I am considering the following:
Renaissance Stanford
JW Marriott
Omni

I know that all are good, but looking for little discriminating features like concierge, close to restaaurants, etc. I am leaning toward Ren or JW because of Marriott Reward perks.

FYI. I am going for a long weekend with my wife and no children in Sept.

The Renaissance Stanford Court is up on Nob Hill about 1/2 block from the Mark Hopkins and the Fairmont. It's up a steep hill and is, therefore, several steep blocks away from Chinatown. The rooms are fairly small if I can remember from pre-Renaissance days, but a very nice hotel. On the cablecar line, but a bit removed from other attractions.

The JW Marriott used to be the Pan Pacific. I've only been to conferences there. Beautiful hotel, about a block from Union Square, with its shopping and surrounding excellent restaurants.

The choice is sort of between having a quiet place a bit removed from everything, or being in the midst of Union Square activity.

I stayed at the JW Marriott in Aug. It is a beautiful hotel and the location is perfect. One block to Union Square. They are doing renovations of the rooms. Don't know if they are finished yet. They are just doing floor by floor and only seem to work on the weekdays. I checked in on a Friday afternoon and didn't hear any noise. Saturday morning there were no workers and I slept in a little. I got a good rate there and had no problem with the renovations but call the hotel to inquire about the situation. I never use a concierge but I just checked on tripadvisor to see if anyone was complaining about the renovations (they are not) and people were mentioning that the hotel staff was very helpful. The JW Marriott would be my choice.

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Two years ago, we stayed at the Stanford court. It was a very nice hotel. Our room was not small. We had two adults and two kids in the room. The beds were comfortable. The hotel is an old mansion so the rooms may be different sizes. The cable car was right outside our hotel entrance. Chinatown was an easy walk down, definitely ride up! I liked the location because it was safe and quiet at night. I would recommend staying there. We enjoyed it. Now that I think back, we were the only people I saw with kids. We went for spring break and so the hotel was on the quiet side in general. Hope you enjoy!

Actually, the Stanford Court is on the SITE of a former mansion, but I believe it was built as a hotel, so the rooms probably are not as different from each other as they would be if it really were a former mansion.

I think you have to make a fundamental decision -- be where the action is for tourists (JW Marriott, which is near Union Square and all the shopping, restaurants, theatre, etc.), where the action is for business people (Omni, which is across the street from the former Bank of America headquarters, in the financial district) or away from it all atop Nob Hill (Renaissance Stanford Court). Personally, I'd choose the JW Marriott, because I always like to be able to go out the front door and just start walking, which is not so easy from atop Nob Hill.

last top ... thanks for all the info

nolists-What hotel did you choose?

I decided on Renaissance Stanford Court and was not disappointed. The hotel is near the top of Nob Hill, very con venient to all areas.

We walked by the JW and Omni and they are very convenient to Union Sq and financial area but if you wanted to go to other areas north-west (bridge, pacific hts, union street, etc.) you would have to climb and descend a very large hill. There are cable cars or buses, but they can get crowded.

If you have any other specific questions, fire away ...