The hotel describes itself as a "European-style" hotel, and if by that they mean "small rooms", then they're right. Then again, the hotel never pretended anything else, so we were well prepared. The King Bay room has a king-sized bed, a small desk, room for two chairs (in the bay window), and not much else...but since you're not in your hotel much, who cares?
There are few amenities: no room service, no gym, no laundry, few TV channels. On the other hand, there is a wonderful restaurant (Fino) in the lobby - award winning in SF, there are laundries all over - including one two doors down, they have a VCR in each room and more than 100 titles from free from the front desk, and so on.
Plus, the staff is reasonably helpful - with the exception of Oscar, the assistant GM, who is VERY helpful.
The location just west of Union Square is very convenient - we walked through the Square every day. The square is much more upscale than it used to be - it now has Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Cartier, and dozens of other places you can't afford to shop in. The gate at the southern end of Chinatown is just 5 or 6 blocks away - note that these blocks are smaller that blocks in NY.
Note that this location is in the Theater District in SF.
The downsides? Hmmmn, several nights, there were evidentally drunken people shouting in the wee hours...sometimes happy, sometimes not. We never did figure out where they were coming from. Also, in the Union Square area, there are panhandlers on every corner - literally. The expensive stores all have security guards by their front doors to keep the riff-raff out. We didn't feel unsafe (way too many people for that), but it was noticeable.
It is a small hotel in a good location...that had an incredible price break. We got every third night free(!). You should check out the website for reservations and see if this special is still on!!!
It's not a big business hotel, but if you want a cheaper, more intimate experience ;-), this is a good choice...
Note, on the price, my wife and I paid $139 plus tax per night for the room - and got every third night free...nearly a 30% discount in our case (two nights out of seven)...that works out to about $56/night each...
