Earlier this year, my wife and I made a lovely weekend in San Francisco out of using an expiring Fine Hotels and Resorts credit combined with an 85K Marriott free night certificate that we received from the Amex Bonvoy Brilliant card. We used the free night cert at the St Regis San Francisco, both of our first times at the property. Our experience was somewhat mixed.
St Regis San Francisco Bottom Line Review
The St Regis San Francisco does some things very well. It’s a calm respite in the midst of the city, the property is very well maintained and most of the service is professional and refined. That said, I couldn’t help but be underwhelmed. The smallish hotel goes for understated elegance, but tips over just a bit too much into the sterile side for my liking. While most of the staff was great, our experience with the restaurant and bar service was surprisingly poor. Modest amenities and high award prices when compared to cash rates made this St Regis somewhat of a bit of a mixed bag for us. One thumb up, one thumb down
- Price: We used an 85K free night certificate from an Amex Bonvoy Brilliant card. The award price would have been 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy points/night, while cash prices were ~$500/night during our stay.
- Value: When we were there the value was just below average at ~.67 cents per point (we value the average redemption of Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each).
- Location: The hotel has a good location right next to the Museum of Modern Art, the Moscone Center and Yerba Buena Gardens. It’s about a 5-10 minute walk to Chinatown, the Ferry Building and Oracle Park, and the BART train to the airport is around a block and a half away.
- Room: We booked a standard room and were proactively upgraded to a ~450sq ft “Grand Deluxe” Room, effectively a standard “Deluxe” room on a higher floor. As per usual with St Regis, everything in the room was comfortable and top-notch, from the bed to the loungers.
- Parking: Nightly valet parking is $91.20+tax and self parking is $80.
- Resort/Destination Fee: None.
- Internet: Very good throughout the property.
- Service: The front desk here was one of the best we’ve encountered in the US. Detailed, friendly, pro-active…they were great and really went above and beyond to cover what was on offer at the hotel, what we had access to as elite members and nearby entertainment and recreational options. The restaurant staff was the complete opposite. Our server seemed hungover, both of our (one-item) orders were messed up and the food was cold.
- Turndown service: Nightly.
- Dining:
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Astra: Smallish restaurant located between the bar and the street. Our only experience was our morning elite breakfast which left something to be desired. Open Monday for breakfast from 6:30am – 10:30am, for lunch from 11:30am – 2:00pm; Tues-Sat for breakfast from 6:30am – 10:30am, for lunch from 11:30am -2:00pm, dinner from 5:30pm – 10:00pm and Sunday brunch from 6:30am – 2pm.
- St Regis Bar: Tucked into two, separate spaces between the street and the front desk. Daily champagne sabering. Open daily from 12pm -12am.
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- Spa: None. There is a small pool area that quickly feels cramped with even a few folks.
- Fitness Room: Oddly, given the abbreviated amenities elsewhere, the fitness area takes up almost half a floor and is very well-equipped.
- Marriott Titanium Benefits:
- Room Upgrade: We booked a standard room and were proactively upgraded to a Grand Deluxe King, which is a normal king room on a higher floor
- Free Breakfast: One of the most lackluster St Regis breakfasts I’ve ever come across. Instead of being able to order off of the normal breakfast menu, elite members have an 8-item menu to choose from. The selections we had were extremely small and the quality sub-par.
- Club Lounge: None.
- Late Checkout: We were automatically given a 4pm checkout.
- Welcome Amenity: Chocolate truffles.
- Would I stay again? Probably not. By no means was this an unpleasant place to stay, but the cash and award prices aren’t worth the cost, in my humble opinion.
Pros
- Good location
- In-room materials are plush, as usual for St Regis
- Most of the service is very good
Cons
- Seems to usually be average to below-average points value
- Light on amenities (outside of a nice fitness center)
- Restaurant service was lackluster for us
- Poor elite breakfast, especially for a St Regis
Image Gallery
St Regis San Francisco Grand Deluxe King Room
St Regis San Francisco Restaurants
Astra
St Regis Bar
St Regis San Francisco Pool
St Regis San Francisco Fitness Area
St Regis San Francisco Common Areas
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A contrary opinion – we had a 10/10 stay at the St. Regis in SF earlier this year (for a family occasion). We definitely plan to revisit.
The service especially was outstanding – first time we experienced the “signature butler” (iirc) come into our room, talk to us and arrange free snacks/hot chocolate for kids, as well as some games. I’ve stayed at Palace Hotel, Ritz Half Moon bay and Ritz SF, and this was the best service amongst them. The dining options were good (for a veggie diet) and we enjoyed the snacks in the lounge near the lobby. I think they also sent us free cake when we came down to the lounge (for the family celebration).
The stay was purchased using 35K free night certificates (from Marriott Boundless card), topped up with some points, so price was great (specially considering it was on a weekend). As for parking, there is a closed garage directly opposite the hotel, in the same building as MoMa museum. So used that (booked from one of the apps), to save on the expensive hotel parking.
Does this seem a bit stiff for downtown SF? “Parking: Nightly valet parking is $91.20+tax and self parking is $80.” I am still cheap and find those rates absolute deal breakers.
Thanks for the review. Another property, I will not consider. Domestically, I find Marriott properties to overpriced, underwhelming, and not worth my money. Granted you used a free night cert, to take one for the team.
I stayed here last month and had one of the strangest sets of front-desk experiences. When checking in, they validated my ID, handed me a pre-prepared room card (because I had already checked in online), and told me my room number – that’s it. It was one of the most awkward transactions in terms of how brief it was and the fact that they told me nothing – not even where the elevators were located.
On my way back to later that evening, I saw a dumpster fire in the trash bin next to the hotel. When I tried to get the lobby staff’s attention, everybody seemed to be preoccupied. Feeling like a full-blown fire was an urgent situation, I tried to interrupt a desk agent “Hi there excuse me.” The agent politely said, “Hi I’m currently with another guest, can you wait a few minutes?” “Um… no. You guys have a dumpster fire right next to the building that you might want to deal with.” “Oh wow. Let me contact building security immediately.”
To his credit, the staff member was always very polite and showed urgency when I told him there was a fire. I just felt it was strange that I couldn’t get any attention, especially when there were 7 lobby staff and only 3 guests at that time.
Each time I stayed there, the garage reeked of weed.
How did you use FHR and free night at the same time ?
I didn’t do that on this trip, because we used the FHR credit at another property (by choice).
But you can do it by just making back-to-back one-night reservations.
Hi Tim, I believe you are based in California? I’m curious where else you have used or have considered using your 85k certificates.
We’ve had to use ours at the Ritz Carlton Halfmoon Bay the last few years as there hasn’t been any enticing Marriott properties on our trips that’s 100k points or less.
The Ritz is the best we’ve found in the Bay Area. The property looks nice and it’s in an interesting location in Halfmoon Bay. But overall the hotel and room is nothing special and everything is overpriced (not to mention parking and resort fees aren’t waived for award stays).
Even a st. regis property doesn’t have a club lounge….can only shake my head what this had come to. why even offer that as an elite benefit.
If you read the Bonvoy terms and conditions, other than JW Marriott, ALL luxury brands are exempted from providing the lounge access benefit.
I stayed at this property a few times. Nothing particularly inspiring. Will not go back. Would rather stay at the Palace on Market. Far more attractive. Historical.
Nothing would compel or entice me to visit San Francisco these days.
We were there recently, the first time back after having lived there for a bit over 30 years ago. I thought the demise of the city was overstated to say the least. I didn’t see any more homeless people that I do at home and never felt uncomfortable anywhere we went. The Waymo cars are pretty cool too.
I couldn’t agree more.
What’s frustrating about San Francisco when you go often is that you always have to be looking over your shoulder (I’ve been in the bay over 20 years). Most of the time it’s fine, but we all have an understanding that SF isn’t a place where you can let your guard down.
Yeah I will agree with that. It was that way when I lived there almost 35 years ago too. Actually while I lived there I developed skills that have served me well in other large cities I have lived in and visited. Always be aware of what is happening and if something doesn’t feel right don’t hesitate to go the other direction. And do your homework before you go.
And the residents of San Francisco breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Last time we were in San Fran we stayed in a not so great area -St Francis Hotel. We were told not to walk anywhere-use Uber as it is dangerous.. But there was a RESORT TAX of ?$30 but not my idea of a resort setting..$$$91.00 for parking is over the top California….