Civic Center Inn Motel

Ok, I HAVE to write a review of this place in an attempt to counter some of the bad reviews. Are these people from rural America or something? Have they never seen the "big city" before? First, the neighborhood is not the best (it's the Tenderloin), but if you are paying under $100/night (we paid $65-75, tax included) for a hotel in SF, you are NOT going to get the Hyatt in Union Square. In fact, you're not even going to get the Ramada. As far as it being "scary", is that because there were a few homeless people on the streets? Or, perhaps it's because there was a strip-club (the O'Farrell Theater) a block and a half away --- Oh, no! (*insert sarcasm here*) Or, maybe it's the "graffiti" in the alley which is actually murals painted on the sides of buildings. Sure there's some noise, but what big city doesn't have some noise throughout the night? At no time did I feel afraid to walk around this neighborhood. I probably wouldn't walk around in a mini-skirt by myself at 2am, but I certainly wasn't frightened to walk around at night with my friends (who, by the way, also rented a room here and didn't understand what the other reviewers were talking about either).

As far as the hotel goes, it was fine. Nothing fancy, but it was clean and fairly comfortable. Again, look at the price. We got a small room with a queen bed and no major issues (i.e. no roaches/bedbugs, no AC problems, etc.). The TV remote didn't work and that was all (it probably just wasn't programmed correctly). No biggie, though. We didn't even complain about it since we were just able to get up and down to change the channels ourselves. I'm sure we would have been helped if we had complained, however, as the staff were all fairly friendly and seemed very accommodating.

As far as staying here again, we already did --- the very next night, in fact, when we decided that we were too tired to drive home to Sacramento. They gave us the same room at only a $5 (+ tax) increase from the previous night, which is understandable since we had originally booked the hotel on Priceline.com at one of those cheapie online discount rates. They were accommodating in this case, and also the first night when we asked for a recommendation for dinner. The person behind the desk steered us away from the Chinese restaurant that we were going to go to and suggested the Thai place across the street (called Zen Yai Thai Restaurant) instead. He even provided the menu for us so we could decide what to order and have it delivered to our room (we were in a hurry). Our food arrived quickly, at a good price, and it was so, so yummy! The pad thai was a bit too sticky for me, but they more than made up for it with the delicious curries, shrimp with broccoli, and tom kha gai soup. Hmmm, maybe I should do a thorough review of the restaurant, as well. ;-)

Bottom line is this, if you are on a budget, are not frightened of the "big, scary city", and don't expect to stay in the Taj Mahal then this place is for you. I mean, I've stayed in hotels/hostels in Europe that were far worse than this and have, obviously, lived to tell the tale. I wouldn't recommend this place for a romantic weekend getaway, but if you need a decent place to crash, that's close to public trasportation, and won't break the bank, then the Civic Center Inn will fit the bill. I certainly plan to use this place again in the future if I need to spend a night or two in SF. I gave it 7 stars or "good" since, although the hotel was nothing special, it was definitely the worth price, especially considering how much you would normally spend for a room in the bay area. You may want specify that you want one of the remodeled rooms, though, since those are the only types of rooms we saw and can honestly recommend.

Let me start by saying that I am not the type of person that will give a bad review for very petty things. I am, however, the type of person that will give praise when it is deserved. Having said that, here is my review of this "hotel".

The Hotel

The hotel is located in what is considered the slums of San Francisco. In this area you will find the types of things that you would expect to see in the Bronx or Downtown LA. During the day you will encounter peddlers, the homeless, and prostitutes. The area around the hotel is riddled with roaches and the smell of urine. I will say this, if you are looking for a place where you can get your car broken into, buy drugs and sex and be afraid to leave things in your room, then this is the place for you. If you are part of the other 99% of people, I can tell you that you will be very unpleased.

According to the front desk (who barely speak English), there is security, but we never saw any security. Which brings me to my next point.

In the day it does not look like much, you remember that between this hotel and the building next to it, is the alley. If you look (on the picture) towards the back where you see a silver car: That is where you will find the local drug dealer/pimp every single night. You will recognize him because he is always back there (after sun down) wearing a baseball cap. If he sees you looking at him, he will actually knock on your door and offer you weed. If you say "no", he will mutter something and walk away. If you leave the hotel at night, he will ask you if you are looking for sex. Once this happens, I can assure you, you will not feel safe. The other thing you will notice about this area, is the strong smell of urine that engulfs the entire section.

The cleaning people were especially kind.

This hotel made me feel content: I had a medical problem and they made me feel content.

The hotel was being remodeled; the adjacent room had no windows, and a smoke detector that kept on beeping, disrupting my sleep--a refund would not be out of line.