Clift Hotel

Overrated. The basic problem is that the hotel does NOT feature enough amenities in the room and in the overall hotel. 1. no free newspapers 2. no letterhead and pens in the room 3. no kitchen in the room

4. no docking station that will play and RECHARGE one's IPod

5. my room had 2 flat screen TVs. Why??

6. the TVs had a small array of cable stations. Why?

7. no vending machines in the hotel

BTW the breakfast provided in the hotel restaurant was nice except for the fact that the menu had an embarrassing typo. Someone is not doing a close enough job.

The hotel suffers from a "trendy" vibe that will date easily; for example: your lobby and surrounding area are too DIM and dark. When you enter and exit in the evening and nighttime it is hard to see around the place and people often bump into each other and into the doors.

The main reason I stayed at the hotel was due to a discount from a friend who works for the Morgan group. If I paid the Hotel dot com price I would have been disappointed. In this economy I want my amenities and I gather shall have to go elsewhere next time I visit SF.…

DO NOT STAY HERE IF YOU VALUE FUN OR SLEEP. I stayed here the weekend of April 17-19th, hoping to have my Bday celebration with 3 of my close friends. The first night me and my friends arrived back in our room around 12:45 a.m., we were simply talking amongst each other, again just the three of us, we were not having a party, no drinking, simply talking. The next thing I know a security guy is knocking on our door telling us to keep the noise down! They had complaints that there was a party in our room! We invited the security guy in to show him that we weren't having a party and assured him we were just talking normally. He said the walls were thin and we had to whisper! Ok, I'm paying $270 a night to spend time with my friends and I have to flippin whisper in my own room!!! Unreal! Then it gets better. At approx 6:00 a.m. me and my 2 friends are awakened by the sound of people having intercourse in the next room, we're talking the headboard hitting the wall and so forth! Not to mention we could hear EVERY word the people were saying in BOTH of the rooms adjacent to ours! So, not only did we have to WHISPER in our own room but now we were unable to sleep due to the people in the adjacent rooms. If you plan on having a private conversation with your friends and plan on getting any sleep, DO NOT STAY HERE! You will see what I mean, trust me!…

All Talk and No Luxury. As someone who spends a great deal of time travelling I've become a lover of boutique hotels for their style, little luxuries and the personal touches in service you just don't get at the major chains. These are all qualities I am happy to pay for.

I had heard about the Clift and jumped at the chance to stay there. However, I can only say I was deeply disappointed.

It certainly looks the part - and the gorgeous Redwood bar touched all the style notes for me. However it's here that seems to stem the root of the Clift's downfall - expensive yet poor quality cocktails, ambivalent service without any sense of personal touch and it is incredibly busy (operates practically as a night club) denies residents any sense of exclusivity.

The rooms themselves are noisy, tiny and poorly appointed: our bathroom would not contain two people busying to get ready and had none of the mod-cons any rival hotel in the cateogry would provide (Hi Fi, flat screen TV, etc.)

Finally adding insult to injury was the service which in general was aloof and thoughtless - requests for room changes were declined with an unapologetic lack of sincerity.

Overall, I would say that the Clift is all talk, no luxury and presents poor value for money. Stay somewhere like the W instead.…