Kimpton Hotels Reviews

Beautiful, historic hotel. Large, elegant rooms. Bathroom was small and the shower had mutli-use pump bottles instead of personal single use, which is strange for this type of hotel

Room was noisy (single pane windows). Bathroom was VERY small. Couldn't even sit on the toilet without closing the door. Very small vanity; could barely even fit my toiletries bag on it. Bathroom ceiling had a hole in it like an old pipe had been cut off. In all, much less than I expected in an expensive high-end boutique hotel.

Such a fun hotel! Great service, cool decor, and the bar at the top is awesome!

I was there for a work event and we were in the ballroom. The ballroom is gorgeous and a great place for a meeting.

I recently went to the St. Francis Drake this past thursday night for a Johnny Walker Whiskey tasting. The establishment was very nice and upscale. This was the first time ive been inside this hotel and would be happynto come to more events here.

Everything has been nice. Room is a little small but that's expected downtown. Wifi is lack luster but works.

Second wedding I've attended there. Great location and love the uniform worn by the door man. Great historic feel.

The rooms are not so big, I mean just because it is San Francisco is too expensive compared with others which are more luxury and with better service. But it is nice

The staff were absolutely incredible and it was interesting to see them in costume. The interior made me feel like I was brought back in time. I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone who wants a unique experience in SF.

Staff very helpful. Pretty lobby. Room decent. Good location

We had a company event at the starlight room. Great views. It's was fun!

Enjoyed the attached restaurant. They seated us even though it was next to a significant event that many people participate in. I'd recommend the pizza over the pasta.

Old world charms, friendly staff, but very slow elevator.

We are here for our HoneyMoon, and they are super attentive, excellent place to travel, it is also close to tourist places.

Meeting room was so bad - tiny screen, no microphone provided, warm inside but when we opened the window all the street noise came in. At least the food was good.

Excellent hotel with spaces from the aforementioned period.
Good attention and wine tasting every day at five in the afternoon.

The hotel is old fashioned and has really small rooms. I had a queen sized bed room overlooking the street. The place across the way has those wacky wavy men on top of the roof and you can hear the fans through the windows. Thankfully the place across the street does turn them off at night. The bathrooms are small and have an adequate shower. The bed was comfortable and clean. The service in the hotel seems a little slow and when asking for tooth paste they took over an hour to deliver it after a second phone call and walking down to the front desk. The hotel is located in a reasonable location in the city with easy walking distance to the Bart and other areas of the city. The restaurant for breakfast in the hotel was poor quality food and you should definitely eat someone else. When I come back to San Francisco I will not stay at this hotel again.

Stayed at the presidential suite the night of our wedding and had a huge celebration. The staff worked well with us to make sure we didn't bother any other guests while having a great time

No refrigerator, no microwave, no coffee pot. The room was really little.

The hotel and the staff are an amazing crew! Kyle and his staff went above and beyond while I was in San Francisco for DREAMFORCE. I lost my wallet at the hotel lounge area and was frantic and heartbroken. When I informed Kyle he put in action his crew to find my wallet. I am forever grateful for him and the integrity of all the crew members. This hotel has an old time and very boutique style. Regal furniture and the theme of red and horses are a staple throughout. The next time I am in San Francisco I will make sure I come back.

The room was super tiny but beautiful. The prices when I attended were hefty. They have good customer service and they have a cool lounge on the top floor that I didn't get to check out.

Nice, good sized, but dated room. Enjoyed the daily free wine hour.

Staying at the Sir Francis Drake was quite an enjoyable experience! This hotel is located right in Union Square, which is surrounded by shops, restaurants, and all kinds of other entertainment opportunities. The hotel is historically beautiful. The rooms are artistic and chic, and the decor is stunning. The hotel bar was also a great place to relax and have a drink. Amazing experience!

Nice hotel, rooms are clean. Bathroom is a little smaller than I'd like. Would consider staying here again.

Excellent hotel overall. Was booked through hotwire, but the $60 valet definitely caught us by suprise. Still an excellent stay.

Overall, the beds are incredibly stiff and no coffee maker in the hotel room. Staff is nice, but I'll go back to marriott properties from now on.

Close to venue. Very antique if you like that. Tiny, tiny rooms and bathrooms.

Nice spot, roof bar and lobby bar were fun. Will be excellent once the lifts are all fixed up.

Always love staying here. Great staff and awesome ambiance. Across the street from the best breakfast :)

The hotel is nice enough, but the rooms are really small and did have a refrigerator. There also was a surprise amenities charge of $29.00 per day. Even the front desk couldn't tell me what they were. The bell captain was the high point of the hotel.

A hotel of classic design, comfortable and with a somewhat debatable decoration. Like all hotels US huge bed, bathroom a little reduced but functional. The care team is nice and is well located

I have no idea why anyone would say the beds are comfy because they re basically the equivalent of sleeping on the floor. Hardest mattress I ve ever slept on!! Plus I m not a fan of unsupportive down pillows and that s all they have.

Perfect location, great design of the rooms (love the red,black,white gamma) . The standard rooms are not big, but are a perfect match for a couple of a business traveler. On higher floors the view is very nice!

Room with old and ruined bathroom, on the seventh floor with the elevator that never works, there is always a queue to take the elevator always out of order

So far pretty disappointing.
Poor welcome.
Noisy rooms. (Street and corridors)
Moved once already from a room with window that doesn't shut. To a room just as bad. Still noisy, alloy smaller and now even next to the lifts.
In all honesty, if you have small kids forget this place. Sure location may be good, but everything else is dated.
THIS IS NOT A CHIQUE HOTEL.

Probably the worst IHG I have been too. Including holiday Inn expresses.

Old hotel but still quite good. It's a Kimpton property, so those are always reliable properties.

The hotel is at a good location, but the condition of the room is not that great. Pretty old style room and the air conditioner in my room kept making loud buzzing sounds.

Mach rooms are a bit run down and in the lobby it is extremely cold. But it has a lot of charm. The breakfast is delicious.

It needs a great reform. Cold in the room because of bad windows. There were no light switches ...

Sir Francis Drake is in a great spot off union square, has good service, comfortable beds, and superb food downstairs at Scalas. Only downsides are the dingy rooms and matching club on the top floor.

Excellent room, although small. Beautiful hotel. Friendly, helpful staff. Expenaive parking fee even by SF standards.

Nice older hotel. Bit of charm. Food reasonable. Reasonable san fran cost.

Very cool look and feel. The building is nice, although the rooms are a bit small.

This hotel has great character! It's beautiful and the beefeater greeting you at the door is such a nice novel factor. Bonus, happy hour from 5-6!

My husband and I often stay at kimpton hotels in different states because our experience has been so positive. This time around, our first time staying at this San Fran location, was not as positive. I'll preface this review by saying it's an extremely affordable hotel in a fantastic location, but I'm going to be straightforward about my experience.

When we arrived, we had five bags of luggage with us due to the fact that we had come from a cold climate for the first leg of our ski trip. There were no doormen to assist and we had to drag our luggage to the elevators and wait. I should mention that after staying there for several days, it became obvious that the elevators are either only operating a few at a time or are insanely slow or both. Bad impressions at the getgo especially after we had endured air travel before arriving and would have liked to not have to drag luggage into a busy hotel.

After checking in, we pre paid by the way, we were informed that the booking site neglected to charge us an additional $25 per night, which they termed "fees" to cover complimentary coffee and wine for one hour each night. While this is nice to have, we were still a bit annoyed at this but we were ok with it. We asked the gentleman at the desk if he could send a doorman to help us with our luggage (it was clear we were struggling) and he informed us that this was not possible because they were "so busy" and offered us a half assed apology. Ok moving on...

We get into our room, which at first glance was very nice. We quickly noticed however that the bathroom door could not be opened while the toilet was in use. There just is not enough space and when sitting on the toilet it's very uncomfortable. I assume this is the case because they attempted to maintain a lot of the original structure (including where the tub is in the original space) of the beautiful building and architecture. This is nice but not functional in our bathroom and made it unenjoyable. In addition to keeping the architecture, they also kept the original 1928 windows which offer absolutely no noise protection (or efficiency) at all. I'm pretty sure we slept about two hours each night because the location is so great, but the noise is insane.

The restaurant at the hotel seemed nice, but when we went downstairs to try to have a drink at 3pm we were informed that they were closed. The restaurant looked packed to us and the website didn't indicate and break in hours. I'm still confused about this. We did however order room service one day for breakfast and the food was good.

One nice aspect about the hotel is they offer you vouchers for the restaurant, just make sure they're open when you expect to go. They also offer a voucher if you opt out of housekeeping which I find unique and attractive.

All in all I would summarize this hotel as a great location, with beautiful features at an affordable price. Just don't expect much service upon arrival and uncomfortable bathroom experiences.

Excellent downtown location, very attentive friendly staff. Rooms are a bit small but manageable. Walking distance to many attractions and restaurants. Will stay again when back in town.

The service was good. Rooms are small, but what was expected for a city hotel. They were very accommodating to kids. The disappointing thing was the hospitality hour. There was not a lot of selection, wine only. They quickly ran out of things and it wasn't replenished.

This has been the worst stay at a hotel ever. Union strikers are beating drums and chanting on the sidewalks with megaphones from 6am to 10 pm, loud construction going on until 11 pm, homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks with piss streaming across the sidewalks and down to the street it s a pretty disgusting place. I would have given it a one star but the staff are pleasant and the rooms are somewhat small but nice. San Francisco could be a nice city but it s not.

The hotel itself is okay, but the elevators, if and when they work, will drive you nuts! Most people give up waiting for an elevator to arrive, and then take the stairs. This is not easy to do with all your luggage. We have stayed at this hotel the past three Decembers, and the elevators still haven't been fixed or replaced.

Beautiful hotel but small rooms and even smaller bathrooms

Of all of the Kimptons I have stayed at, this one is the worst for one simple reason: Lack of truly special customer service that I am used to at every other Kimpton. I won't call out individual people but every person that works there whom I interacted with needs to be retrained in the subtle art of hospitality. Kimpton Monaco Portland, Monaco Denver, and Palomar Phoenix and The Epic Miami are LIGHT YEARS ahead of this place in hospitality. Truly a shame. It starts at the valet and extends all the way through the front desk and bartenders. Get them all retrained please

$300/night hotel, 2 towels in the bathroom. This hotel does not deserve the Kimpton brand. Hair in the tub, dust balls in the air vents, smelly carpets and stains on the ceiling. You are only paying for location. Save your money and stay anywhere else.

It was alright pretty basic small room and a shower that was hardly strong enough to get you wet

Small rooms, yoga mats in the room but you really can't use them. Comfy bed, could have used a lighter sheet. Updated rooms and fixtures. Slow elevators, factor in ten minutes more to use them. Quick check-in and out.

My two sisters and I treated our mother to a trip to San Francisco for her 80th birthday, and we'r couldn't have been more happy with the Sir Francis Drake. The hotel location was perfect for our stay, and the room was clean and well appointed. The bathroom was a bit small, but modern and clean. We took full advantage of the happy hour from 5-6 each evening!
I wanted to especially compliment the clerk st the front desk, Calvin. We had a discrepancy with the billing, and he handled the situation confidently and professionally. He was such a warm welcoming demeanor and we instantly felt that we'd made the right choice in hotels. Later that night my mother mistakenly ordered an in-room movie, and not only did Calvin remove the charge from our bill, he even offered a complimentary movie night for "the girls"! We didn't take him up on his offer, but it was a wonderful gesture.
Would definitively stay in this lovely hotel again!

Old hotel. Desperately needs a remodel. Booked through a 3rd party sight and was not allowed to accrue reward points from Kimpton hotels.

Love it. Service is excellent. All staff is very friendly. Rooms are classy. Bathroom too small.

Check in was fast and easy and the person who checked us in was very pleasant. Joked and laughed with us, and gave us a money saving tip. He also let us know of the hotel events(WINE!!!). Check out was also fast and easy and we were on our way to the airport within minutes. Lobby is clean and very welcoming. We were there the weekend of the NBA finals game four and they pulled out a tv that night but we are sports fans so we didn't mind! They offer coffee in the mornings. Good coffee! Location was perfect and not to far from main attractions. The cable cart stop is right outside the door and the decorated door men were nice and welcoming and willing to take pictures with us. :)

The room was awesome! what we expected for a Boutique Hotel, (I think people forget what that means). These are buildings that have been restored and well kept. The San Franciscan experience. It was clean and though it was small it accommodated my boyfriend and I perfectly. The room drinks and treats are really expensive but there is a Walgreens right across the street and weeeell....... its hotel treats we didn't expect them to be cheap. My boyfriend loved the bed and now I think I have to figure how to get that comfort level at home. So the only reason that I did not give the hotel a 5 star rating was because of the bathroom. The window didn't close, and it had a very foul odor coming from it. We are not complainers and were enjoying our trip too much to worry about a smell so we stayed in the same room the whole trip. I definitely could have done without it, but we kept the door closed and it sort of kept the smell in. All in all it was good and I would recommend it. Oh parking is actually reasonable, any other places we checked before booking it was 60-80 dollars.

Older hotel. I arrived late night and was given the key to someone else's room. Not a great experience.

Great hotel in an amazing location! Less than a block from Union Square and the cable cars pass right in front of the hotel. The hotel is has a lot of charm and we really enjoyed our stay.

Little rooms, bathroom really small no coffee in room a little disappointed in amenities considering everything.

Beautiful hotel with loads of character. Make sure to find the "social password" prior to arrival to mention at check-in for a special gift!

Stayed there with the grandchildren when we saw the Nutcracker, they loved it! Made like hotels used to be made, great decor and charm.

Great hotel and convenient for all things in downtown San Francisco

Alot of HVAC around my 17th fl room. Noise from ventilation. It is The Big City. You want quite go to the Countryside! Old World.

The employees were friendly and the room was nice. No complaints.

Neat, historic hotel with nice rooms. We had an older room with no thermostat and it was pretty small. The staff was super help and eager to help you enjoy your stay.

The hotel itself has a lovely quirky charm, you're greeted by a man in a beefeater costume, and walk into the open/opulent lobby area. The staff are all lovely and extremely helpful. We had a super queen room and it felt a little tired. The bathroom was honestly shockingly small, with the door basically touching the toilet. Overall though, I loved the stay here. The location is perfect, the overall vibe is really nice and honestly...it could have been much worse!

The staff was very friendly. We were upgraded to a very nice suite. Location was great, beautiful historic hotel. Wine hour from 5 to 6. Definitely recommend staying here!

Very nice hotel but it is obvious that they tried to update some very old rooms. The paint is think and not smooth in places, the plumbing is obviously old. Otherwise, it was magnificent.

Beautiful hotel. Friendly people, but the cleaning in the room left a little to be desired. Overall good.

Excellent hotel & staff amazing. Great position just off Union Square. Cable car running outside. Restaurants in the area very good & diner for breakfast opposite perfect.

It's decent.

For $250 a night I was expecting a bit more than just location but, no such luck.

The rooms are updated but, dated. Meaning they've done some okay upgrades to a truly old building. The bathrooms in the room are tiny... No for real... Your knees touch the tub of you sit on the toilet tiny. Plus, the door to the bathroom in our room wouldn't close. Not a huge deal but... I mean that's a basic expectation.

The location is nice. The view is of buildings and maybe a landmark or two in the midst of all the structures.

Service was good but I couldn't get passed the sights, smells, and constant reminders of how old the hotel really was.