...that price range is definitely out of our range. I did call the Cartwright again and they said they would post a note to our room about extending the stay by one night if it becomes available. So I am hoping that they come through for us. The Bay Landing hotel that I booked near the airport doesn't look bad but I'm not impressed with their customer service. I'm still waiting for my confirmation email and its been 5 days!

Huh. We are staying at the Westin St. Francis over those dates and they still have rooms available, although they ain't cheap. $300-400.

Well the anniversary trip is over and it was a success! We had a wonderful time in San Francisco and the highlight of the trip was the 23mile bike ride from the city to Tiburon then back to Sausalito to catch the ferry. The weather was awesome, cool and dry..the people oh so friendly and the city and countryside beautiful! I wish we would have had more time to see more. The hotel problem resolved itself when they had the room available for an extra night when we ckd in. The Cartwright was undergoing renovations so it was a bit dusty in the hallway and entry to the hotel but since we weren't there much it didn't matter. Glad we went and looking forward to returning someday!

I am glad it all worked out for you!

Just a note for those who might do the same bike ride: if you're tired, you can catch the ferry back from Tiburon, no need to bike all the way back to Sausalito.

Actually we rode the bike on a Sunday and the ferry didn't leave from Tiburon that day. That's why we had to go back to Sausalito. We enjoy biking so it was no big deal to do this. However, we are used to riding in Florida on flat land so the hills in California really did me in. My husband on the other hand had no problem leaving me in the dust!