The Palace, true royalty feeling! 4.5/5.0
Review- Palace Hotel San Francisco, a luxury collection hotel by Marriott
Card member status: yes, Gold member
Address: 2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California, USA
Cost: $1,350/2 nights
Room: Deluxe suite
Score: 4.5/5.0
First, an overview. The Palace Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Francisco is a historic, 5-star luxury property located at the intersection of Market and New Montgomery streets in downtown San Francisco. Originally opened in 1875 as San Francisco's first premier luxury hotel, it was meticulously rebuilt in 1909 following the 1906 earthquake. Today, it seamlessly pairs its opulent Gilded Age architecture with modern, high-end hospitality. A week before my stay at this hotel, marketed as the classiest in San Francisco, the concierge team emailed me, curating a customized list and itinerary for the weekend and offering to help with special events as needed. A great start to the stay to be sure! The head concierge soon directed me (through email) to their website days before check-in to reserve any room upgrades and welcome amenities I wanted, among which included a choice of wine, champagne, handmade cookies, locally-sourced fresh fruit, locally-crafted cheeses, charcuterie boards, caviar trays, and chocolate dipped fresh strawberries. The concierge team maintained exemplary contact until minutes before check-in. Room upgrades were just that and included (late-month) upgrades to various suites including the magnificent Grande Suite. You can also book a private dinner and violin concert. Conventionally, you can reserve dinner at their hotel restaurant which is generally encouraged as the concierge states they book up fast unless the restaurant states that they offer walk-in service, in which case it is first-come first-served. The Garden Court restaurant is luxurious and expensive but the menu for breakfast and lunch (no dinner is served here, though they do have proper afternoon tea) is expansive, filling, and ranges from steel-cut oatmeal to Wagyu beef burgers with a House sauce, with numerous items in between, featuring something for everyone, just don’t expect it to be cheap; this is the palace after all. Upon entering the room, the suite was immaculate, the bed was cozy, and you felt every inch of the 650 square feet available to you in the Deluxe suite. As a bonus, we were given a bottle of Brüt champagne that retailed for $450 a bottle to celebrate our marriage, along with chocolate dipped strawberries. This was a beautiful touch. Additionally, the truffle fries I had ordered late at night were fantastic, but not worth the $40 USD I paid for them.
The staff were so friendly and helpful. We did run into ongoing problems regarding the WiFi connection and general in-suite electronic connectivity. This necessitated a call to guest services downstairs. This was successful but the resulting WiFi was incredibly slow with poor performance; we ran a speed test both on the smartphone and laptop. The hotel's connectivity came in at a very poor .08 mbps. That is plainly unacceptable. The fitness center and pool are located on the 4th floor of the hotel. They're quite spacious but unspectacular. I did not partake as I had a pounding headache. Unfortunately, the more we explored the room, the more issues we found. Rapid charging, for example, was advertised but this was not available. The charging cylinder in the room was disconnected completely and has to be reconnected in order to get anything attached to it, to charge. The complimentary shoe horn was a nice little touch and very effective when dressing for dinner. I should mention, there is an unofficial dress code for dinner at the Garden Court restaurant. This is not a criticism, and is a welcome aspect that more hotels should enforce. Housekeeping was wonderful, punctual, and our room was taken care of within just a few hours while we were visiting around town. Turndown service was provided complimentary every night which is a signature feature of a five-star hotel. Toiletry amenities were all provided by Byredo Le Chemin which were delightful; the shampoo, conditioner and body-wash were all very smooth and smelled like coconut. As a delightful part of turndown service, the hotel provided note cards with the following day's weather forecast and condition; the note cards are complimentary. It should be noted that while you are permitted to take the toiletry items, you will be charged for replacements upon check out. All the furniture is covered with hard leather, which is actually aesthetically pleasing, aside from the leather fronts and drawers, the furniture was made of actual antique wood.The hotel offered numerous services including dry cleaning. The bed was firm yet just soft enough. Extra bedding was available in a storage container on the closet. The bedding was down feather in nature. These two nights were some of the best sleep I ever received. Checkout was at noon and the bill folio was sent to my email before checkout. Overall, I'd give the Palace Hotel San Francisco a solid and an extremely well-earned 4.5/5.0 on the Brooke In The Air Travel grading scale.
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