San Francisco Hotel
 

Hi Folks,

We want to go to a wedding next weekend at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, but missed the deadine for their "wedding special" price. So we will probably fly into SFO 10/12 and leave 10/15. Any suggestions for reasonably-priced hotels near the downtown or Nob Hill area? I looked at the Mosser or Mark Twain..any recent comments on those or other places to stay in San Francisco? Lots of places are already booked or $200 a nite and up, which is more than we want to spend. thanks!

Hello Willy, this is the hotel I tend to stay at when in SF. It is just a few doors down from Union Square on Powell St.

http://www.villaflorence.com/

hotel des artistes is often recommended

I'd have a look at Priceline.

I just checked Hotwire for that weekend, and there is availability, but at more than your budget, except outside the city. I would guess that if there's nothing on Hotwire in your budget, there won't be anything "direct" either. Can you have the person who's organizing the wedding call the Mark Hopkins and ask them to extend the deadline? After all, if there's a room, there's a room.

Consider the price of the taxi back and forth from the hotel of your choice, it may make sense to pay $200. Mark Hopkins is on a stip hill, you don't want to walk to/from, especially on high heels for the wedding!

Well, maybe Nob Hill hotel, kinda in a walking distance, and coming from that direction is not as steep

http://www.nobhillhotel.com/index.html

Looks like everything reasonable is booked up for that weekend. Looking www.biddingfortravel.com, someone mentions there is a medical convention and a teacher's convention. However the prices aren't terribly high so you might get something.

Looking at Expedia for downtown SF, the Mark Twain comes in at the second cheapest hotel with availability and there is NO way you would stay at the first hotel. It's average is $232 a night but with tax, etc comes to $270 a night. You can get the Mosser on their website for $223 a night including tax. If it was me, I would book the Mosser right now and you can always cancel it if Priceline comes through.

Oh, I just remembered, there is a huge medical conference (anesthesiologists) in town that weekend. A friend of our's will be in town, and we'll be out of town (maybe that's a good thing!)

Paula, Nob Hill Hotel on Hyde @ Sutter (does this address sound familiar LOL) has rooms under $200 for this weekend.

Faina-Yes very familiar. Does the Nob Hill Hotel get decent reviews? Don't know much about it.

I just checked Trip Advisor -- unfortunately, it gets pretty bad reviews.

I'm avoiding actually working, so I checked kayak.com and there is no availability at that price point in the city for that weekend. If you'd be willing to stay at the airport, there are a lot of nice hotels in your price range, and you could travel into the city via BART (except maybe for the wedding itself, since you'd have to take BART and then a cab to the Mark Hopkins).

Just checked Nob Hill hotel reviews - all 4 to 5 except one comlaining on customer service. It's one of the lesser known places as it is or was time share.

Faina, where did you check reviews? I'm looking at TripAdvisor and the overall rating is 2.5 and there are lots and lots of 1s and 2s.

I looked here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?wh...+san+francisco

But you're right, it's only the first page. Clicking on one of the reviews brings up bad reviews.

I withdraw my recommendation, sorry! Should've looked beyong the page # 1.

Thanks guys; it seems that $200 is unrealistic (wow) but my husband found the Whitcomb...anyone have first hand experience with this place? at about $730 for the 3 nites... he also reserved the Oakland Marriott at a great company rate, since we had originally thought we'd fly into Oakland and visit with friends in Oakland (they invited us to stay with them but too much mishegas going on there!) This would save us over $400. Is the BART really convenient from the OAK Marriott to SF? The church is Old St Mary's on California ST, that is before the Mark Hopkins reception.

Meanwhile the Groom (his first marriage at age 60! we had to go!!) called and said he'd try to find a better rate somewhere for us though the Hopkins is sold out. Usually I do a better job of planning these things, but I only confirmed to go this morning since we had "companion fare" tickets on Delta to use up and were able to book a convenient flight from JFK. (My husband was going to go alone on SWA)

Thanks again Fodorites. We spent this past weekend at an "affair" in Simsbury CT with a bunch of anesthesiologists..and not one clued us into the SF gathering!!! (ha)

willy, BART from Oakland City Center is very easy and very fast - 12 minute ride to the Embarcadero Station in San Francisco.

Thanks dmlove, the OAK Marriott is sounding better....LoveItaly, Villa Florence not available, the Nob Hill sounds...iffy.. but can you trust the reviews on trip advisor. Sounds like half the folks stayed at a different hotel! The Whitcomb didn't sound too bad. Very few places available for that weekend.

Hello Willy, I am sorry that the Villa Florence is not available for that weekend, I think it would have been ideal for you. Regarding Trip Advisor, I have mixed feelings so to speak about the various reviews posted on their website. I read them with a grain of salt if you know what I mean.

Did you check out the Mosser? The $223 price which includes tax is lower than the Whitcomb ($669 for 3 nights) and it seems to get good reviews. And you are right there in the city.

Mosser including tax is way more than the Whitcomb. Many other places are sold out for this weekend. I tried Hotelres.com per another poster but it wouldn't come up. How's the Hilton? I think there were some cheaper rooms there.

The basic things for a short trip like this, besides location, I guess are clean bathrooms, good beds, and relatively quiet for sleeping. But then again, coffeemaker and fridge are useful; and I love the little lotions.....Comfy towels...Charm factor doesn't hurt....ease of checkin & checkout...And is the proximity to BART OAK Marriott worth the saving?

Glad to have a few minutes to think about this stuff. I spent the weekend in the emergency room with my elderly mother and I"m waiting now for the dr to call to see if I can take her home.

Willy-When I sent my post to you, the Mosser had the double bed room for $199 a night plus tax which made it $223 a night. That was cheaper than the Whitcomb. Now it looks like all that is available is the deluxe queen which is more expensive. I think what you need to do right now is book something quick. A good room got away from you while you were trying to decide. You can always cancel your reservation if you find something better which at this late date probably wont' happen.

Thanks Paula, we've already reserved the Whitcomb and the Oak MArriott. I've been trying some last minute sites but nothing too new, except the Hilton. During the week I had called the Mosser directly (actually a Canandian Gal in Boca Raton staffs their "direct" line) and she tried hard to get me some of their specials but couldn't.

As I said, this is a diversion from all the other stuff that goes on in Real Life. At this time I don't even know if I can go, depending on my Mom. If my husband goes alone he would stay at the OAK Marriott since he doen't mind the BART aspect.

Willy-Glad you got something booked. I am sorry to hear about your Mom and hope you are able to make this trip. Sometimes it helps to get away for a few days.