Hotel Des Arts

05/25/2008 Posted by beth60

How did this hotel gets such high praise? Perhaps the raters olfactory senses are non functioning as the hotel just plain smells. The hallways from stale air and rooms from spelled beer that has never been cleaned. The images on the web might be cute, but do not be fooled, this place is a pit and staff are minimal. The first sign that was not worth the rating was the front clerk explanation on how to park to check in, she just could not seem to be able to express white is Ok red is not, nor is there a sign. As we walked in the door and empty wine bottled sat on the stairs. this is hotel for your first 1 out of college, certainly not a working professional. The sink isn't in the bathroom and they haven't bothered to replace the 1950 sink in which the hot and cold water is not pre-mixed. the carpet is filthy and needed replacing back in the 70's. I can't even imagine ridding the elevator if it is ever hot? this place wasn't even all that cheap- 200.00 for weekend. the only good thing is the location- but there are plenty of small hotels in the same area that must believe that cleaning is good thing.

Pros: location

Cons: bad service and filthy rooms

06/14/2007 Posted by alexa101miles

I travel to SF about once every couple of years so I have a good idea what I like about the City, where to stay and what to do. This is now my favorite place to stay. I got one of there Suites. It was just me but I wanted to sprawl out. The rate for the Suite was still less than just a plain room at another Union Square hotel. When I got there I was very impressed. As a bonus the room had an unadvertised big screen lcd. My room had been painted by Sheppard Fa_ry who I've seen exhibit in LA. You can pick your room on their website. All the rooms are different - painted by different artists. I recommend you book directly with the hotel so you know you're going to get the room you want. The hotel is small and full of quirks. As one of the other reviews said this isn't a chain hotel by a long shot. If you want Marriot or Hilton this may not be your place. But I like unique experiences and this is definitely that. Plus, the location can't be beat. Just a block off of everything: cable car, chinatown, Union Square, Moscone center, etc. Add a free breakfast included with the room, free wireless Internet and I can't see what anyone would ever complain about.

Pros: unique, art, location, staff

Cons: not good if you like a plain vanilla chain hotel

04/16/2007 Posted by rbadin

I have to agree with mikelee09. I just came back from a long weekend up in San Fran with a close friend. We were really looking forward to staying at this hotel, partly because of the high rating on Citysearch and other favorable press reviews and partly because of the cool concept and well-presented website. Every member of the staff we met was totally unresponsive, humorless and unhelpful. They would barely say hello or good morning let alone smile. My friend and I joked that perhaps they are all part of a real life post-modern art project to explore just how rude they can be to guests before the guests pack up and leave (it took us one night). When I first arrived, it took about 5 minutes or so before anyone responded to the buzzer to let me into the building. When somone finally did respond, I couldn't tell whether he was a member of staff or a frustrated guest. He opened the door, pointed to the ancient little elevator in the back of the building, and walked out. Our "suite" was a fraction of the size of anything you would expect from the website. The bathroom, a dismal little corner of about 10' x 5', was tired and grungy. When I opened the window and looked outside, I saw a pile of discarded shampoo bottles and half used soap on the roof of the adjacent building. The door would only shut with a lot of crafty cajoling (unlocking the main door to the suite was also a feat requiring 2 keys). Had we gotten any sleep that night, perhaps we could've maintained our patience and sense of humor. Unfortunately, the old heater near my friend's bed howled to life at about 4 am waking us up from an already fitful night sleep from the constant street noise. The very next morning we booked ourselves into another hotel at the same price (it was fantastic). The only good things about the hotel: the beds and the art. The ultimate irony: when we tried to find out how to buy some of the artist's work, the receptionist had no clue where to suggest we go.

12/12/2006 Posted by mikelee09

I had high hopes for this place and it wound up being a disaster. At best the staff is very awkward to deal with, though the adjectives rude and incompetent come to mind as well. Coming home late we were locked out of the building for 15 minutes. Our keys didn't work and no one was at the front desk. (Another guest had already been locked out for 20 minutes before we arrived). In the morning we woke up to a blaring alarm clock from another room. The staff couldn't figure out where it was coming from and it was another hour before they shut it (we had to run the shower to drown out the sound). In addition, the entire place is noticeably dilapitated beneath the slick veneer. Yes, the art concept is cool, but this place has a long way to go before it'll be worth even their low rates.

Pros: Nice Art.

Cons: Bad Service. Tiny rooms.

10/30/2006 Posted by ccohennxt

When I first saw the reviews here I thought it maybe cool to stay at this hotel. The concept is really cool, and location is great as well. However, the cleanliness of the hotel its dubious and all personnel has very little training in customer service. I was there to watch a group of European tourists been mistreated. I was not expecting too much of this place, just a cool hotel to stay, but customer service was quite disappointing. Plenty of good other spots to stay

Pros: Cool place, nice paintings on wall, etc

Cons: Not as clean as expected, BAD customer service

04/24/2006 Posted by ggoff

I'm in my 20s and so are most of my friends, so suffice it to say that our travel budgets are not exactly limitless. So, when dibs have already been claimed on my couch, this is where I tell the others to stay. It's very San Francisco, and is centered around the work of local artists and it's close to lots of action. Just try to get a room with its own tub. Nobody likes communal bathroom dorm flashbacks when they're on vacation.

03/21/2006 Posted by andyheller

We totally lucked out on our recent trip to San Francisco. We wanted to stay close to Union Square but did not want to waste our entire vacation budget on an overpriced hotel room. I was not expecting such a clean, well-kept, and friendly hotel when we booked online. This is a great value for any traveler wanting to be close to Union Square and/or Chinatown.

03/20/2006 Posted by jcash2006

I stayed at Regis & Bloum suite (500/501). I traveled all continents and it is a unique hotel in the world. I never seen such kind of varierty of artist in one hotel. A few rooms that I saw, Bloum & Regis suite is the best by miles. The entire hotel is fully decorate with nice artwork for all kind of taste. I stayed once and everytime I return to SF, I will stay there again. Maybe I will reserve the same suite and I will sleep in the living room with the big giant brest woman.

12/06/2005 Posted by akoypinoy

Stayed one night after watching a late night concert and did not want to drive back late to the north bay. The rooms are unique and very colorful and the hallways have great artworks for sale. Not all rooms have bathrooms so make sure you tell the kind of room you want. We were there in the winter and be aware the rooms do not have airconditioning so it could get hot during the summer. The heater is the old style steam heater and if you want to open the window the noice is unbearable. make sure to ask for room away from the front of the building. I was not happy with parking where you have to drive your car to the garage about 2 -3 blocks away and then pay $27 a day. Its a great experience but will not be staying there again.

Pros: original rooms, great location

Cons: parking, no airconditioner, street noise

06/20/2005 Posted by bjewel1010

We heard about this on an art website. Many of the rooms have been painted in murals by some pretty cool artists. We're a big fan of David Choe so we stayed in his room. It was pretty incredible. To see it go to their website and click on "rooms" then "Painted rooms". It felt like you were stepping into the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland when you walk in the door. It is a petite victorian throughback right in the middle of Union Square. Cablecars and the Chinatown gates are right there. You'll get a comfortable, clean, well decorated room, friendly hip staff and a great location. They do have wireless Internet. But, don't expect room service or a valet. The nice thing is you don't pay for any of that stuff either. This is a ridiculously reasonable experience.

Pros: location, very hip, low price

Cons: no valet