Motel 6 San Francisco, CA – Great Highway — Hotel in San Francisco

It used to be that Motel 6 could be relied on for a basic, no-frills, clean room. That was not the case for me. I wish I'd known that this motel mostly housed transients - it probably wouldn't have been a big deal if I was traveling with my husband and family as I usually am, but I was moving my daughter into a house near SFSU and returning to the motel after dark each night, tired from moving furniture, so adding in the stress of wondering if my car would be safe from being broken into, dodging people wearing backpacks rifling through the vending machines for change as I went up the dark stairwell to enter my dark room (the light switch didn't work) wasn't appreciated. The front desk is behind 2 locked doors that you have to access via a Ring doorbell, which should have been my first clue that we weren't in a good neighborhood. The only bright light at this hotel was the very nice clerk with whom I interacted a couple of times. There was no housekeeping the entire time I was there (3 nights) and a dirty towel that was on the staircase landing the first day I arrived was still there when I left in the wee hours of the 4th day when I gave up on sleeping because the guy in the room next to me was blaring his TV so loudly that it could be heard through the earplugs I went out & bought after the 1st night. Speaking of the guy next door, his idea of a "no smoking" room was to sit inside his room with the window open and his hand hanging out the window - and cigarette smoke blowing the 4 feet over into my room, initiating an asthma attack that kept me up for most of the night. Furniture looks like it was thrifted. Minifridge and microwave worked great. TV worked fine. No ice nor coffee machines. Bed was lumpy but I slept ok during the short stretches the neighbor was quiet. Bathroom sink area was weird, very bare bones with not even a towel hook. Shower looked remodeled and water got hot quickly with good water pressure. Full-sized shampoo and conditioner were provided. Room seemed fairly clean, but outside of motel was very dirty and run-down. Beach was just across the highway and I enjoyed walking there one morning. Front lobby provided a list of walkable restaurants & the first morning my daughter and I walked to the Java Beach Cafe. Cute place but way overpriced for mediocre drinks & muffins and the walk there was sketchy, walking past boarded-up graffitied buildings. Parking was kind of weird - to access some of the parking spots, you had to drive up the curb. It wasn't a problem for me, but would be a consideration if I was in a...

We stayed at this hotel for one night and experienced a completely unacceptable situation. At 1 AM, the power suddenly went out across the entire hotel. Lights, outlets, phone chargers — everything shut down in an instant right before our eyes. We stepped outside our room and saw that there was no electricity anywhere — the hallways, the outside of the building — total darkness.

Because of the outage, the heater also stopped working, and the room quickly got cold. We were literally freezing at night instead of having the comfortable stay we paid for. And as if that wasn’t enough, starting at 8 AM, hotel staff began calling our room and knocking on our door — even though checkout time was 11 AM and we just wanted to sleep after that miserable night.

The most outrageous part came at the front desk. We explained the situation and even showed video evidence clearly proving there was no power throughout the entire hotel. The staff member refused to even look at the video and told us we “don’t know how to use the light switches.” Excuse me? The lights were working perfectly until everything suddenly shut off, and clearly the ENTIRE building was out of power. And somehow, this is our fault?

That kind of response is not just unprofessional — it’s insulting. Instead of taking responsibility for what was clearly a serious issue, the staff tried to gaslight us and blame the guests.

We submitted a complaint through Booking and will be attaching the video — but even there, the hotel responded with the same false claim that we didn’t know how to use the lights. That’s simply not true, and it’s disgraceful.

I never intended to leave a negative review. But when hotel staff, instead of simply apologizing for the situation, choose to blame the guests for a power outage they know affected the whole building — that’s beyond unprofessional. That’s offensive.

Shameful and unacceptable. If you value decent service, basic comfort, and even a minimal level of respect — stay far away...

This is not what would typically be a 5 star hotel simply because of the fact that it is a motel 6 and these are always no more than an average priced pot to piss in and a window to throw it out of . But this motel 6 got my 5 stars from the fact that i expected far less than what i got . I expected to see things my kids would post on social media with hashtags like #momgotaroomatacrackhouse #whyarewebeingpunished #mommearewepoor But no . We got here and the front desk was friendly and polite . Very professional. Asked what floor and view we preferred. Gave us the wifi password without needing us to ask for it . Got in our room and it is clean . We have enough towels and the refrigerator is already cold . We needed accommodations for 5 . Our room has 2 queen beds in the front with a large cozy seatee sofa . Then a separate room with a king size bed . Wooden hangers in the closets and a spacious vanity area . The building itself is a bit weathered from the location and years it has been here but nothing seems dangerous. Noting is grossing out my teenagers or my lil kid . Everybody feels safe . My kids are rather sheltered and they are comfortable here . Other reviews speak of homeless people and campers with loud loitering and what not but i see none of that . Parking was convenient . And the streets are quiet. I plan to stay here again .

This run down building is well...