This is an update of my previous post. I am looking for a comfortably sized, three or four star hotel room in San Francisco for a weekend in October. I would prefer to stay in an upscale, trendy type place rather than a typical chain hotel. I like the boutique hotels, but will consider any roomy 3 star or better accomodations, as I think the boutique hotels typically have smaller rooms. I would like a room with a queen or king bed and possibly a sofa sleeper or at least room for a rollaway, a junior or executive suite maybe. My Navy son will be in town for fleet week and may get overnight liberty, and I would like to be able to accomodate him in our room. I would like to keep it under $200/night including parking, if possible. Am I asking for too much? Are there hotels that cater more to business people that may have less expensive weekend rates? The Hotel Rex has an executive king room which includes parking for $214/night that I am considering. I am not too particular about location. I would just like to be able to get around on the cable cars or buses conveniently.

Am not an expert on SF - but that seems like a lot to ask for that budget.

I checked the hotel Rex - and it doesn't have free parking - just different (higher) rates if you park a car. The only rate I could find for a double double (2 beds - of which they seem to have very few) was almost $300 per night - but perhaps you've found some special discout price I couldn't.

Have you looked at getting two rooms on Priceline?

Just an FYI regarding hotel accommodations in SF in October and especially during Fleet Week - BOOK NOW! I live in SF, but got married during that week in last year. Apparently (I learned this when trying to reserve blocks of rooms for my guests), October is one of the biggest months for conventions in the city. Add that factor with Fleet Week and Columbus Day and you may find yourself unable to secure accommodations if you wait too long. It may not end up being the case, but I wanted to share my experience.

As for hotel parking, it is my experience that it can be around $30-$40 a night. If you can get a room that includes parking, even better, but is is not that common, I don't think. You may want to look into parking at a municipal garage, which will only probably cost you $25/day. If you can avoid renting or having a car in the City, I would.

"Am I asking for too much?"

Yes.

If you find anything within your price range, grab it and hope for the best.

The Hotel Rex has a valet parking package for their rooms that is an additional $25, sounds like a fair enough rate. The Executive King was there Friday, but I just checked and it no longer comes up as available, so you're right, I better get it in gear.

acwsf, I don't know why the rates you found were so high. I just checked their website again and the rates for the remaining rooms available range from $149 to $169 without parking, a little less with AAA. I called and the Executive King is definitely sold out for my date.

Have you looked into Marines Memorial? It's open to servicepeople and their families only. we stayed there years ago and the rooms were huge, but shabby--but it was cheap. If all else fails... good luck!

We stayed at Tuscan Inn (it is a Best Western but definitely has a more boutique-y feel than any chain hotel) near Fisherman's Wharf 3 years ago. Had what I think they called a "king suite" which was a room with king bed and small "sitting room" - completely separated by doorway - with a double sized sofa bed. Cost at the time was a little over $200 - no idea about cost or availability for your time frame.

Upside - we really liked the hotel, staff, location.

Downside - our room was directly over main entrance with car driveway - a little noisy. Sitting area room was nice, but when sofa bed was opened it was impossible to walk around in it. Bathroom is off bedroom - so whoever sleeps on sofabed must walk thru bedroom to use it.

Even though my downside list is longer, I would recommend this hotel and would return anytime.

Thanks for the tip, but the Tuscan Inn is not available for my dates.

valleycat, I only know the parking rates for the hotels I dealt with on Nob Hill (Intercontinental Mark Hopkins, etc.). I'm only going on that info and anecdotal evidence for the parking prices. Last year the Intercontinental charged approx. $35-$40 a night for parking for my guests. Parking is at a premium downtown, so if you can find something better than that, good for you. Take it and run!

Hi valleykat, check with the Donatello Hotel on Post St., (about a block west of Powell St.) as they have very large rooms. However I do not know if they have sofabeds in their rooms but everytime I stayed there they did have a sofa in the room. Not sure of the room rate or parking cost either but it might be worthwhile to give them a call and see what they can do for you. Best wishes.

We stayed at the Villa Florence a couple years ago. Got a very good weekend rate - I believe it was less than $100. Very nice boutique hotel in Union Square. We even got a free upgrade to a junior suite which was huge. Free wine and beer every afternoon. Close to the cable cars and bus lines.

"I would just like to be able to get around on the cable cars or buses conveniently." - trust me, "convenience" and "SF public transportation" can't be in the same sentence unless you're overly sarcastic.

You will be transported from A to B, and that's about it. The cable cars are always packed. So are most of the buses. Riding up and down hills while standing is not the most pleasant part of the sightseeing. Historic trolleys? packed.

Make sure you have closed-toe shoes so if someone steps on them it won't be too painful. Don't wear white pants - the seats are not always clean. Know your way around - or you will miss your stop.

Welcome to San Francisco

Any of the Kimpton hotels sound like what you would like ----Tuscan Inn (can you keep trying? Maybe they will have a cancellation), The Juliana, Florence, etc. They are all nice boutique hotels, small and very comfortable.

Well - you mentioned having your son stay with you - so I was pricing a triple room with two beds. Most of the rooms have only one king or queen bed - and so would be unsuitable for 3 people.

Also- as you know - rates can change by the minute - as people reserve and cancel.

Depending on how long you're staying, you might want to rent an apartment--some are available for 2-3 night stays. You can see quite a selection on vrbo.com. I considered a one bedroom on Telegraph Hill that has a fold-out in the living room which would fit your budget (but I decided I'm not in good enough shape to walk up that hill every day).

A vacation rental is an excellent idea, however, after looking at a few, I realized that one won't work for us because they are generally non- refundable. Even though I know that Fleet Week is that weekend, my son has still not been informed of the dates and has been led to believe that they will be in San Francisco at another time. I think this is for security reasons. Since I won't know with 100% certainty that he will be there until shortly before, all the discount sites like Priceline and Hotwire, are also out.

I have had a frustrating search. Things that were available last week when I looked no longer are. The Donatello looked promising, but does not allow 3 adults in a room; no rollaways. The Villa Florence, Juliana, Cow Hollow Motor Inn, Columbus Motor Inn, and Hotel Del Sol are all booked up, as are most of the moderately priced properties in the jdvhospitality group.

I have tenative reservations at Cornell Hotel De France. I have come to the conclusion that I may not get as nice a room as I would like because I am not willing to pay $250-$300 a night. This hotel has very positive reviews on tripadvisor. Any comments good or bad? They have a room with a queen and a twin for $130 plus $17 parking. The Pacific Heights Inn has a room that could work, but there's not alot to read online about them. I was getting pretty excited about the Handlery. They have club queen/queen rooms for a good rate and are well reviewed, but, alas, they are booked for the first night of my stay. I have thought about booking them for Saturday and Sunday and staying somewhere else on Friday, but I don't know.

I'm kicking myself over losing the Executive King room at the Hotel Rex. At least I have something now, if nothing else comes along, but I wish I were more excited about it. I will keep looking.

I wish you the best of luck. The best advice I can give now is to book whatever you find acceptable! Things book up very fast, esp. with fleet week. As you have already found, rooms you wanted are no longer available. So, as soon as you find something in your price range, BOOK IT! Don't wait to see what fodorites think. You have been given a lot of good advice until now, so you should be able to make a good decision.

I would hate to hear back from you that you couldn't find a room in SF in your budget because you waited too long.

So, best of luck to you, and book now!
Andiamo

We were very pleased with the Argonaut. Steps from the cable car turnaround, buses, streetcars, even the motorized trolley tours and boat tour docks.

Our room was quite large with a very nice sofa, though I don't know if it was a fold-out. To my recollection, the AAA rate was right around $200, but I booked it on Hotwire for $129 (this was last July). The bed was huge, at least a queen. (Very, very comfortable!)

I did a trip report on San Francisco just recently at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...e=cheezz&fid=1

In it, I recommended The Union Street Inn <www.unionstreetinn>, which is a marvelous bed & breakfast... don't know how you feel about that, but it is well within your budget. One of the co-owners, David, is a chef, and the breakfasts were wonderful.

At my posting I have links to my photo album where I took pictures of the hotel, room and garden. There are several rooms to choose from - we had one of the smaller ones.