Can anyone advise me on the following San Francisco hotels:
Kensington Park
SW
Handlery Union Square
Grosvenor Suites
Savoy
Warwick Regis
Hotel Vintage Court

Any comments or other suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

We've stayed at the Warwick Regis and it was fabulous, service, room, amenities.. I've never been to the others, so I can't render an opinion on those, but if I were in SF again, I'd be staying at the Warwick. Location is good, too.

What's the neighborhood like there? I was thinking it was starting to get marginal.

hpl:
Yes, you're right about the neighbothood. I too have notice that Union Square and much of Downtown SF is pretty grimy and uninviting: lots of street people and prostitutes. I would choose Marina or Cow Hollow areas instead.

San Francisco is over rated. I was there for four days in March and I saw alot of Bums and scum to last me a long time. The whole town is turning into a skid row. It's too bad. S.F. was a great place to visit at one time. Now you better watch your back.
Come to Chicago. My kind of town. Everthing is great but we don't brag about it.

Jim,

I agree with you in your assessment of SF. SF has been a progressive deteriorating over the past decade or so. Now it has gotten to the point of sheer repulsiveness in many of the areas frequented by tourists. It really is a shame.

We were in San Francisco last weekend and stayed at the Chancellor Hotel on Union Square. The service was great, our room was clean and everything we needed with a view of Union Square - everyone there was helpful and friendly and one of our favorite restaurants was right across the street - Scala's Bistro, also next door is Sear's Fine Dining - a great old San Francisco restaurant for breakfast. Also, we have stayed at the Galleria Park Hotel, Donatello Hotel and Beresford Arms - all were great bargains - and Union Square is great. Enjoy your trip!

I stayed at the Grosvenor Suite about 6 months ago on business. It's a '60s apt. building that was converted to a hotel. Had a very large room with a kitchenette although breakfast is included in the room rate. Good location near Nob Hill. It's not fancy but I would definitely stay there again.

We could hear street noise at the Vintage Court so if you stay there specify a quiet room away from the street. The rooms were decorated nicely even though it is older.

I too have come to the conclusion that SF seems to be overrated and is in dire need of some major clean up efforts to get rid of the homeless as well as other derelicts on the street. A hotel in Union Square would be the last place to consider staying until they clean up that neighborhood.

any comments on radisson-fishermans wharf? hotel bijou? hyatt-embarcardero?
i want to be close to a trolley stop to have access to such a great city!

Jasper
We recently stayed at the Radisson Fisherman's Wharf and loved it. It is a three star hotel.Our room was very clean and the staff friendly. We asked for a bay room view and if we left our window open we could hear the harbor seals on Pier 39 bark, which might drive some people nuts, but we liked it. We could see Alcatraz from our room as the hotel is right across the street from Piers 41 and 39. We walked to the cable cars and took them to Chinatown. The hotel is very close to the Golden Gate Bridge and driving to wine country, Muir Woods, Sausalito, San Jose, and Santa Cruz. It also offers free parking if staying there (It's advertised in the 2003 Convention brochure as such) It's close to a grocery store which we shopped at for bagels, peanut butter and banana's for breakfast. Not only was it cheaper to have breakfast in our room, we saved a lot of time and could get going on the day's activities. Have fun!

jasper - if you want to be close to public transportation, the Hyatt Embarcadero is an excellent choice.

cd and j correa...thanks! i actually think it would be kind of cool to hear the seals bark like that! i loved sf when i was there 3 years ago, and can't wait to get back. this time around i want to return to the haight, and make it to the places i missed last time...city lights book store, harry dentons starlight room, lombard street, etc...any resteraunts not to miss? i know these hotels will probobly be $$$, but thats the price you pay for convenient location like that. and if you're gonna do it, do it right! : )

Try the Palace Hotel in the business district. Very nice. They even have afternoon tea.

Jim
I QUITE happily agree with you--Chicago is way underrated IMHO.But man, it gets coooooooollllld!!

I saw a segment recently on the 6pm news (natinal news) about the problems with the /bums/homeless in S.F. and fact that it's definitely hurting the tourist/hotel business. Apparently they are doing something about it - of course not everything agrees with how they are handling the problem.

Jasper
I got the Radisson for $80.00 on Priceline and I felt that was good with the free parking. A restaurant we enjoyed was across the street on Pier 39 "Pier Market" moderate price and good crab cakes and wonderful clam chowder we would always ask for a window view that overlooks the harbor and Pier. If you have a car, drive the "crooked" part of Lombard St. We took a cab and went down it but decided we could have done that! However, he picked us up at the hotel, took us down, stopped and took of picture of us at the bottom, took us back to the hotel for $10.00.

cd...sounds fun! i know it's touristy and stuff but hey...i haven't brought myself to bid on priceline because aren't you stuck w/the hotel they give you? i'd rather know what i was getting, i'm kind of spoiled : )

The cash not care program is proving to be very controvercial. I don't know much about the details, but it seems like a good idea in theory - providing vouchers for services to the homeless rather than cash.