Aida Plaza Hotel — Hotel in San Francisco

Being a family of 6 (parents and 4 daughters) we unfortunately pre-booked 2 rooms Aida Plaza Hotel 1087 Market Street San Francisco from Australia. Our booking was based on the write up and ‘overview and Hotel Information’ sections listed on Venere. The saying that a picture paints a thousand words is obviously a myth, because the online pictures looked great the write up appealing enough and the location (for the unknowing) seemed somewhat nostalgic and quaint. That all belied the truth of the matter. As I was stepping over the drunken homeless person (who had set up camp at the front door) to enter hotel, I was thinking to myself that things would have to go up from here, but they didn’t. At least the drunken homeless person begging for money was polite unlike the manager. Trying to talk to him while checking-in through what looks like bullet proof Perspex plastic with holes drilled in them was bad enough, but as he was babbling on through the ridiculous and seemingly endless list of hotel rules, the manager demanded that we leave our room keys with him each time we went out. Unfortunately I dared question him as to why. His attitude was hostile and not at all professional. As I had pre-booked I was stuck, we had to stay there. There was little I could do but suck it up and agree to his demands. The rooms we had were shockingly dated and unappealing. The beds sagged and were bouncy; not a hint of firmness indicating that the mattresses were aged and worn out. The old analogue TV didn’t work, the cable at the rear was frayed and looked dangerous. I could and did write my name in the dust on the window ledges in the bathroom. The shower curtains were cheap and nasty. The shower nozzle was missing from my daughters’ room and had to take one from the communal bathroom on the floor when the manager agreed to “Get someone to have a look at it tomorrow.” There was nothing modern or welcoming at all about the rooms we had. The so called in room wifi was mostly non-existent and it didn’t feel safe enough to sit in the foyer to try the lobby wifi. The so called breakfast is a disgraceful joke and downright false advertising! A box (or was it 2 boxes) of donuts were delivered to the foyer at 7.00 a.m. that’s if you timed it right and got there quick enough to get one. NB: Donuts are not breakfast. The coffee and tea in the foyer (the other component of breakfast) was from an old style urn with no milk just that white powered coffee mate stuff. It too was woeful - Yuk!!! This was promoted as a ‘budget city centre San Francisco hotel’ I have stayed in backpackers hostels all over the world and if this had been advertised as a backpackers hostel or even backpacker hotel and charged appropriately, I would have thought fair enough but to charge what they charged us based on what they advertised and portrayed what we got was appalling and a rip off. The streets, lanes and footpaths all around the hotel is littered with alcohol and drug affected homeless people constantly harassing and begging for money and food. This is not a place for families to stay at. No...

We stayed here for a week. We knew it was close to The Tenderloin. We knew there were a lot of homeless around. We knew it had no frills. We booked a family room that had two double beds and our own bathroom (lots of places this old have shared bathrooms). The room was huge and comfortable. Yes, everything is old, but spotlessly clean. The staff were great. Very friendly and helpful. ||The state of homelessness is enough to make you despair, but, no-one ever hassled us. Every now and then someone would ask for a dollar. If you don't respond, they just move on (unlike Rome, where you just about have to push them away from you while clinging to your bag so they don't pick pocket you). We had a good look around San Francisco - honestly -there are homeless people everywhere. It isn't this hotels' fault. The staff constantly reassure you that you are safe - and you are. The police presence on the corner of Market and 7th is constant. There is nearly always a police car parked across the road. Aside from that, Market St is always busy with (non-homeless) locals and tourists. ||I don't know why everyone bleats about leaving the key at the desk. Personally I like it. It is one less thing I have to worry about losing when I am out all day. Plus you get to have a chat with whoever is on the desk. The desk is manned 24/7. They usually lock the front door, especially at night, but instantly open it when you arrive. ||The big bonus is that every conceivable transport option is right outside the front door. 25 mins on the F street car which goes to the end of the piers for $2.50 if you have a Clipper Pass. Bus straight to Haight-Ashby. BART station straight to the airport, or anywhere else. There is a huge Whole Foods market a block up the street with hot food you can pick up for dinner as well as a couple of cafes in both directions. It would have been nice to have a fridge in our room, but there is a communal fridge downstairs and our stuff was perfectly safe in there. The walk to Union Square is about 5 minutes.||The furniture in the hotel lift lobbies is amazing. Spoke to the owner who told me it was all stored in the basement and he has had it all restored.||The entrance lobby was a bit cluttered with pallets of paint. Apparently they are going to renovate the area behind reception into a restaurant. That would be a bonus, especially for breakfast.||We would...

The price is low, and the location is convenient, but that does not make up for terrible service, poor conditions, and the general feeling that something terrible could happen to you at any moment.

The manager checked us in but it took forever because he kept answering the phone even though we filled out the paperwork that he gave us and were just waiting on a room assignment and a key. The hotel's policies require that you leave the key with the front desk every time that you leave the hotel, which got tedious very quickly and doesn't feel all that comforting seeing as people were coming in off of the street to partake of the hotel's complimentary coffee and tea. Also, there would usually be people checking in, and looking about as shocked as we were when we arrived, so sometimes there was some delay in safely turning in our key. They mentioned breakfast, but that just turned out to be a box of doughnuts that are put out in the lobby at 7 a.m. The elevator was also extremely temperamental and shaky, and there were signs urging guests to keep hitting the button to get it to come. It also didn't display any inspection certificates.

The shared bathrooms were extremely cramped and the shared shower didn't have anywhere to put your things. The TVs are extremely old and only have about 10 channels, one or two of which are Spanish-speaking. The rooms make use of old radiator heaters where heat is pumped up from a furnace in the basement and the valve can be switched between open and closed. Our valve was broken, however, so our room was extremely hot the entire time. We went down and informed the manager, but he just told us to crack a window and he'd make a note to send someone up the next day. So we had to open the window, which had no screen or bars of any kind despite the fact that we were on the 6th floor, and suffer until morning. The guy, who spoke very little English, finally showed up around 9:45 A.M. and tinkered with the valve for a while. He said that it was fixed, and left. It wasn't fixed at all. The valve still wouldn't close. We were fed up at this point and just left the window open whenever we were in the room. Luckily no birds or bugs came in, that we were aware of.

Like I said, the location is nice and the price is low, but I definitely wouldn't stay at this hotel again. I wouldn't be surprised if it was closed down by the next time...