Timbri Hotel San Francisco, Curio Collection by Hilton — Hotel in San Francisco

(Note: This is the review that I sent to the hotel at their request. So, you'll see phrases like "your hotel," because I was replying to them.)||The hotel is beautiful, and my room was attractive and clean. However, there were a number of issues during my stay:||1. In general, most members of your front-desk staff seem like aloof college students, not like hotel hosts. Most of them had a nonchalant attitude and didn't seem to care about issues we encountered or requests we made. And when I made inquiries, they never seemed to want to help. I always felt like I had to make suggestions to THEM in terms of what they should try, in order to solve my issue. I've never been to any hotel in the world with such nonchalant front-desk personnel.||2. I stayed in your hotel for 6 nights. For decades, whenever I leave a hotel for the day (typically in the late morning), my practice has been to remove the Do Not Disturb sign, then I either (a) call housekeeping to let them know that my room is ready to be serviced, or I (b) call or stop at the front desk and ask them to inform housekeeping that my room is ready to be cleaned. On two occasions during my stay, I did the above, then left the hotel for at least 4 hours—but upon returning, my room had not been cleaned. When I called the front desk and mentioned this, the attendants said something like, "Well, they must be busy." I waited for them to say more or make another suggestion—but they never did. I always had to come up with my own suggestion, such as: Well, can you please contact them again? (See my first comment about your staff being "aloof.") On the first occasion on which my room was not cleaned, after I made the second request, a housekeeper arrived a few minutes later, which then required me to leave the room and "kill time" for 25 minutes (her time estimate) while she cleaned the room. This inconvenienced me. But on the second occasion that this happened, my room was NEVER cleaned at all.||3. On Saturday, I called the front desk and asked that my minibar be restocked. Later that day, it still had not been restocked, so I called and asked again. On each occasion, I was told this would be addressed, right away. On Sunday, my minibar STILL was not restocked, so I called again. No change. On Monday, my minibar STILL was not restocked, so I called yet again. Finally—two whole days after my initial request—someone finally came to my room and restocked the minibar.||4. I booked my room through Tablet Plus, which entitled me to a room upgrade, based upon availability. Upon my arrival, last Wednesday, there were no upgrades available, but I was told I would be able to upgrade on Saturday for the remainder of my stay. So, on Saturday, I called the front desk and asked of the upgrade. They told me an upgrade was available would be ready by 3pm. I went out sightseeing, but at 3pm I called to confirm that the upgrade was ready—as I was only 10-15 minutes away and was prepared to return to the room to pack and move to the upgraded room. But the person with whom I spoke at 3pm knew nothing about what I had been told, that morning, and after he checked on the upgrade, he said there were no upgrades available. I explained to him that I had been promised the upgrade, that same morning, and that I had been told it would be ready by 3pm, but he said he knew nothing about it and claimed that there was no such upgrade available. So, for my entire 6-night stay, I never received an upgrade, despite being told, at check-in, that one would be available on Saturday.||5. On Sunday, I wanted in-room dining, but I learned that you don't have in-room dining on Sundays. So, I went up to the rooftop restaurant, looked at their menu, and asked if they could deliver a meal to my room. The receptionist said "Of course," and she took my order. When I asked approximately how long it would take to receive my food, she said "15 minutes." I thanked her and returned to my room. Well, 45 minutes later, I had not received my food. So, I called the front desk and asked to be transferred to the restaurant. I was transferred, but I got voicemail. So, I called the front desk again and explained that I had gotten voicemail, and the front-desk attendant simply said, "Well, they're probably busy." I paused and waited for her to say more, but she did not. (See my first comment about your front-desk personnel being "aloof.") After I commented, she said we should try again, and this time I did reach the restaurant. When I asked about my order, the restaurant employee said, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. We'll get it to you right away. And we'll take care of this one." So, to their credit, they did not charge me for that meal. But why did this happen.||So, I had repeated problems with:||• Front-desk staff (multiple incidents)|• Housekeeping (multiple incidents)|• Minibar management (multiple incidents)|• Restaurant personnel (one incident)||All of these experiences say one thing: Your hotel is poorly managed. Period.||I've stayed in upscale hotels all over the planet, and the experience at yours was one of the worst.||---||(Another email, sent 3 days later)||Now I have another issue:||6. I checked out of your hotel on Tuesday after staying there for 6 nights. That night, when unpacking, I discovered my electric toothbrush was missing, and I suspect I may have left it at the hotel. So, first thing Wednesday morning, I called the hotel and asked for lost and found. I was transferred to housekeeping, where I got voicemail. I left a detailed message, including my room number and a description of the item. ||Well, it's now Friday—48 hours later—and I haven't heard one peep from anyone about my lost item.||So, a while ago, I called the hotel again. And when I explained the above to the front-desk person, she showed no sympathy, no caring about my issue. Nothing. All she sad was, "I'll transfer you again." And that was that. ||Well, this time, when I reached lost and found (or housekeeping), I once again got voicemail—but this time, I got a message that the voicemail is FULL and cannot take any more messages!!!||So, you're running a hotel. Guests need to retrieve their lost items, and when they're transferred to lost and found, either (a) no one returns their messages AT ALL, or (b) they can't even leave a message, because the voicemail is full.||So, I immediately called back and asked the front-desk person to please transfer me to a manager. He said, "What is the reason for your call?" I said, "I'm having a problem with your hotel that I'd like to discuss with a manager." Then he said, "I'm a manager. How can I help you?" Seriously?! If he's a manager, why didn't he just SAY that when I asked to speak to a manager? (Again, your desk staff behaves like they're high-school students.)||Ultimately, I explained the issue to him and he CLAIMS he left a message for lost and found and CLAIMS they will get back to me. But how can I have confidence in that when I already left a message for them—48 hours ago—but they never returned my call?||---||Well, it took a while, but after a week of attempts, I finally spoke to someone in housekeeping who confirmed that my toothbrush was found. I was directed to a company called ileftmystuff.com, where I PAID for my item to be sent back to me. I was also given a UPS tracking number.||Well, it's now been nearly 2 weeks since I PAID for shipping—but when I check the UPS tracking number, they say the hotel has yet to even provide them with my item for shipping! UPS says it's the hotel's responsibility to print out the shipping label that was provided to them so my item can be returned. But UPS has NOT received my item.||EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS HOTEL IS A DISASTER. (AND YES, I'M SHOUTING.) ||THIS IS THE WORST-MANAGED...

I'm sort of so-so on this hotel, but I won't be staying at it again. The room was fantastic-looking! I loved the modern industrial-chic look. The bathrooms had nice tile and slate floors. The shower handle was actually located where you could turn it on to warm up the shower without getting wet. There is no traditional valet. You need to pull into an area where the bike lane is and it only accommodates a few cars. You park there, lock your car, go inside, check in, then hand your key over so the valet can park your car. There is no one to help you carry your bags. You don't need to tip anyone because there is no typical hotel service. You need to do everything yourself. I tried to get a late checkout at 2pm, but was denied because they had too many people at the hotel. Regular noon checkout is pretty nice though. I got there Sunday evening and stayed through Tuesday. The hotel restaurants were closed Sunday and Monday. This normally wouldn't be a problem because there are so many restaurants around, but I was there alone, and I had to walk at night down some dark streets to get to the restaurant. Eating at the hotel would have been better. I went to see a show at The Warfield, which is conveniently located on the other side of the same block. So, the location was good...but it was in the Tenderloin, so that was bad. There were hookers on the street, people shooting up, homeless everywhere, and tents all over the sidewalk. The area right in front of the hotel was clean and there was security outside. No sketchy people were directly in front of the hotel. I couldn't sleep the first night because of the crazy loud music, blaring car alarms, and sirens, even though I had a room on the 9th floor. I bought ear plugs at the nearby CVS, and that helped me get to sleep the second night. The "skyline" view was basically the tops of buildings. Nothing special. And they overcharged me for my room. I still need to call them and find out what happened. I had a AAA discounted rate, but they charged me the full price of the room each night. Also, the taxes and fees were ridiculous. They almost doubled the room cost! I think some were standard for SF (everything is pricey about this place), but what is a transient fee? I got charged that three times for just one night's stay, and twice for the second night. It doesn't make any sense. Oh, and I couldn't connect to the wireless with my Macbook Air. I went to the front desk and they told me to call a number and have support walk me through what to do. Their wifi is not secured. I ended up using my phone's...

Beautiful hotel. Pros & Cons below:

Pros: Short distance from mass transit. Powell Street on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) which connects directly to SFO International Airport. $10 each way. Take the Yellow Line North to get there. Yellow Line South to go back home. Save $ from the Uber/Lyft.

Beautiful lobby area. Calm, soothing colors, with comfortable couches. Charging outlets, private restrooms (though small), Elkay water dispenser, small outdoor patio.

Rooms are lovely with tasteful decor & wall art.

Walking distance to the following: a) Westfield Center Mall b) The Metreon (has mainly a food court, Target, & movie theaters). c) Yerba Buena Gardens d) Chinatown e) SF Museum of Modern Art

Trey is the kindest & warmest at the front desk at The Line.

Rooms are well sound proofed. (Note: You will hear the unsavory noises outside your window at night and hope someone is not in danger for a moment there. Just pray and if need be, call the Front Desk to express your concerns.)

Cons (Drawbacks) #1: The Wifi is terrible and unreliable with iPads. Wiped out my personal hotspot on Day 1. Spent too much time troubleshooting the issue (personally & with The Line's wifi provider) and gave up on it. I really depend on my iPad to listen to podcasts, watch Crunchyroll. It was quite disappointing and frustrating. *Thankfully, I could use my iPhone & Windows laptop with The Line's Wifi.

#2: No microwave available not even upon request. No mini fridge. So I moved stuff out of the mini bar fridge to store food overnight.

#3: Alas, no kettle for hot water in the rooms. I truly missed having hot tea for several days. I had even brought my own herbal tea bags.

#4: There is a large homeless population in San Francisco with a lot of theft in retail stores. You'll see a "black ops" dressed security in almost every store and at the hotel. I witnessed a robbery 2 meters away from me in the Ghirardelli store. *Practice caution balanced with having compassion.

#5: No bottle water offered. Be prepared to refill the water canister in your room at the (1) Elkay dispenser near the private restrooms beyond the lobby area. Bring your own water bottle as well to reduce the number of trips. *Kudos to The Line for cutting down on plastic bottles.

#6: The Front Desk does not have warm people (minus Trey). Nothing personal. They do their jobs.

Overall, I liked the hotel, the lobby, and the decor/room styles make up for a lot of drawbacks. However, I would explore another hotel for a future stay in SF...