Hotel Palomar San Francisco
Located on Fourth Street right off of Market, Hotel Palomar would be a great place to stay if only for its location. It is within walking to distance to Union Square, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the cable cars on Powell Street, Yerba Buena Gardens, lots of shopping, the Theatre District and, one of my personal favorites, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
Superb location aside, it has this great contemporary-art-deco-meets-urban-safari style. Everything from the geometric trompe l'oeil hardwood floors, to the vibrant burnt sienna throw pillows and the olive alligator skin carpet in each room, to the decorative snake plants and the zebra floor rugs in the Lounge on Five and Fifth Floor Restaurant.
Kimpton Hotels, who acquired the property in 1999, was certainly not remiss as far as attention to every detail goes, from the beautiful brick and spring green tile exterior, to the antique house phones in the lobby and elevator foyers on every floor. My favorite in-room feature, in the Deluxe Suite category and in some of the Executive King rooms, are the deep 2-person jacuzzi tubs. They are HUGE! Definitely more than accommodating for two people. Watch your step on the marble when you're stepping down, though.
For a boutique hotel in the city, the rooms and bathrooms are very spacious and very comfortable with lots of natural light, a contrast to the narrow, dim-lit, and beautifully decorated hallways with black doors and cool, clean carpet. Even the elevators, which can be a little scary at small properties, were beautiful, quiet, and had no funky smells! In fact, the entire property was immaculate, even the fitness center. Everything looked and smelled clean and fresh and new. Next to the fitness center is the business center, harboring two PCs and a Mac. Complimentary usage, of course, as is the wi-fi available throughout the hotel.
Palomar is pet-friendly at no extra charge, as long as your pet behaves. They offer shuttle service to the airport, a local town car service and valet parking for just under $40 per night, which unfortunately is pretty typical of hotels in downtown SF.
The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, but a little stiff. Not in snobby way, more in a robotic, it-is-my-job-to-help-you sort of way. It took me opening up, joking with them and smiling a lot, for them to feel comfortable and be a little warmer to me, which in turn made me feel comfortable. Chris, the Front Desk Supervisor was awesome and answered all of my questions or offered to find out if he wasn't quite sure.
What I liked in particular about Hotel Palomar, and as I've quickly learned is a characteristic of every Kimpton Hotel, is their theme. Every Kimpton Hotel, "tells a story" as their motto goes, and Palomar's theme is Art In Motion. They switch out the art every three months, giving local artists a chance to shine in a hotel that could very well be considered a work of art in itself.
