San Francisco - Alison Bing [184]
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RESERVATION SERVICES & DISCOUNTS
Hotel-reservation services provide a convenient way to shop for a hotel room, simplifying what would otherwise require multiple phone calls. Some also serve as clearinghouses for hotel bookings during low-occupancy periods, when they can offer lower rates than the hotel would quote. If you’re flexible, you can save big bucks on rooms that would otherwise blow your budget. Services are free to customers, but prepayment is sometimes required and cancellation fees may apply.
Hostels.com (www.hostels.com) General information about hostels in San Francisco and elsewhere, plus a link to online reservations.
Priceline (www.priceline.com) A clearinghouse for upscale lodging; you can often find a room for as little as $75 a night in highly rated Union Square hotels. You don’t get to choose the hotel, though.
Topaz Hotel Services ( 510-628-4450, 800-677-1570; www.hotelres.com) A locally based booking agent that can get you great prices in the city or elsewhere in the Bay Area and Wine Country.
www.bbsf.com Find Bay Area B&Bs and great deals.
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Always reconfirm your reservation the day of arrival, and ask if the hotel is oversold. If it is, make clear that you don’t want to be ‘walked.’ (‘Walking a guest’ means that when the hotel is oversold, management books you into another hotel and pays your first-night’s stay at the other hotel, which may be as far away as the airport or Oakland.) If you’re planning to arrive after 4pm, guarantee with a credit card or your reservation may automatically cancel. Ask about the hotel’s cancellation policy, and if you do cancel, get the cancellation code, which ensures that the agent has properly entered your cancellation into the reservations system. Finally, get the names of the people you speak with on the telephone; not only will this bolster your argument if you get conflicting information on arrival, it’s also nice to thank the people who helped you on the phone. Kindness often scores upgrades, especially on sold-out nights.
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PRICE GUIDE
$$$ over $200 a night
$$ $100-200 a night
$ under $100 a night
Reviews list the average high-season rates for a standard room.
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If you can’t find a room, the Visitors Information Center ( 800-637-5196, 415-391-2000; www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com) helps with reservations.
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ROOM RATES
Rates in SF fluctuate wildly. To get the best prices at chains, call the hotel directly and speak with in-house reservations, rather than the central reservations, for the most up-to-date information about room inventories and specials. Some hotels have internet specials not available by telephone. When booking online, know that ‘best rate’ does not necessarily mean the lowest-available rate. When in doubt call the hotel directly.
Although bright, friendly hostels and budget hotels have opened up in Downtown, the Mission and the Marina, rooms are never truly cheap in SF: expect to pay at least $65 at a budget hotel or for a private hostel room, and over $100 at any midrange hotel. Note the hefty 15% room tax on top of the quoted rates (hostels are exempt), and that local telephone calls may cost $1 and wi-fi an extra $10. Ask about parking: it’s rarely included (when it is, we’ve noted it with a ). Prices run higher June to August, and drop between September and May. If you’re staying awhile, ask about weekly rates. The rates we quote are for high season (summer); you can sometimes do better, unless there’s a convention in town (see Reservations, opposite). On weekends, business hotels’ rates drop and tourist hotels’ go up.
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EMBARCADERO & THE PIERS
The proximity to the waterfront is fun for kids, but you’ll be surrounded exclusively by tourists.
ARGONAUT HOTEL
Map Hotel $$$
415-563-0800, 866-415-0704; www.argonauthotel.com;