As a Lifetime Titanium Elite member, I have spent ...

As a Lifetime Titanium Elite member, I have spent over 3,000 nights in Marriott branded hotels over the past 30 years. Back in the 90's I was a regular at this hotel when I did business in SFO. Naturally, I wanted to return to this Grand Dame of a hotel on my most recent visit.

Sadly to say, my experience was quite underwhelming and downright disappointing. Staying the weekend before the Thanksgiving Holiday, the hotel was practically empty. Despite that, I was offered an upgrade to a better room if I was willing to pay an additional $200++.

As previously mentioned, with 3,000 nights in Marriott properties worldwide, I have gotten some pretty sweet ("suite") upgrades over the years, but have never been asked to pay. I found the lady (Emily) working at the Elite Check in desk to be very "cold' and and not very respectful towards elite members - perhaps she should not work this area. She was also unyielding on the fact that I had to pay for the upgrade and said "that's our policy". By comparison, my last trip to Seoul (JW Marriott) I was upgraded to a 4br Presidential Suite, Hong Kong (Renaissance), a 2br top floor suite, Phuket (Renaissance) private ocean front villa with private pool - none of these upgrades did I pay (or was asked to pay) anything additional.

We were given a tower room on the 29th floor. It did have a nice view of the city, but the room itself was a big "yawn". The furnishings were a bit tattered and "basic" to say the least. They have tried to retrofit the shower with a rain head, but it had low water pressure and the water just fell out.

The bright spot is the location of this hotel. Only 3 blocks from the Powell St. BART station, so if you are flying into/out of SFO, access is easy. The Powell St trolley runs in front of the hotel and it's an easy walk in every direction to most sites and neighborhoods like Chinatown and North Beach.

There are, however, equally as nice or better, hotels nearby. Unfortunately, I when I left this "Grand Dame" this time I said a final goodbye. I will stay at one of the other Marriott branded hotels that are nearby for my next visit.