Hotel Monaco San Francisco

I live near San Francisco, but often stay in the city after evening events. There's no better place than Hotel Monaco.

The hotel management and the staff were very friendly and helpful. I was always greeted by the housekeeping staff. The hotel room service was quick and of great quality. The room was small and I would have appreciated a king size bed! Otherwise, I will go back.

This hotel made me feel excited: I loved the nightly wine and cheese receptions with Tarot card readers and massages. The location was very optimal near Union Square. The restaurant always smelt great.

We stayed here for a wedding and were very pleased with the hotel. It was our first time in a Kimpton property, and we had heard good things about their accommodations, and we were not let down. I'm sure we'll stay at one of their hotels again in the near future!

As far as the Monaco goes, it's very well located just a few blocks from Union Square and has a fancy restaurant in the ground floor (this is a signature of the Kimpton hotels, I believe). I was greeted at the curb by an extremely friendly valet (setting the tone for great service all weekend), who wore a distinctive hat (a uniform for the valets I found out.) I had some time to kill so I went to the complimentary, daily wine and cheese reception in a room right off the lobby. This ended up being a very relaxing hour and got me in the mode for a fun weekend.

That said, some things that needed improvement are:

The TV in our room didn't work as the remote didn't operate properly. Calls to the front desk told us that we needed to point the remote differently but I tried to do this and it still didn't work. They said the TVs would be replaced in a few weeks, and I didn't really care about watching TV anyway, but I would have liked to have seen it handled better.

The Valet parking was very expensive at $38 per day. I guess this is market rate for the Union Square area, but still seems very high to me. I would have taken public transit had I known.

We had mixed experiences in the restaurant downstairs. The service was great but the food for breakfast was too fancy for it's own good, and the portions were small. We went elsewhere on our second morning (getting some good ideas from the front desk!)

Our room had an interior view of the courtyard's roof. I'm sure some rooms on the front of the building have great views, but it's hard to imagine a worse view. But, at least it was quiet!

On the other hand, here are some other things I really liked about the Monaco:

The workout room had plenty of equipment, on-duty staff, and was never crowded.

The free wi-fi access worked very well.

The staff was extremely helpful, detail oriented and friendly.