Hotel Fiona — Hotel in San Francisco

Booked a deluxe King room for 10 nights. I hope my detailed experience and observation below will help others decide if they should stay here.

Positives: Super spacious and clean rooms. Very friendly and helpful front desk staff. 3-minute walk to Civic Center BART station. About 40 minutes (yellow line) from San Francisco International Airport. Costs USD10. 55 and requires a Clipper card (I used the electronic card via Google wallet, and had no problems). Many food options within a 10-minute walk. The Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant next door offers really affordable and delicious meals. They provide a filtered cold water dispenser. Just bring a big bottle when checking in and you don't need to buy bottled water. Environmentally friendly too.

Negatives: I gave 3 stars instead of 5 because of one reason. Upon arrival, I had to pay 20 dollars per night amenities fee that was not stated in my booking. The front desk staff said this was a policy change that occurred after I did my booking. Well, I just have to pay up because it is too troublesome to find another place for 10 nights. They tried to soften the impact by explaining that in exchange, they provide some pastries and unlimited coffee in the morning. Well, from a customer perspective, hidden charges are extremely off-putting. Just mark the price up during booking and let customers decide whether the price is within budget. Imagine being on a tight budget on a trip and you thought all expenses were already factored in only to be hit with extra charges when you check in. It is basically being held at ranson. I had to pay extra USD200 for my stay. You decide if hotels that charge such hidden junk fees are worth supporting. As a foreigner, this left a nasty after-taste.

Neutral: Many reviewers have mentioned the sketchy neighbourhood. The hotel is located in the SoMa neighbourhood on 7th Street, and frankly, the street is pretty OK as of late April 2024. There are 24/7 security guards in the hotels around the area, and there aren't many homeless or stoned drug addicts on 7th Street itself. They are mostly on the adjoining streets, such as Mission Street, Market Street, and Minna Street. Just don't make eye contact with the homeless and walk past them. They won't touch you. That said, I don't recommend staying out too late. Just be back at the hotel when it gets dark and you should be fine. Daytime is generally safe. I took public transport, but I did hear from some conversations between other people and the front desk staff that parking at the hotel isn't free. It costs USD65 per day, although they seem to be having a 50 percent off when I left. Just be sure to ask about parking if you...

I am actually disappointed at my recent experience with this hotel but I have to be honest. Check-in was actually a breeze and the person checking me in was really nice and friendly and then he gave me the room 211 and that was when it all went downhill from here well to make a long story short. I was using the blow dryer to dry my hair after spending some time towel drying it and then out of nowhere my room suddenly went out as I just had a power outage not once but twice while using the blow dryer and so I had to call the front desk but only for security to come up as he didn't fully understand the gravity of the situation as I was telling him that the power went out in my room but the room wifi and fan was still intact which is something that I have never experienced at a hotel b4 but luckily security had called the guy that came within' the 20 minutes to fix the power box in order for my room to come back on to which it did and I thanked him and that was it and I did make sure to call front desk and she waived the amenity fee even though I was never charged for the fee for using any of the amenities while in the room.

Now on to the positives:

1.) The rooms are spacious and incase you are wondering. This hotel was once known as The Carriage Inn from back in the day b4 they renamed it as Hotel Fiona which is great simply because of the new amenities such as the central cooling system which this hotel never had before so it is a great thing to have especially during the hot summer months. 😅 2.) Free WiFi 3.) TV with a few cable channels and a TV guide that you can connect to Chromecast where you can use your phone 📱 as a TV remote which I thought was neat. 4.) Free breakfast contains fruit & pastries along with coffee ☕. 5.) The pool is conveniently located across the street up on the rooftop so you should have no trouble finding it here. 😊 6.) I really do love the golden name plates of famous people on each door which is something very special. 7.) I like how this hotel is family-friendly. I just don't know if it is pet-friendly as the website never stated that detail prior to booking.

My only negatives is that the bathroom plug in and ceiling fan didn't work as there is no fan in the exhaust vent which is why it's so stuffy in there when showering.

Note to self and for any guest that may be staying over here in the future is don't use too many things in the room at once as the room will immediately shut off on you without warning so be sure to turn the portable central cooling fan off before using the hair dryer or coffee maker. 😊

Other than that, my stay so far was okay but not great and because of that, I don't think I will be coming back in...

Free parking is offered here only if you book direct. I made the mistake of booking third party and had to pay a 30 dollar per night fee for parking. Regardless, it absolutely beats street parking or parking blocks away from the hotel.

The parking is closed at night and guarded 24/7. Your vehicle will be easily accessible any time of the day from the hotel elevators to the garage itself.

The guards are very helpful especially if you need to check in at night, be sure to check with front desk about reserving a spot for your car if you plan to return to the hotel late at night.

There's a $20 /night amenities fee and a $200 deposit that is refunded a month afterwards. They will deduct whatever fees are incurred such as the amenities fee or parking. So if you have a one night stay, theyll charge you 200 upon checkin, and if you pay for parking that would be $30 + $20 = $50 in fees for a night. A month later you'll get refunded 150 as they deduct that $50 from the 200 deposit.

I have to say this as there's a lot of confused guests when they check in, and having complete transparency is important before booking.

The hotel was great, cute and quaint. There is complimentary Continental breakfast which is limited to pastries and coffee. The staff are all wonderful and kind.

The only issue is the homeless problem which is everywhere but more prevalent near the hotel. Two blocks away is market Street and there will be tons of homeless/addicts around the area. Of course this won't be an issue if you drive around the city.

If you plan to walk please do so during the day and plan your transportation ahead of time. It gets worse at night around market Street...