InterContinental San Francisco

I stayed at the InterContinental San Francisco as part of a conference. This was my second time staying in this hotel at an event of this nature. With both the meeting rooms and the conference setup I found this Interconti a very good experience. I had a corner standard room. It was adjacent to another room and the two could be blocked off for a family-type setup. I found the room quiet and extremely comfortable. Bathroom is well-appointed, good water pressure, and high quality toiletries. SF is a busy city and the hotels get worn out quickly. There is nothing about the InterContinental that feels worn out. I also spent a good amount of time on the second and third floors during my conference. I have experienced several meetings of this sort in San Francisco - at the Ritz, Fairmont, and Grand Hyatt and the InterContinental is very competitive with all of them. Their banquet food is more than adequate and they have a tent setup for meals that protect attendees from the elements but give off the impression of being outside. Staff is friendly and extremely capable. Easy access to SFO. It's a plus that you're on flat ground, so it's easy to walk to places nearby, including the convention center if you need to go there.

After booking 5 nights in this place and paying in full up front I had a look at the fine print. $200USD deposit per night. $33 for breakfast, $15 for room wifi, $15 for wired room wifi, $15 for public area wifi, and the $30 refrigerator fee!. Here I was thinking I had paid for me room. So I asked Expedia to help me cancel since all these fees put me over budget and they asked for $240cdn just to cancel the room. Do your homework before you book a night in these big hotels that will fee you to death.

Stayed there for one night early this month exploring the city. Close to street car/Cable car station which i like. The front desk lady kindly upgraded me to the highest floor so we had awesome view of the city. The bath was great. Didn't try the restaurant but it looks nice. The hotel stays at 5th street. But you don't want to go any wester at night. You will know why when you see.

We stayed at The Intercontinental, Howard Avenue for a four night break before travelling down to San Diego. I can only say that everything, service, accommodation, ambiance, was 110% throughout our stay - Nothing was too much trouble. So, if you like a luxury hotel and are debating which one to go to in San Francisco, the Intercontinental, Howard Street knocks the socks off the rest.

I have modified a blog found in a Malta IHG post. I will be looking at the benefits and advantages of being an InterContinental Ambassador This is….some ADVANTAGES OF BEING AN INTERCONTINENTAL AMBASSADOR IT’S AN AFFORDABLE LUXURY It is. It costs peanuts compared to the benefits. The Club is superb. You can wine and dine at the Club. No need to go to some ultra poor value ten star restaurant for a green leaf of veg and a drizzle on your plate. A GUARANTEED ROOM UPGRADE Whenever you book as an Ambassador, you will also get a complimentary guaranteed room upgrade. This happened without asking. We had a superb 30th floor room with vast space and vast views. Not like a Parisian kennel. COMPLIMENTARY FOOD & DRINKS IN YOUR ROOM As an ambassador, you will also be receiving complimentary water bottles and fresh fruit to your room to welcome you in. This happened. Don't forget to ask for the extra ten coat hangers and suitcase support. Even with all the luxury, very few hotels provide space to file your suitcase and get it out of sight. Strange how hotel room designers consistently stuff this up. Even on a boat cruise you get to place the suitcase under the bed. This room had vast amounts of space to include a storage room, but was it there?😳. No. It only happened to me at the Mandarin Bangkok where I could get the suitcase OUT OF THE ROOM. So...you might as well display it prominently in your room and live out of it ..... partially. Hold on! What's not complimentary is the stuff in the mini fridge. It's even wire tapped so if you touch it and move it you get charged for it on the final bill. This THEN means that you argue with the front desk at checkout. Something to look forward to. THIS IS NOT A GOOD LOOK 👀 Hmmmmm. I can see the hotel's attitude in wanting to deal with all the pilferers. It's a pain in the butt for the customer. I want a decent cup of tea in my room for brekkie and that means a small jug of real milk in my fridge. I'm too scared to open the fridge in case I get charged for a bottle of MOËT. Yes it's the ordinary bloke here. This is the first time I have encountered this and I protest strongly. By all means charge the violators. But not me! EXTENDED CHECKOUT Check out is usually at 12 pm, but if you are an IHG ambassador; you get an additional 4 hours to enjoy your hotel room. Yes, an ambassador, you are given a complimentary “extended checkout�, and you can check out at 4 pm instead of the usual 12 pm. This happened and I was very grateful for it. My flight was at 11.45pm so I was able to live in the Club Lounge till then. Very grateful for this and this in itself paid for the Ambassador fees for a year. DEDICATED AMBASSADOR CHECK-IN AREA To check in when you arrive, you do not have to wait in line. Across all the IHG hotels around the world, you will find a dedicated “Ambassador check in area� making sure you get served as soon as possible and to your hotel room in little to no time. This exists but I did not use it. I was not in a rush and I like to blend in with the crowd. COMPLIMENTARY NEWSPAPER DELIVERED DAILY An added, minor bonus of being an Ambassador is that you get the local paper delivered to your door every morning. *Due to the rise of smartphones, you may find that some hotels have stopped offering this service. No paper to the room but it was available on a table at the elevators. One has to accept that with 60 inch tvs and free wi fi, newspapers are a dying breed. However may the New York Times live for ever. SUMMARY I loved this hotel. Ok my room wasn't cleaned completely before I checked in. There was trash from Yousef, the previous guest in the drawers. His welcoming letter was still in the drawer. It would seem he liked sliders since a half opened bottle of tomato sauce (ketchup?) was still in the drawers. But the view and the service made up for it. Thanks to Wilson and Bill. And to the women who cleaned my room. And to the women who were the front desk in the Club. So so helpful. And to Luis (regrettably I can't remember his real name) who rolled out the food and drinks in the Club at 5.30pm. This guy knew his stuff and more than anyone else made the Club a true space you could call home. Thank you Luis.