My husband and I are travelling to the city by the Bay for a few days in March. I have a business conference, so we are being put up on the Marriot Downtown for three nights. I am looking for hotel suggestions for the two extra nights we plan to stay. I've read the past postings and seen a lot about the Westin St. Francis. Is that a good choice for a couple of special nights? Or is the Marriot a nice enough hotel that we should just extend our stay there? It's our first trip and we'd like it to be memorable. Thanks for your help.

We stayed at the Westin St. Francis last month and loved it. My wife and I found it to be a very elegant hotel. I don't know much about the Marriott, but we did a lot of research before taking our trip and found the Westin to be the palce to stay. We were not wrong. The cable car stops out front and the lounge is beautiful. I highly recommend a coctail while the quartet is playing before going to dinner. Send me an e-mail if i can be of further assistance.

We stayed at the Westin St. Francis last month and loved it. My wife and I found it to be a very elegant hotel. I don't know much about the Marriott, but we did a lot of research before taking our trip and found the Westin to be the palce to stay. We were not wrong. The cable car stops out front and the lounge is beautiful. I highly recommend a coctail while the quartet is playing before going to dinner. Send me an e-mail if i can be of further assistance.

To make this simple: The Marriott is fine and you should enjoy your stay there. If the rates are what you want to pay, then extend the extra number of days. However, the St. Francis, the Sir Francis Drake, the Mark Hopkins and the Fairmont are the old, classic San Francisco hotels. I don't know what the current rates are, but if there's not that much difference from the Marriott, you might want to consider changing hotels. (although that would be a time consuming prospect for us!) At any rate, have a wonderful visit to SF.Hopefully, the rains will have stopped by then and there will still be fresh crabs in the restaurants.

I'd say the key question is, 'what's your price range'. If you want to stay in the same price range as the Marriott, the Westin is a good choice. If you're willing to notch up, there are half a dozen other choices which you should check into.

Don't go to the Fairmont--it's under renovation and the charm is gone for now.

As you'll see when you arrive, the Marriott is just fine. But, if you want to throw the extra bucks around (as opposed to spending it on the glorious shopping and dining - good for you if you can do both), the Mark Hopkins is beyond compare...

I stayed at the San Francisco Hilton & Towers on Union Square. It was a great hotel great service large rooms.