My standard hotel reviews include a breakdown by the following topics. Feel free to skip to whichever section you find most interesting.
- Highlights
- Lobby
- Room
- Hotel Space / Ambiance
- Food & Drink
- Fitness
- Miscellaneous
Highlights: InterContinental San Francisco
My experience here was not the best – but very reminiscent of the time in the InterContinental New York Times Square. This was before I started my blog, but both times remind me of an upscale hotel with service and quality issues. However, this is only the second time I have stayed in a hotel in San Francisco. What I will remember is that they tried to nickel and dime us for everything. I might stay here again in the future, but I am sure there are other, better options.
Lobby
Lobby
It’s a small, intimate lobby, with open hallways extending to a concierge, hotel bar, lounge area, and the guest floor elevators. Very comfortable with nice and modern décor.
Room
Although they called the room an upgrade, it seemed like a very basic room. It did have a nice view of San Francisco, and the nice fruit and chocolate amenity was a great personal touch.
However, there was no microwave or usable refrigerator in the room – just a minibar. Borrowing one or the other would cost $30. I was not clear if that was per day, but that’s a bit excessive. I have found the “nicer” hotels to be more devoid in terms of basic items, since they cater to upscale or business clients rather than families.
Internet was included. They have a very interesting doorbell system and no physical do not disturb sign, rather a control panel on the inside of the door.
We also scheduled housekeeping service, but they were about 20 minutes late and required multiple calls to guest services. Not sure why I had to keep asking about it, even though we confirmed it previously, but perhaps it was a lapse in their communication.
Lastly, the night service to refresh the water and provide chocolates was a nice touch.
Hotel Space / Ambiance
As mentioned before, the InterContinental San Francisco caters to business travelers, with its luxurious layout and fancy décor. We saw many people in suits and business attire. There is a very nice looking bar on the ground floor.
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- Guide of where to go within the InterContinental San Francisco
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- Excellent Floor decor
Food & Drink
We did not partake in eating in the InterContinental San Francisco, other than the fruit and water welcome amenity. We had pizza delivered, and needed to borrow a microwave from housekeeping for a few minutes to heat up leftovers. A very cumbersome and annoying process, but I’ll be damned before I pay $30 to have a microwave sent up to my room. Nor did they have a communal one available for use by guests. They did not have a refrigerator, and so we ended up throwing away a quarter of the (very expensive) pizza.
Also – they charge for silverware ($4 per setting) to be brought up to the room. Nickel and dime, as I said.
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- First Welcome Amenity
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- Delivered Welcome Amenity
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- A combined view
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- Water for Guests
Fitness
The gym is on the 6th floor, with a cool looking advanced water filtration system in the water cooler. However, the key system was broken and we had to wait for a hotel associate to let us in. A minor annoyance.
Next to the fitness center is a small lap pool with three lanes. On the floor is a public access balcony, as well as a spa with additional services.
Pizza and a View
Miscellaneous
The InterContinental San Francisco has a very sharp and sleek looking umbrella available for guest use in the room – and for purchase ($25). It has a decent location near the touristy downtown of San Francisco. However, it is not exactly in the best of areas (5th and Howard) and close to the sketchy Tenderloin – so do not wander too far east. Convenient to Yerba Buena cultural center, Metreon, the Westfield Mall, Chinatown, and Moscone Center, it is a decent fit for tourists and business travelers alike. There are excellent views over the San Francisco skyline from the hotel hallways and guest rooms.
Based on this experience and my past InterContinental experience, I find it hard to justify use of my Chase Free Night Award on a third InterContinental stay. So far, they are 0 for 2 to approach anything even close to expectations.
Featured Image of the view of the nice lobby bar – one I hope to have in my future house.
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Agree with your review. Stayed here some years ago. My issue was rude and less than helpful staff – a bit of a surprise for SF. I choose any stay at ICs very carefully.
Thanks for reading and commenting
Couldn’t disagree more with you – the IC is my favorite hotel in SF. I lived in SF for almost 20y and stayed in a lot of hotels as well. With weekday rates often over $350, the free night certificate from a $49py credit card is a great deal. I don’t know any luxury hotel that has microwaves, unless its a suite with kitchenette, even midrange Hampton SF doesn’t. Some Wyndham properties have them in SF though. The IC has lots of room categories, several of them by floor level, so a two-category upgrade might get you the same room… Read more »
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Walking southwest through the methadone clinics is way worse than going into the Tenderloin. Take it from someone who was a block away from a shooting there…
My apologies – i don’t know the SOMA part of the city that well thus I didn’t speak to it.
No worries; just some friendly travel advice!
Nice review. I’m a huge IHG fan but my favorite SF hotel is the Westin in the Financial district. The IHG hotels in the bay area all seem rather average in my book. If you’re an Ambassador they should give you an upgrade except on awards stays if your IHG Spire, Plat, etc. they don’t do much. Even worse on awards.
Thanks! Not an ambassador. They definitely didn’t do that much for us.
I have stayed at IC San Fran and IC Mark Hopkins (both free on BRG;))
Mark Hopkins is very old school, very chic feel. As Spire Amb I did not receive any special treatment at either property. I see a similarity between IC San Fran & IC Mark Hopkins / IC Times Square & IC Barclays. I prefer both Hopkins and Barclays over the other…
Interesting. I have not stayed at MH or Barclays. I wasn’t able to get Spire – just Plat. Thanks for your comment! I haven’t been able to BRG successfully either – could you email me and tell me more about your experience there? I find IHG’s super late cancel policy (6pm day before) hard to find elsewhere, and they won’t BRG if cancelation policy is different! you can reach me at thehotelion@gmail.com
Microwave? You must be joking. You are staying in the wrong type of hotel. This is a very nice hotel. You should consider a Holiday Inn Express next time.
It is a nice hotel – but I expect them to be able to send a microwave/fridge without fleecing us. To their credit, they let me borrow one in my room for a few minutes, and that was appreciated. Additionally, even in nice hotels they usually have a refrigerator available for use.
Thank you for writing a good report. I have stayed at multiple Intercontinental Hotels around the world, and I am not impressed with this hotel.
Upgraded room? lol…I agree that it looks very basic to me. It reminds me of a Holiday Inn.
The IC in Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo, Singapore blow the one in SF away.
Agreed – I have only done new york times square and this one in SF, and both experiences were mediocre at best. While they both are nice hotels, the service and experience make everything.