hotel review: westin st. francis san francisco on union square

View of hotel from Union Square.

(San Francisco, California).  The Westin St. Francis San Francisco is a landmark hotel conveniently located on Union Square near some of the city's best shopping and dining.  It is also close to some of the city's main tourist attractions such as Chinatown, North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, etc.

I was surprised I had never stayed here before even though I've probably walked by the hotel hundreds of times.  (It's right next to a humongous BCBG and I used to like shopping there before I discovered their sample sales, but that's a story for another time.)  Since it was a Starwood hotel, and I'm determined to hoard as many Starwood points as I can, I decided to book a weekend stay here.  I made the reservation directly on the Starwood hotel website since it gave the best rate I found on the internet (after checking on hotels.com, expedia.com and travelocity.com). Average rate per night = $260.

When we arrived, check in was simple and fast.  I had prepaid for a deluxe room and they "upgraded" me to a king bed room.  But when we got to the room we realized it wasn't much of an upgrade because the room was teeny tiny.  But it was such a short trip for us that it didn't matter, but for a longer stay it would have been a bit stifling.

Pros:

This is the winery from the movie Bottle Shock.

• Definitely location - I think it's the only hotel located on Union Square and that is a great location.
• Bed was super comfortable.
• Wine tasting at Chateau Montelena - conveniently located in the lobby area.  I had a fun little tasting here ($20) and the man working there was super nice.

Cons:

• The hotel seems a bit outdated in some areas.  It definitely looks grander from the outside, but I think they renovated recently but I wasn't fortunate enough to stay in the newer tower. 
• The bathroom was clean but the remodel seemed to be more cosmetic and the toiletries were mediocre.
• Tiny room!  I know that SF and NY hotels sometimes have small rooms, but it's been a long time since I've stayed in a room this small.  Even the TV was tiny (maybe 26 inches).
• Expensive Wi-Fi - I'm a Starwood member so I was able to get free Wi-Fi as a gold member, but if I had to pay it would have been $25 a day!   I'm not sure I would have paid because I'm sort of cheap about these type of things.

I didn't order room service or eat at the restaurant or bar there, but I did notice there didn't seem to be any place to have a drink during the day (before 5pm).  I enjoy day-drinking on vacation and it seems odd that the hotel didn't seem to have a place that fulfilled that need (or perhaps I missed it?).

Random display in the lobby.

To be honest, I'm not sure I would stay here again.  For Starwood points, I think I'd rather stay at the W Hotel or the Palace Hotel in SF.  But due to my love of the Ferry Building, I may have to go with the Hyatt Embarcadero which is a quick hop and a step away from the magic that is the Ferry Building.  (For my favorite places to go to in the Ferry Building click here.)

However, for a newbie visitor to SF, this hotel does offer a very convenient location and a bit of history.  I would recommend getting a larger room in the newer tower.