The Clift Royal Sonesta San Francisco — Hotel in San Francisco

My wife and I spent a night at the Clift at the beginning of our anniversary vacation. We had honeymooned in San Francisco years ago and felt it was time to revisit. Unfortunately our stay was significantly worse than that of our honeymoon at the Parc 55.

During our stay at the Clift we were unhappy with:

The fact that there were curtains everywhere and the atmosphere was "dark" felt very creepy, almost like we were part of a drug exchange or trafficking situation.

The infinite mirrors in the rooms were also creepy, and my wife kept feeling like there were people watching from the other side (as if it were one way glass). Obviously that's not the case, but it is how we felt generally about the hotel.

The walls seemed very thin, as we could hear full conversations in the hallway and from our neighbors.

The lighting in the room was dim and not easily accessible. Upon entering the room for the first time it took us a few minutes to discover how the lights could be turned on.

The bathroom was miniature, and in my opinion, unacceptable.

The shower tub used a stopper that spins around, and seemed to randomly plug itself and cause the water to drain slowly. My shower in the morning had me standing in 4 inches of water.

The water pressure in the shower was way too high. It felt uncomfortable and spayed water everywhere. Upon exiting the shower the floor mat was drenched.

The sink also drained slowly, and is unpleasant to watch after brushing my teeth, for instance.

The automated checkout system via the TV was not operational.

Upon checkout the front desk lady asked how my stay was, I said "not great", and she didn't inquire further.

Things we enjoyed about our stay include: comfortable bed, most decor, good temperature.

But given the list of issue above, I am very unhappy with my stay. I am happy to pay for staying at a hotel, but this was a 1 star experience at a much higher price.

I emailed the above to the manager, and here is the response:

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback about your stay and I am sorry that your experience fell short of your expectations. Our Hotel is very unique in design and the curtains and mood lighting are very much a part of our design concept. We understand that not everyone enjoys the same taste in décor, which is why we developed 2 different concepts between our Lobby and Rooms. The guest corridors and rooms are lighter in color to provide a juxtaposition to the Lobby and Bar. The mirrors that we have throughout our guest rooms and corridors are also a large part of our design concept. You, the guest, become the artwork for the hotel. I appreciate your feedback and am sorry that our look was not to your liking. I am truly sorry for the issues you experienced with the room itself. The bathtub and sink not draining is not our typical level of service and is something we can have fixed immediately with an engineer that is available 24 hours a day. Most of the issue you have expressed in this e-mail are a matter of personal taste rather than service failures on the part of the Hotel. For the issues that were controllable by the hotel, such as the water issues, I would be happy to offer you a complimentary upgrade on a future stay to one of our luxury suites. Please contact me directly for your next reservation so that I can offer a discounted rate and a wonderful upgrade for your stay.

... yeah, I won't be...

Last weekend I stayed two nights at you Clift Royal Sonesta location in San Francisco.

My first night was pleasant, as was the staff upon arrival. And, although the room was weirdly spaced (the toilet and shower were in two separate rooms, with a huge entryway that served no purpose) and hair dryer didnt work, the view was really great (just remember to ask for a hight floor, bc the SF streets in the area can get pretty loud at night).

However, our final night's stay was a comedy of errors;

... first, through booking with Amex, we received a $100 credit to their bar, mini-bar service, and/or breakfast at Fredricks. Since there are countless great places to eat when in SF, we opted to save the credit to use at the Redwood Room. After returning to the hotel from dinner, we stopped by the bar, but there was obnoxious house music playing to an empty room (because nothing pairs better with a historic 1930s bar than Four Tet and Skrillex). We decided we'd much rather enjoy a nightcap in the peacefulness of our room.

I decided to order two beers and a $6 snickers (fancy dessert) from the virtual "mini bar." However, more than twenty mins later, with my girlfriend and I nodding off while waiting for delivery, I decided to cancel the order (it was now almost midnight). I tried calling and calling the number on the menu and, finally, when someone picked up, they hung up abruptly. So, I let my girlfriend sleep and I walked downstairs to tell them to cancel the order. When down stairs there was no one at the desk, so I waited until someone appeared and I expressed my displeasure with waiting for an order that never arrived, asking if I could cancel it (when asking if this was the normal wait, i was told that she didn't know she "just got here" for the night). She was pleasant enough, apologized and said she'd cancel the order. However, on my way back up, someone had called the room, woke my girlfriend up and said they were out of what I had ordered. I guess that explains why it never came, but would think we'd get an immediate call, not one right before midnight, almost 30 mins later.

I quietly got into bed with my girlfriend, who had just went back to sleep, when there was a knock at the door and a man with a paper bag saying this was my mini bar order. I said "A) I was told it would be canceled, as it's too late, now we're asleep and B) this isnt what I ordered." Confused, he told me I could just have it for free. If that commotion wasnt enough, the "mini bar" service agent called the room AGAIN and woke up my girlfriend AGAIN while I was talking to the man at the door. He said they were out of the beer I asked for (which we've established) but I could have the delivery without charge. However, it was almost midnight, we ordered it forever ago, they woke us up multiple times and IT WAS FREE ANYWAY with my Amex credit. Ha, also, I am used to even mediocre hotels providing room service on a tray... not in a crumpled up paper bag.

I literally could have walked down to RiteAid, bought WHAT I had ordered, for a quarter of the price, in a quarter of the time.

Anyway, needless to say our final night was a disaster. Hopefully this is an isolated incident, but figured it'd be worth sharing for those on business and/or with a companion, as our night was a...

This hotel is centrally located for tourists though some may be turned off by the homeless camping outside. I went as a solo female visitor and felt safe but that may have to do with having lived in SF before. You just need to be alert at all times and use common sense. Upon arrival, I pulled up for valet parking and no one was to be found. Had to go into the hotel and was told I could leave my keys with them but no offer of help for my bags or anything. I feel if you dare to charge $80/day for valet parking, the least you could do is offer some kind of service bc there are parking lots that you can park in a 2-3 block radius.||The rooms were clean which was the best part but it is not worth upgrading to a suite. The room does not feel bigger bc they have awkward-sized furniture that takes up so much room. I was on the 6th floor, stayed in 2 different rooms and it was relatively quiet but the room close to the stairs was louder bc I could hear the other floors echoing from above and below.||As for room service, there is none even though their phones have a button for it. You need to call and order and pick it up, which I wish I had known before I changed into my PJs. They had what felt like half the menu not available, even simple things like Caesar salad. I also wish the woman taking my order could have been more professional instead of laughing every time they didn't have something. The phones in the rooms have services that are no longer available and they should inform the guests upon check-in or make a change. There are also no ice machines so you have to ask for ice. It's been years since they renovated, there is no excuse.||Their check-out is 11A and check-in at 4P, which is reflected on their website but not at the 3rd party site I booked it through. It also says the check-out is 12P and check-in at 3P on the fire escape routes on the door. This conflict of info all over the hotel makes things confusing. Luckily the staff was nice enough to honor the original times but it did not feel like they took their job seriously. How can management have such an oversight for years?||The Redwood Room is the best part of the hotel. The bar is gorgeous and the bartenders made great drinks and were fun to talk to. ||Despite looking overworked, all the staff was kind and courteous but it feels like there should be more staff on site. For this reason alone, I would give it another shot but management should accept that if you have wrong info all over your hotel and you are not making efforts to change it, then you should honor your mistakes and not be surprised if guests are livid. If you're in the business of hospitality, you should do your very best to make the guest's stay as comfortable as possible and deliver on what...