Frommer's San Francisco 2012 - Matthew Poole [53]
Cow Hollow Motor Inn & Suites Two-bedroom suites allow kids to shack up in style instead of camping on the pullout couch.
Hotel Diva The sleek, mod Diva has all sorts of fun kid-friendly perks. Check out SF’s version of the Walk of Fame right outside the door, and definitely ask about their two-room Little Divas Suite, with bunk beds, drawing tables, and a TV loaded with kids’ movies.
The Fairmont San Francisco While the glamorous lobby and spectacular city views will please parents, kids will be thrilled by the hotel’s Tonga Room, a fantastically kitsch Disneyland-like tropical bar and restaurant where “rain” falls every 30 minutes.
Handlery Union Square Hotel Never mind that it’s been completely renovated. The real kid-friendly kickers here are the adjoining rooms in the “newer” addition; a heated, clean, outdoor pool; and the adjoining restaurant, the Daily Grill, which offers the gamut of American favorites.
Hotel Del Sol It’s colorful enough to represent a Crayola selection, but tots are more likely to be impressed by the “Kids are VIPs” program that includes a lending library, toys and videos, evening cookies and milk, and accouterments for the heated pool (think sunglasses, visors, beach balls). Parental perks include access to a bonded babysitting service, three baby-proofed rooms, and a family suite (three adjoining rooms).
Hotel Metropolis The lobby walls at this playful yet serene hotel are covered with more than 80 works of colorful (and curiously abstract) art created by children. The three-room Urban Explorers Kids Suite, which sleeps up to six adults and three children, is filled with pint-size furniture, bunk beds, a computer, a chalkboard wall, toys, and rubber ducky decor in the bathroom.
Stanyan Park Hotel Plenty of elbowroom and a half-block walk to Golden Gate Park’s Children’s Playground make this a prime spot for crashing family style. But the biggest bonuses are the suites, which come with one or two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a dining area.
Westin St. Francis A classic San Francisco hotel down to its hospitality, the Westin welcomes the little ones with fun gifts and free drink refills at its restaurants.
Moderate
The Good Hotel ★ In 2008, this “socially conscious” budget hotel became an affordable alternative to SoMa’s traditionally pricey lineup of hotels. With an eco-friendly take on things—hybrid car drivers, for example, get free parking—the hotel is designed to give back to the environment. But the hotel definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s a fun-for-all photo booth in the lobby, where your photo outtake lives a long life as part of the hotel’s wallpaper scheme, and you’ll glimpse the glow-in-the-dark GOOD NIGHT sticker pasted on the ceiling only when you turn the lights off. The sometimes-tongue-in-cheek “Be Good” mantra is scribbled throughout the establishment even in the most unnecessary of places (such as the bedroom). The hotel has a yummy pizzeria on tap, too, Good Pizza, serving up artisan thin-crust pies with fresh, local ingredients. Note: The neighborhood is one of San Francisco’s more interesting (to put it delicately). While as a resident I don’t think twice about patrolling the Seventh Street corridor solo, visitors are often a bit more reluctant.
112 Seventh St. (btw. Minna and Mission sts.), San Francisco, CA 94103. www.thegoodhotel.com. 800/444-5819 or 415/621-7001. Fax 415/621-4069. 117 units. $89–$139 double. AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Parking free for hybrid cars, $20 for nonhybrids. Bus: 6, 7, 9, 19, 21, 27, 31, or 71. BART: Civic Center or Powell St. Cable car: Powell–Hyde or Powell–Mason line (2 blocks west). Amenities: Restaurant; access to heated pool across the street. In room: TV, hair dryer, MP3 docking station, free Wi-Fi.
The Mosser ★ “Hip on the Cheap” might best sum up the