Fairmont San Francisco

Overall a very good experience. Doormen were friendly, front desk staff not super friendly but quick. At checkin you’re given decent quality reusable water bottles with the hotel logo on them, so a nice touch. Gold Accor status gave us a room upgrade to City view room. The room was in the newer tower, but located next to the elevator, which you could hear frequently. Hotel was ‘sold out’ so no other room to move too. Room was nice but nothing special. The hotel lobby is the showpiece of the hotel and feels very grand; I’ve stay at a number of Fairmont and this is one of the nicest lobbies to sit in; and common areas have lots of history on the walls. The main restaurant’s lounge was good, live music; wait stay was friendly and food and drinks good. The Tiki bar The Tonga Room was fun for some expensive signature drinks and the band and rainfall from the ceiling experience. Voucher provided for coffee shop wasn’t very useful as it had strange hours and never seemed to be open. I’d stay again based on experience however, given the location and needing to Uber uphill, might consider staying down in the Union Square area.

This is A top class historical hotel in a great location it isn't cheap but as this was our first time to the USA & had a 20 hour flight we wanted something special we were only here 2 nights but loved it room service was great & breakfast was delicious.

Stayed here three nights. Great room with fantastic view over the bay. Very comfortable bed and clean. Lots of drawers and hanging spaces. Second morning there was no hot water in the tower. Reception offered a day room to shower, which I took up and felt better for it. At the very top of Nob Hill so Uber for most trips. Late checkout of the last day was helpful as I had a late flight. Unfortunately, I left clothing in the drawers and failed to check. Lost and found have not found the two packing cells and laundry. Suspect they were either kept by housekeeping or thrown out. Sour end to the trip.

The good points: beautiful hotel with lots of history and the Tonga room was fantastic. Our stay was far outweighed by the bad points. In agreement with some of the other reviews on here we felt like we were being charged over the odds for all kinds of things right from the start. The room we were offered was dirty but worst of all it had an old crispy sock in the safe, it was disgusting. We immediately phoned reception and asked to move rooms which they took the opportunity to charge us an extra $30 a night for plus tax. On reviewing our bill a $200 charge had been made to our room for dining in the restaurant, we mentioned this to reception and were treated like we were lying, luckily we had dined in the Tonga room that night and was able to prove that it wasn’t us. No apology or explanation was given by the staff who were rude and made us feel like we didn’t matter. The keycard regularly failed and on one occasion left us trapped in the single lift (not the two in the main lobby area) as the Door Open button also didn’t work, nobody came when we pressed the alarm and it took somebody on another floor calling the lift to enable us to escape. We had a cuddly toy which was a present for our niece taken from our room by housekeeping. We were told it was a mistake as they thought it was a tip, even though we had left them a cash tip every day, it was returned a day later with no apology. We emailed the hotel with our complaint and were offered a 2 night stay which as we live 5000 miles away wasn’t practical. We emailed again asking for the money back that we were forced to pay to switch rooms but all further messages were ignored. I’ve waited a long time to leave this review and given the hotel every opportunity to make up for the stress they caused, not just from the things I’ve mentioned but various other smaller things but have heard nothing, I’m guessing they just don’t care.

The only pro... the building is beautiful. That is where it ends. This hotel is tired and in desperate need of an upgrade. They charge you for breathing, and the constant feeling that you are being ripped off emanates throughout the stay. The room is huge, but oh so drab. Haven't stepped over a tub to enter a shower since the early 2000s. Had a nice view, but the window was filthy. The decor and restaurant are misses. San Francisco is filled with so many great hotels - don't waste your time on this one.