Help w hotels in sf and la
 

Going to LA and San F in 3 wks... In san Fran will not have car thinking of Wharf area Financial or Embarc areas any thoughts also will have rental in LA traveling with my two 20 something daughters. We would like to go to Santa monica and Venice. THe usual touristy things around Hollywood and BH. we are not going downtown. We have Price is Right Tickets any thoughts except luck on how to get chosen??? Also have tour of Warner Bros set up. What would be a good location and good reasonably priced hotel?? thanks for your help

Stay as far west as you can afford in case of a heat wave. Check the rates at Comfort Inn Santa Monica, Holiday Inn Express West Los Angeles, Hilgard House, Farmer's Daughter and Wilshire Motel.

In order, I'd choose Embarcadero, Union Square, Financial District, Cow hollow/Marina, then Fisherman's Wharf. All of San Francisco has pretty decent public transportation, although there are parts of the city that are much easier to get to by automobile.

Embarcadero is a very calm environment, on the bay, great restaurant selection. Union Square I'd the main shopping area, decent restaurant selection. Financial district is exactly that, and therefore very quiet on weekends, but very centrally located (between the Embacadero and Union Square). The reason I might suggest the Cow Hollow/Marina area is simply the two residential neighborhoods, which are both great for shopping, restaurants, people-watching. Fisherman's Wharf is pretty much strictly tourists.

A heat wave is usually around, but not in SF.

What the locals do, including myself, is to go and watch the tourists wearing sweatshirts because it's cool/cold in SF.

My favorite area is Union Square. Fisherman's Wharf is dead last on my list of places to stay.

SF has prettyn good transportation, check out the MUNI website.
http://www.sfmta.com/

>>A heat wave is usually around, but not in SF.<<

Just to make things clear for nancy5 - clarkgriswold's post about staying 'as far west as possible in case of heat wave' was re Los Angeles.

What is your budget per night? Reasonable is kind of vague.

It would be very nice to find something for 150 but I can see it is likely to be more like200 thanks to all for info

My favorite hotel in San Francisco is the Hotel Monaco. My first choice would be the Monaco or another one of the Kimpton boutique hotels -
http://www.kimptonhotels.com/hotels/...francisco.aspx

I've stayed in many of the convention hotels when traveling on business but would check out after work was over to stay at the Monaco for the fun part of the trip. I think the daughters would really enjoy it.

If prices are really high during your dates, you can find great deals on Hotwire, using www.betterbidding.com to help figure out which hotel you will probably get. If a hotel has 80% or higher satisfaction, I am comfortable with the choice. Sometimes Kimpton hotels pop up on Hotwire at very good rates.

For something not too expensive and not too hot around LA I would look in Marina del Rey, inland Santa Monica, West Los Angeles area (the San Diego freeway is about as far inland as you might want to be, although Westwood Village is also okay).

If you don't mind driving a bit more you can get some good pricing at the hotels around El Segundo/Manhattan Beach.

Hyatt has two in the area, I especially like the Hyatt House on Douglas since it's conveniently located to all the shopping on Rosecrans.

http://elsegundo.house.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

Hilton/Embassy Suites also has some affordable hotels, the Hilton Garden Inn in El Segundo is a good one. They also have some Doubletree hotels on the westside. I would just go to Hilton.com and look for hotels near LAX and see what's around for your dates.

Holiday Inn Express Hollywood Walk of Fame will probably be over your budget or I might suggest it.