Palace Hotel

01/21/10

Iconic - In a class of its own

by marlae at Citysearch

The Palace Hotel is a historic hotel going back to late 1800’s and was burnt down during the 1906 earthquake and rebuilt in 1909. The hotel is the oldest in San Francisco. If you’re expecting some kind of SF view (recommend hotels in Knob Hill area), novelty architecture or a modern hotel like a Marriot or a W this is not it—The Palace is the palace.

The palace has beautiful architecture, long and wide corridors, marble stair cases and high ceilings—the feeling of history is all around here (including famous guest). The main lobby has the famous Garden Court restaurant which is breathe taking; I thought I was in Christine Chapel for a moment when I walked in. You may of notice it in the movie “The Game” with Michael Douglas (crashing though ceiling). The Palace also has historic Pied Piper Bar & Maxfield's restaurant (main eatery), named after Maxfeld Parrish who painted the original mural “Pied Piper” over the bar (probably worth millions too).

The staff at the hotel from the bellmen to the front desk were friendly and helpful. The hotel is situated where you can walk (flat walking and no hills) to tourist areas like Union Square and Chinatown. The Museum of Modern Art and a BART station (subway) is nearby. Valet parking is available, I recommend calling valet from your room to avoid a long wait especially in busy hours. There are nearby restaurants in the area including McDonalds and local coffee shops. I had a superior room with a flat screen 32 inch TV and it was very comfortable and average size with high ceilings. I did notice the walls are thin like many hotels and did hear at times my neighbors, generally speaking, quiet at night including the hallways. I always book a hotel with a pool and Jacuzzi, the large pool is very nice but the Jacuzzi is small and only holds 4 people. My one complaint for the entire stay and its minor is the Jacuzzi never seemed to be completely filled to the top, water low by 10+ inches. Facilities also include a fitness center and sauna.

In summary, The Palace is a hotel to experience, I recommend reading about it’s history and make sure you have breakfast in the Garden Court. There is a free historic group tour of the hotel (and other tours throughout SF), check with hotel concierge.

• Pros: Historic architecture & Garden Court, pool/jacuzzi, BART
• Cons: none

05/04/09

Nice Hotel

by ed94105 at Citysearch

The Palace is a nice place to stay. The rooms are on the small side. They have a great Jazz Brunch on the weekends.

02/19/09

The place is a palace, techcrunch40 event here was awesome

by TimNorton at Citysearch

The multiple conference rooms and lobby that connects them all is brilliant and made for moving quickly from networking and watching sessions to one on ones and doing business...

• Pros: stunning lobby and conference facilities