Fairmont San Francisco

After an amazing stay at another Fairmont property, we were ready for another top notch experience, but left feeling cold. Gorgeous grand lobby and public spaces, but upon check in (we were about an hour early) we were told our room wasn’t ready. No problem, we’ll drop off bags and enjoy the city a bit. And an offer was made to put a rush on our room cleaning. Our view would be of the bay, and while there was no upgrades available as requested… can’t be made at getting the room you pay for, right? Well at 5pm (an hour after check in, 2 hours after our bag drop), we return to find our room STILL not ready, then suddenly while at the counter it is. But when we get there, there’s no bay view as promised, just the scaffolding on the building across the street. We felt we had to accept it as now we only had an hour to get ready to head out to dinner, but the whole interaction felt shady. And things just continued that way, a stop at the concierge desk to ask if there were reservations for hotel guests at Tonga Room prompted a response of “oh you don’t need one, just wait in line” …when I already know that hotel guests can request reservations. Another night, we wanted to stay in one night and just enjoy the hotel, but our food options seemed to be one of the 4 entrees that sounded like banquet food. But maybe the most telling was the person greeting us at the door, who was all smiles and welcomes when we arrived with our luggage, who barely got out a “this your car?” when we got picked up 4 days later same luggage in hand. No “thanks for joining us, hope you had a wonderful stay” or anything to encourage us to return. It left the impression that once someone had our money, there was no reason to continue to be helpful or friendly. I get that these are small things, but luxury properties are ABOUT the small things. Smiles from the staff, a simple “do you have everything you need?”, and for us, clear and honest communication about we are and are not getting. We thought we were Fairmont converts after our stay last fall at another location, but we’ll skip SF and try to decide if we’ll give another one of the properties another chance. Read less

Luxurious. The history of the hotel was so cool to see. The tiki bar downstairs was the coolest bar I had ever been to. So many details in the design of that space. Room 2001 had a great view of the bay and bridge. Worth the upgrade. Large hotel in a great area but quiet there. On top of a large hill so hard to walk places. Taxis were lined up out front of the hotel for easy and quick access. Read less