The Palace
The Palace San Francisco is a Starwood Luxury Collection Property and is one of my favorite hotels in the world. If someone gave me the option to stay at the St. Regis or the Palace, I’d pick the Palace. This grand belle of the gilded age was built in 1875 and was the highest building in the city for many years thereafter, standing at eight stories. The hotel completed a major renovation a couple of years ago and it’s a night and day difference. Luckily for me, I work for a San Francisco based company, so I get to visit this old gal once or twice a year. This trip was for 5 nights and I booked the stay using the AAA rate which included breakfast, because I’m a lowly SPG Gold.
Check In
I arrived at the hotel a couple of hours before check-in and I was informed that they had a room ready for me. I booked a Deluxe King, which is the upgraded standard room, but unfortunately they didn’t have any upgrades beyond that for the next two evenings. I asked if I could check back on my third night to see if that had changed. The agent that I spoke with was gracious and said to please check back.
Deluxe King
The room was very nice, had an extremely comfortable bed and high ceilings. The bathroom also had very nice finishes, but was a bit on the small side. My one complaint with this property is the lack of storage. There aren’t any dressers or cabinets, beyond a tiny closet, where you can put a second suitcase. Needless to say, my wife got the closet and I lived out of a suitcase on the floor all week.
Junior Suite
On day three, I checked back with the front desk to see if they had any upgraded rooms available, and sure enough, they had a Junior Suite open up for me. The difference of 50 square feet makes a huge difference in these rooms. We had a place to sit and have a meal, a view and a bathroom that was twice the size.
Breakfast
Breakfast at the Palace is quite the experience. It reminded me a lot of breakfast at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome. Maybe not as good of food as the Park Hyatt, but the Garden Court is beautiful. The breakfast that came with our AAA rate included the buffet, coffee, juice and tea. Sadly, espresso drinks were an additional $7. I completely forgot to grab a picture of the buffet for you guys, but here is a shot the garden court where it’s served.
Final Thoughts
We stayed at this SPG Luxury Collection property for 5 nights, and I could have gone another 5 without itching to go home. The staff, level of service and their hard product makes this a hotel that I’ll be frequenting for years to come. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that there is a Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop connected to the hotel, so instead of ordering dessert from room service, try that.
Have you visited the Palace since it’s renovation? What did you think?
