My husband, nephew and I will be visiting San Francisco (mid October). The primary focus of this trip is to check out the graduate animation program at the Academy of Art University and look at apartments with our nephew. Since this will be our first visit to San Francisco, we need help with selecting a good hotel. Our first preference is to stay in downtown San Francisco, but the rates are super expensive ($500+ per night). We would like to splurge and get a separate room for our nephew, but these rates make it virtually impossible. Any ideas or suggestions? We are willing to consider nearby cities or suburbs. We will be in town for four nights/five days Thank you in advance for reviewing and responding to my message.

Hotel requirements: safe area, onsite restaurant, and super clean.

Hard to believe you can't find anything downtown for less than $500/nt. We live about an hour and a half south of the city and often head up for a few days ... we always find decent hotels near Union Square in the $200 - $250 range. Have you looked at the listings on tripadvisor? We just stayed at the Union Square Hilton a couple weeks ago for $230 a night, and there are lots of others ... check with each hotel's own website to see of there are any special deals. Most deals require non-refundable advance payment, but if you know you will be there for sure, there are deals. Not sure why you need an on-site restaurant, as the city is full of great places to eat, many within easy walking distance of hotels. Be aware that if you have a car, parking is very expensive. If you do have a car, check out gottapark.com for good deals on attended parking lots - very easy to use this website. It keys in on your location to give you the available parking within short distances, and can be a great money saver.

Since it's your first visit to SF, I would recommend staying in the city - the outlying areas will not give you the same experience, and dealing with getting in and out of the city can be a hassle, whether you have a car or are using BART.

Also - since you're there for four nights, you may be able to find a condo/apartment on VRBO.com (or similar) for less, with extra space for your nephew. Having a kitchen is always a good thing - you can eat in for breakfast and save a ton of money.

If you have time, sign up for a city tour. I recommend "Real San Francisco Tour" - it's an all-day walking and public transportation tour, but amazing. Small group and entertaining and knowledgeable guides. A good thing to do at the beginning of your stay, as it gives you a lot of info on various neighborhoods throughout the city.

October is one of the best months in SF, weather-wise. But be sure to bring a warm jacket, as when the fog rolls in, it gets cold fast.

Have a great trip!

I agree with scdreamer about staying in the city. With only 4 days, you want the convenience of a good location. We are visiting in early October and because I booked late, we are paying about $250 at the Hyatt Regency. This is my 7th trip in a few years and rates go up as you get closer to your date because SF is an extremely popular destination. I know the Hyatt is charging about $340 for the week of Columbus Day. Never have we paid near $500. The Hyatt Regency has a fabulous location imo and Union Square is another very good location that we've stayed in. I also agree that an onsite restaurant is not important. SF has terrific restaurants at all price levels. There are so many hotels in the downtown area. Use Kayak.com to get an idea of prices. AAA membership might lower your rate too.

Save your money. The Academy of Art is a diploma mill and while the instruction is decent, no one hires folks out of their animation program except as underpaid interns. GO to a real university, seriously, even if he has to cobble courses together to learn the artistic side he would like.

ScDreamer and Centralparkgirl,

I am extremely grateful to you both for the travel tips. I plan to spend the evening doing more research.

mztery: My nephew graduated from both Florida State University and the Savannah School of Art and Design. Some folks from SCAD and Pixar recommended The Academy of Art. They offer several "cutting edge" graduate animation classes that are not yet available at either FSU or SCAD. That is why we are making the trip to check out the school. No commitment, just checking things out.

Thanks again to all of you!!

You could try plugging your dates into the Mosser Hotel calendar to see what's available. It's located downtown very near to Union Sq, on 4th just south of Market @ Mission. It's a good location and convenient to public transportation. They have rooms w/ shared bath in the hall and some with bath in room. I'd be surprised if you couldn't get 2 rooms for well under $500/nt there. http://www.themosser.com/ Read reviews on yelp and tripadvisor and decide if it might work for you.

I am not trying to scare you off, honestly. But be aware that at the moment apartment rentals in San Francisco are through the roof. It's called the "Twitter effect" - Twitter is moving into downtown (mid-Market) San Francisco and bringing lots of 20-something's who want to live in the city. Same goes for companies like Genentech and other Silicon Valley companies - their employees do a reverse commute, often on company buses. My assistant lived in a 650-square foot apartment and his rent went up recently from $2700 a month to $4000 (he moved out of the city).

Students from the Academy of Art were involved in the animation of Beasts of the Southern Wild.

@michael - Beasts of the Southern Wild is an AMAZING film but definitely a labor of love and very low budget for a major film. Not putting it down,just that one out of 100,000 film s on that budget and student effort get picked up for distribution.

I stand by my comments on Academy of Art - some Pixar artists have taught/teach there, but the rest of the curriculum is a mess; they entice students by saying you will be taught by Pixar animators when it's just a couple of classes. It's crazy expensive and no guarantee of work.

better options to work in animation are
Animation Collaborative, founded by some pixar artists.

Cal Arts Valencia in So Cal.

Look at the MFA in digital production at Clemson University.

Gosh, so much information to take in. Every hotel, school and film (thank you, @michael) mentioned, we are researching. Thank you so much. Those who provided other lodging options, thank you! The dates we picked to travel to San Francisco appear to be very popular (week of 10/16 -10/21) according to the downtown Hilton(s), Hyatt, Intercontinental and other major hotel chains with downtown locations.

Thanks again!!

Yes, mid-October is very popular here --- it's convention season, and also generally the best weather. I just checked, and based on what is presently available on Hotwire, I'd say it's an EXTREMELY popular week!

no guarantee of work.

That is true of any school, especially in the arts. Note: As far as I'm concerned, the school in question is simply into real estate.

We've stayed at The Mosser and will be back again in December - great location and often great rates. Small but very clean rooms and great location.

I agree with other others. Definitely stay in the city, you can certainly find something below $500. Very modest but used by a number of friends is the Cow Hollow Inn. It has parking, no restaurant, but is on a block with many, including the to die for (and from??) Izzy's, in the upscale Marina neighborhood, though on the corner of an univiting motel street (Lombard). There are also deals on line--use tripadvisor.

The Mosser is good.

An Alternative is: have you tried airbnb? I hesitate to recommend airbnb because you must be very careful in your choice.

1) First the location is important. I scanned the listings and would not recommend anything that says "Union Square", "Civic Center" or even "Lower Nob Hill". Some of those places look great, but the neighborhoods aren't exactly the best.

I did think that your best bets, both for price and for safety, would be in areas like Noe Valley and Potrero Hill. Perhaps even the Mission District.

2) You should see how many other people have stayed there and what they have to say about the place. This involves reading every single recommendation/review. Be cautious about the reviewers too.

As much as I have booked on airbnb, I recently booked a place with over 40 great reviews. Wonderful, right? Not really, had a horrible experience with an AWOL host and other not so pleasant things. So I went back and checked the reviews and so many of them were from people who wrote only one review. If the bulk of the reviews are from people who write only onesey/twoseys, that should have sounded some alarm bells - unfortunately, I didn't dig far enough.

so, the morale of the story is to check and check and check and to dig and dig and dig.

3) Cancellation Policy - I never book with someone with a "strict" cancellation policy. "Flexible" and "Moderate" cancellation policies are OK, they allow you some wiggle room which the "Strict" cancellation policy does not.

So, in looking, I thought these might work for you:

"SF Apartment with Bay Views"

"Hidden Gem that Is Close to ALL"

"Classic Upscale 1 be near Fillmore" (actually this is near Japantown and not the Fillmore, which I would hesitate to recommend, depending on the location)

"Tranquil and Convenient Garden Studio"

"Victoria Flat in Inner Mission"

You can check out the website for yourself and remember to do research, research, research. Just plug in the city and your dates and away you go! Have fun!

https://www.airbnb.com/

Those places that are away from the downtown area are great for one thing: free street parking. If you have to pay for parking it could well run into $30/day or more, so look to see if there's free street parking.