10/02/07

Great hotel!!!

by jcabinsd

We stayed from a Saturday to Monday and they had our room ready for us. Staff was super nice and the hotel was very cute. The rooms were the same size as any other boutique hotel in the Union Sruare/Powell Street area - Unless you are used to staying at regular, cheesey hotels like the Hilton or Ramada. The room was clean and the showers worked just fine. We had three people in our room which was a Deluxe Double/Double and had hot water for all three showers and enough room for us to move around, including having our lugage out. It is on the VERY EDGE of the Tenderloin. but we never had any problems. On Saturday we took a walk around 2:30 am to get some pizza and we had no problems or were not scared to be out in the area. On Sunday we came home between 2-3 am and also did not run into any trouble. Our friends were staying at the Whitcomb(?) on Market and 8th, fancy hotel, about $300 a night and they said they would have rather stayed in our hotel. We will definitely be staying there again and I will be recommending this hotel to others.

09/10/07

Avoid at all costs

by lilestmama

The rooms were not bad but not anything special. Front desk staff was very rude. In our one night stay the fire alarm went off two or three times and we were forced to evacuate. Our group was there for a bachelorette party so we were very unhappy to be woken up by the fire alarm early in the morning and forced to evacuate. I believe the problem was with the elevator which was out or service with no sign to prevent guests from trying to use it. The firefighters who arrived were less than happy with the staffs management of the situation. Our shower had very little water pressure and very little hot water. The area is very shady. We ate at Carl's Jr. around the corner and saw someone get mugged. The security there told us this is not uncommon in the area. I was followed out of Carl's Jr. by someone who was obviously strung out on something who was trying to give me something. When I ignored him he threw it (a penny) at me. I told the manager about our displeasure with the hotel and was told he could take a few dollars off our stay. I will NEVER stay here again.

07/04/06

Long on personality. Short on polish.

by alikaalex

A self-admitted boutique hotel junkie, I *had* to stay at the Metropolis. While I appreciated the creative theme of the hotel as well as the addition of the new restaurant, I think they could work on honing their guest service.

The front desk staff was sufficiently friendly, but attentiveness seemed to vary from staffer to staffer.

Upon check-in we were pleased to find ourselves in a small, top-floor, corner guest room with a beautiful view of the city and an unexpected private wraparound outdoor patio.

Our room, while thoughtfully decorated, was plagued with shower and bathtub problems (loose showerhead that would only point at the wall; no drain stopper to allow the tub to hold water; thick, dirty residue that pumped out from the tub jets). While the staff made attempts to address these issues, some of these are obvious problems that should have been observed by the housekeeping staff and attended to prior to our visit.

From the room maintenance issues to smaller touches like unclean patio furniture, it's clear that the Metropolis could further refine its attention to guest services. The addition of a basic room service menu from the in-house restaurant would also be a welcome addition.

Still, for the money*, the Hotel Metropolis rates as a good deal for a San Francisco three-star boutique hotel. Flesh out the service issues and you'll enter 3.5 star territory to boot. While I'll try some other SF boutique hotels, I'm keeping the Metropolis on my short list.

*The Metropolis offers some killer deals! We stayed for $119 per night: including room, parking, and one $10 prepaid gas card per night.

• Pros: a modern hotel with character, thoughtful touches
• Cons: needs service improvements, noise flows freely between some guest rooms