This has been a strange week for union labor in America.

Hilton Hotels unionized workers in  San Francisco, Chicago and Honolulu come away with a new favorable contract that keeps worker health care costs in check and increases dental coverage and pension benefits. Housekeepers get reduced workloads when they have 10 or more checkouts. Non-tipped employees receive $2 an hour wage increases retroactive to August 2009. Hotel workers in San Francisco and Chicago have been without a union contract since August 2009.

The struggle for hotel employees continues as Starwood Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, and Intercontinental Hotels Group properties in San Francisco, Chicago and Honolulu still have not settled.

Perhaps Hilton’s move will hasten contract resolutions for workers in  the other unionized hotels in these cities. The hotel workers have struggled for 18 months for this resolution with Hilton Hotels. I hope the other hotel chains settle quickly.

Links: 

Hilton Hotels Contract agreement San Francisco: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/08/BUBG1I5L9A.DTL

Hilton Hotels Contract agreement Chicago: http://chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2011/03/union-approves-deal-with-local-hilton-hotels.html

My Solidarity with Wisconsin Public Employees

Public sector workers are rising up after last night’s political maneuver in Wisconsin strips public employee unions of many collective bargaining rights. Wisconsin public workers will see a rise in employee pension contributions and health care costs.

I dropped out of public school teaching in 2003. I have a graduate degree in Labor Studies and I follow the labor movement in the U.S. although I seldom write about the issues. This blog is not the most appropriate forum for a labor union discussion, but this is the most widely read platform I have to use  as an activist.

My interest over the past two decades has primarily focused on public sector unionism with specific attention to public school teachers. I have been a union member public school employee in three states. I have seen the public service sector union dismantling coming over the past 20 years. 

The corporatist agenda now hits home in the States. Michigan is poised to allow corporate takeover of cities and towns. Public schools, which for two hundred years were the domain of town and municipal governments, are now dominated by state and federal mandates.   

My hope was that I would be established in private sector self-employment prior to the privatization corporatist agenda iron fist coming down hard on our family. My wife is taking a beating as a public school teacher and union activist.

The public sector salary pay rises for many California public employees have all been erased by rising health care costs and job furlough days over the past couple of years. 2011 looks to be the worst year so far.

The push has been on for over 20 years to privatize public education. The slow progress on shifting public schools to privatized charter schools financed with public funds has been too slow. The legislation for No Child Left Behind made great progress in the past decade by funneling billions of dollars of taxpayer money into major corporate test-design companies like Harcourt, CTB/McGraw-Hill, Riverside and Pearson and targeting schools for corporate takeover when tests results are poor.

I worked for CTB in Monterey as a mathematics test editor in 2004-2005. I would like to point out that I received indirectly tax-payer-funded limousine rides when I traveled to states as a test editor designing standardized tests for elementary school students. Billions of public dollars go to testing corporations to create those annual standardized tests that state legislatures seek to use as the primary criteria for an effective teacher. And during my time working as a test editor most of the corporate employees creating these standardized tests in Monterey were Kelly Service temporary employees with no job rights or benefits.

My wife does not even have a working clock in her public school classroom. She had to buy her own.  She takes our Costco Kirkland paper towels, markers and food to supply her classroom kids.  The cost of classroom supplies she has to furnish out of her paycheck keeps rising as her paycheck is cut due to the “budget crisis”.

There are many work-related sob stories around the U.S., but the working conditions in public schools are really hard to imagine if you have never experienced the environment. The media and legislatures love to lay blame on teachers, but I never have known a school to be run by the teachers.

Administrators are the management running the day-to-day organization of the schools.

Beyond the image of a highly paid babysitter is the reality that half of credentialed school teachers drop out of the profession within 5 years. The working conditions in public schools are miserable.  I can testify to that truth as someone who worked a decade in public school classrooms and two decades outside of school classrooms.

Crowd Power

Any call for corporate tax increases and the elimination of tax evasion loopholes or taxes on investment income dividends is resoundingly defeated by deep pocket corporate and wealthy individual funding for favorable political candidates and legislators.

I saw a survey a couple of years ago that showed most young Americans think they will be millionaires.

There really is a strong need for math teachers in U.S. schools.

Charging higher tax rates for a middle class family making $100,000 in wage income (up to 40% in CA between federal and state if you don’t own a house or business) compared to the tax rate on $75,000 in stock dividend income (15%) is a crazy system that does not benefit the vast majority of our population consisting of tens of millions of working people with $0 in investment income.

Unions can’t call for general strikes across different labor segments of the population or secondary boycotts. Taft-Hartley eliminated those rights in the 1940s after the labor troubles of the 30s shut down entire cities and transportation networks.

Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore has called for the public to organize for workers’ rights.

On Twitter use #MadNation and label your state affiliation as in #MadCA for California.

My favorite tweet I saw today is from Clara Jeffery, editor @MotherJones:

You know who’s good at outlasting temper tantrums? Teachers. #wiunion 

Starwood Hotels has a special rates offer that has been in effect for several years. There are discounts for stays of two to six nights.

• 20% off two night stay
• Third night free (33% discount)
• Fourth night free (25% discount)
• 25% off five night or longer stays
• Two nights free on six night stay (33% discount)

Starwood Hotels Discount Links for Two Night and Longer Stays

• City Hotels
• Resort Hotels Discount Links

Not all hotels participate in these Starwood multiple night discount offers, but I’d estimate hundreds do participate. These rates are not always a good deal compared to other rates. And then sometimes these rates can save several hundred dollars.

Suite Deals

One of the best value opportunities with these rates is booking a high category room like a junior suite or suite where the nightly savings can be $100 to $200.

My advice is to call the hotel directly if you actually want to book a suite and try to talk a rate deal. See if you can beat all other online offers.

Hotel Rate Tricks for July 4 Weekend Follow-up

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s July 4 Hotel Rate Tricks. The real hotel rate trick (in a Halloween sense) is some hotels in San Francisco are charging more for a three night Friday to Monday, July 4 weekend stay than the cost to book three separate nights at the hotel.

Comparing yesterday’s search results for the Fourth of July weekend shows 4 of 6 hotels in downtown San Francisco are available with the Z3H third night free rate.

The savings at these four Starwood Hotels ranges from $28 for a three night stay at the W San Francisco to $150 for three nights at the Starwood Luxury Collection historic Palace Hotel which turned 100 years old in December 2009. The original Palace Hotel burned in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 after opening in 1875 as one of the largest hotels in the world. Great history at this hotel but I am not a fan of their beds (unless the hotel replaced them since last summer?). Anyway, the AAA rate for the Palace Hotel is actually $4 per night less than the third night free rate and has better rate terms for cancellation.

Le Meridien has the advantage of balcony rooms and at $146 per night is a decent deal. And the Le Meridien Penthouse Suite is available at $3000 per night (after the third night free discount)!

The view flying over San Francisco is one of the best views I recall. Of course I expected to be busted for snapping photos after the flight announcement to turn off electronics. I was the jerk for this United Airlines flight who was busted for too much carry-on luggage and the boarding area UA employee at SEA refused to let me board until I consolidated my luggage. I pulled on my sweatshirt and jacket and shoved my glasses into the computer bag as other passengers with slim suitcases and bags made me look like a first-time traveler. I seriously did not want to spend $25 to check my bag.

After a week in the 40s in Seattle, the warmth of San Francisco sun had me stuffing my sweatshirt and coat back in my carry-on bag immediately upon exiting the airport while waiting for a shuttle to the Marriott Airport hotel. The Westin San Francisco Airport hotel shuttle came first so I hopped on that and figured I could walk across the street to the Marriott. Kelley refused to drive into the airport so we planned a rendezvous at an airport hotel before driving into the city for a $98 night at the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf.

I felt like a VIP after immediately finding free unmetered parking a few blocks away from the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf on North Point Street to leave the car until noon the next day. Kelley hates walking up to a hotel after rolling her luggage a few blocks, but I hate spending $50 to park my car at a hotel when I can park for free and roll my luggage a few blocks.

And I was greeted as a VIP at the Hyatt San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf.

Room 545 – Presidential Suite.

A massage chair in the bedroom was never so welcome a sight! Kelley jumped in the chair for a 20 minute massage before I had even finished surveying the living room of the Presidential Suite. The sunlight reflecting off Coit Tower and the downtown skyscrapers captivated my eyes. This view blows away any room I have had at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf.

The living room had a large screen TV with Bose surround sound system. An eclectic collection of DVDs like The Rock, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Joy Luck Club, Dirty Harry, Interview with the Vampire, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner had me confounded until I realized they all have San Francisco settings. I liked the swiveling space chairs, but Kelley did not find them that comfortable.

Ground coffee in containers was a first for me. There was a wine refrigerator and a second empty refrigerator in the living room.

The bathroom was well-equipped, however, the scale only read “error” and Kelley was disappointed that the spa tub jets worked only intermittently with a malfunctioning wall switch. The large bathroom had impossibly diffuse lighting for decent cosmetic work.

The shower water pressure worked great.

I would really like to know the rationale for choosing the room art. The living room had some absurdly existentialist piece of art with aboriginal peoples carrying a dead 20-foot python or boa with overlaying text about a woman sitting in her apartment unaware of her phone number or something and the other portion of the picture looked like numbered bloody pigeons to me. The art kind of freaked me out and made me desire some Golden Gate Bridge kitsch that wouldn’t give me bad dreams.

I wanted to try the neighborhood Irish pub-Indian restaurant I had stumbled across in December, but considering the extravagant complimentary upgrade, we decided to eat in-house at the sports bar-restaurant Knuckles in the Hyatt. The menu seemed limited to me, although Kelley had a nice salmon meal. The staff was overtly friendly and talkative.

Canadians at an adjacent booth had their own tv screen and they were cheering on one of their national hockey teams in a losing effort. Leaving the restaurant Kelley walks over to them and says “Go Sharks!” and the next thing I know I am hit with some food item like an olive or cherry tomato. Kelley stayed and bantered with the party for a minute. I stepped around the corner – out of their line of fire.

The Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf is a five story building. The best views of San Francisco are on the Taylor Street side. The hotel is two blocks from the water and the Bay views are limited.

The lobby is one of the areas that could probably use a redesign to improve traffic flow. The registration desk at the entrance of the hotel created problems a couple of times while we were there. Guests line up in front of the desk and once there are five or six guests and luggage, then the line extending across the narrowest part of the lobby impedes the cross traffic for the restaurant and concierge desk to the right of the entrance and the elevators to the left of the entrance.

A nice feature for tourists is a laundry room for guests in the hotel.

The hotel has an outdoor pool and spa tub on the third floor. This property is the only Hyatt of the three in San Francisco (Grand Hyatt Union Square, Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero) with a swimming pool.

Fisherman’s Wharf is a nice walking area for good views of the San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz, and Golden Gate Bridge. North Beach is just a ten minute walk away from the Bay and downtown Union Square is accessible by a $5 cable car ride, $2 on the bus, or a 30 minute walk. I guess most tourists would probably take a taxi around the city. I have a taxi phobia.

Leaving San Francisco we stopped on 34th Street, the road below the Legion of Honor Museum where the Lincoln Golf Course crosses the road and has a wonderful view of the Golden Gate.

The night before last was actually kind of cold in San Francisco, but not really cold enough for ice. The USA is in the deep freeze right now and in San Francisco ice is made for entertainment. A seasonal ice rink is set up on Union Square, San Francisco and will be dismantled after next weekend.

The temp was in the low 50s when I snapped this photo Thursday night. The Westin St. Francis Hotel and Tower at Union Square are seen in the background. Monterey was 72 degrees yesterday, but San Francisco was only about 62 downtown.

Union Square ice skating and Westin St. Francis Hotel

At least most of America rarely experiences earthquakes.   The 6.5 earthquake that shook Humboldt County a few hours ago is the biggest earthquake there since 1992.

[Mon. Jan 11 - Update: News from Eureka Times-Standard indicates there was some significant structural damage in Eureka. Old Town Bar & Grill is a place I frequented many times in the 1980s. Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, the Wailers...good memories. The building was red tagged for structural damage.]

Eureka, California was my hometown from 1989-1992 and 1996-2001.  I had spent eight months organizing an education conference for teachers when at the end of the first hour of the conference on April 25, 1992 at the Red Lion Inn in Eureka, a 7.2 earthquake hit. Hundreds had to evacuate the hotel and I had to cancel the conference. There were two more major earthquakes, 6.5 and 6.7 within the next 18 hours. They really shook me up.

I wrote about earthquakes in a Loyalty Traveler post after staying at the Palace Hotel this past April 18, 2009 on the 103rd anniversary of the great San Francisco quake. There were two survivors at the commemoration ceremony. One of those persons, Jeanette Scola Trapani, died last week at age 107.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/04/23/history-of-the-san-francisco-palace-hotel-and-california-earthquakes/

Grand Hyatt San Francisco just off Union Square

San Francisco hazy sunset from Twin Peaks (geographic center of the city) today

A few days after the Humboldt County earthquakes I presided over a statewide education conference in San Francisco. The Rodney King police beating acquittal verdict occurred just as the three day conference was scheduled to begin and initiated riots throughout the state.

I stopped organizing education conferences.

$49 for the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf last Monday was too good a deal to pass up. The 49ers winning Monday Night Football December 14 was icing on the cake. We have been sugar free too many years with the 49ers.

The main criticism I have of the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf 49ers football gameday $49 promotional rate is the hotel did not let guests on the low rate check in before 3pm.  Candlestick Park is 6.5 miles from Fisherman’s Wharf and heavy traffic for games at rush hour. I thought the hotel could have done better to accommodate the large number of guests who genuinely planned to go to the football stadium for the game.

Considering I did not need to travel to Candlestick Park, the after 3pm check-in was not a nuisance for me. I received 1,647 Starpoints ($46 value@$28/1,000 points) for the hotel stay and 2010 stay credit with my SPG Platinum member promotion and complimentary buffet breakfast. This was my first stay at the hotel where I was not in a 4^th floor, top floor room. The only real difference in the rooms is the top floor rooms have had couches and the third floor room had only a cushion chair and a floor unit heater.

Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco

Recently I criticized Oyster.com hotel reviews of San Francisco for comments reviewers made on hotels in the Convention Center district, Union Square, and Financial District as not being in places where locals go. I made the comment that Fisherman’s Wharf hotels are also not in neighborhoods where locals hang out.

View south from Fisherman's Wharf to Financial District

The waterfront in the Fisherman’s Wharf area has loads of restaurants, souvenir shops, and tourist traps. The hotels are on the adjacent three blocks away from the water. And to the south are neighborhoods all the way through North Beach, Coit Tower, and Chinatown to the Financial District and Nob Hill. There are loads of locals in the restaurants and cafes south towards the city once you walk away from the piers on the waterfront  and the hotels of Fisherman’s Wharf.

This year I have stayed a few times at Fisherman’s Wharf hotels and I have always found street parking for free. The hotels in this part of town have pros and cons. The number one benefit is the low price during weekdays in the off-season for tourists. The central business district and Moscone convention center hotels in downtown San Francisco are 1.5 to 2.0 miles south of the Wharf and generally run higher rates for Sunday through Thursday nights. Much of the year it is possible to get a hotel room for half the price at Fisherman’s Wharf compared to hotels in the same chain in the San Francisco central business district.

Major brand hotels at Fisherman’s Wharf include Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, Radisson, and a Sheraton. Kimpton has the Argonaut in a great location and the Fairmont Ghiradelli Residences are on the same block.

Holiday Inn Express Fisherman's Wharf

Advantages of Fisherman’s Wharf Hotels

1.       Low room rates in off-season and generally lower Sunday through Thursday nights compared to the central business district hotels.

2.       While hotel parking is expensive and over $40 per night at some locations like the Sheraton, there are several street blocks around the Sheraton Hotel that are unmetered areas where a car can be parked without restriction except for 2am-6am street cleaning on either Monday, Wednesday, Friday on one side of the street and Tuesday or Thursday on the other side of the street. It is a possible to find a parking space on North Point or Bay Streets good from Thursday morning through Monday evening without paying meters, if you are lucky.

3.       Safeway and Trader Joe’s supermarkets are in the neighborhood. The downtown hotels have few major supermarket locations. Most food is higher priced corner store groceries or what you can find at a Walgreen’s Drugstores which are as prevalent as Starbucks in the central business district.

The Fisherman’s Wharf hotels are all low height buildings of just three of four floors and generally limited views for city vistas in contrast to the downtown skyscraper hotels of Marriott Marquis (39 floors), Hilton (46 floors), Westin Market Street, InterContinental San Francisco, Grand Hyatt, and the Mark Hopkins and Fairmont Tower on Nob Hill with exceptional views.

Powell Street at Nob Hill, top of 36 floor Grand Hyatt in background

Walking across San Francisco between the major downtown hotels like the W Hotel, Marriott Marquis, San Francisco Hilton, and InterContinental San Francisco South of Market to Fisherman’s Wharf to the north is only a 45 minute walk. From the Hilton Financial District, Le Meridien, Mandarin Oriental, or hotels on Nob Hill like the Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance Stanford Court, InterContinental Mark Hopkins, or Fairmont the walk is just around 30 minutes.

The cable car can take you directly from Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf, but the long lines at Powell Street and Market during busy tourist season may require 30 minutes of waiting in line and chances are you will be crowded on the car with dozens of tourists. The one-way fare of $5 adds up quickly, particularly for a family. Transportation Passports are a good buy for multi-day unlimited public transit on buses, streetcars, and cable cars. BART subway requires separate fares.  Passports are available at Walgreen’s Drugstores, an ubiquitous retailer in the central business district of San Francisco which sells most of the items a tourist may want with the exception of alcohol.

Most hotels around Market Street will recommend traveling to the Fisherman’s Wharf area by the cable car or the F Trolley. The historical trolley cars run from the Castro District down Market to the Embarcadero waterfront and around the piers to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf.

F-line service on historic streetcars between Castro District and Fisherman's Wharf

Walking out the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf I planned to eat at Kennedy’s Irish Pub and Indian Restaurant at 1040 Columbus Avenue and pull down a $2 Guinness or two during the 5-7pm happy hour.

Turned out I was 10 minutes too early for the 5pm Happy Hour Guinness. Planning to kill 10 or 15 minutes I strolled up the street taking photos.

Coit Tower San Francisco

I soon found myself passing Saints Peter and Paul Church into North Beach. Baseball great Joe Dimaggio was married here to his first wife and had photos taken at the Church with his bride Marilyn Monroe.

Saint Peter and Paul Church, North Beach, San Francisco

Across Washington Square from the church is Joe Dimaggio’s Restaurant.

I wondered how long it actually takes to walk between Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel and Le Meridien Hotel at the Embarcadero for people who are visiting the city. The answer is about 30 minutes at a steady, but not fast pace.  This is the same for the time to walk from Fisherman’s Wharf to Nob Hill (Fairmont Hotel, Renaissance Stanford Court, Ritz-Carlton, and the InterContinental Mark Hopkins. The walk is long, but actually less strenuous from the Wharf than walking the much shorter three blocks on a severely steep grade from Union Square up Nob Hill.

San Francisco North Beach neighborhood

View of San Francisco Financial District from North Beach

After the 30 minute walk from Fisherman’s Wharf to Le Meridien I had warmed up nicely from the low 50s temp on a December evening just after dark. A stroll through Le Meridian for a quick lobby check, and 333 Bar was happening with a sizeable business crowd vibe and a 60-40 mix of women to men.

Even the Library Room off the lobby was more quietly filled with business suit attired women. In a sign of the times there are no longer books in the Le Meridien lobby library; replaced by two large wall mounted flat-screen TVs.

Le Meridien Hotel was not my destination. Unite Here Local 2 has Le Meridien San Francisco on their boycott list. I just try to keep track of lobby changes and I was looking for holiday decorations. The number of people in the lobby socializing was more than I ever experienced as a guest and kind of distracted me from checking out the holiday decorations. Nothing too over-the-top festive jumped out at me.

I bypassed 150 restaurants between the Wharf and Embarcadero to go to a place I know. Fuzio Universal Pasta sounds like a nice Italian restaurant, but I’ve never had pasta there. The bar runs a 3 to 7pm happy hour with $3 appetizers. Crab Cakes and lettuce wraps for $6 rather than the regular menu price of $17 is a good dining deal. Fuzio has a selection of eight or so beers at $3 per pint – Peroni, Stella, and several California microbrews.

Fuzio Bistro, Embarcadero Complex across street from Le Meridien Hotel, San Francisco

I recommend Fuzio because I have enjoyed the appetizers and beer for a couple of years at the Embarcadero location and I like the ambience of this café bar. This is a good place to know if you are staying at the Hyatt Regency or Le Meridien hotels, located on either end of the Embarcadero pedestrian walkway complex, and you want a good beer and munchies at a value price on Monday thru Friday happy hours.

The real find of my evening was Café Prague across the street and down Merchant Street alley from Le Meridien. Krusovice light and dark, Pilsner Urquel, and  Czechvar on tap. The beer was $3.50 at Happy Hour for a pint from any of four brews.

This pub was cozy, relaxing global chillage environment, and not at all what I expected when I wandered in to watch the 49ers game. The half-dozen patrons were all low key guys, financial looking types, and the women all seemed to be employees, on and off duty, since they freely moved from in front of the bar to behind the bar throughout my time there. The guys watched the game on mute, both TV and voices for the most part, and the women talked in a blend of Czech and English. Low key Czech rock music played over the stereo. This place had extraordinary vibe and I felt like I had been transported back to Prague for an hour.

Oyster Hotel Reviews is a website offering users an abundance of visual information through hundreds of photos for a single hotel. This colorful photo hotel review site has been developing a portfolio of hotel reviews, one city at a time, for the past year. I like the concept of showing numerous photos of a hotel. Recently, San Francisco hotels were added to the site.

I commented to a hotelier once that when I write about hotels I want bias in my review. There is the AAA Tour Guide for a sterile, just the facts hotel description. A reader benefits from finding a reviewer with similar travel style and interests. Most Oyster Hotel Reviews have personality.

The interesting aspect of the Oyster Hotel Reviews is the different take I have on many of the hotels and neighborhoods described by the reviewers in San Francisco. I think travel reviewers are like music DJs.

My experience may not have been the typical experience for a hotel guest, but it was my experience. I try to reflect my stays accurately, good and bad, when I choose to review a hotel. I try to separate what may be one time circumstantial inadequacies from what appear to be systemic issues with the hotel experience. As always, hotel loyalty elite membership usually makes a significant impact on the hotel stay experience.

A common statement I see repeatedly in the Oyster hotel reviews for San Francisco are locals don’t hang out in the SOMA arts district, Union Square shopping and theatre district, or the Financial District. That doesn’t help me as a hotel guest with the hotel location. You don’t tell me where locals hang out. Besides, do I really want to be where the locals hang out? I’m a tourist.

Together with Fisherman’s Wharf, another area where locals don’t hang out much, these four areas contain 90% of the hotel rooms in San Francisco. There are 10,000 to 20,000+ tourists in these neighborhoods on any given day and plenty of businesses to cater to them. Restaurants, bars, and cafes are all around the downtown area. The central Financial District around the Mandarin Oriental and Le Meridien is a location a little more closed up at night and weekends, but there are great pubs and restaurants scattered throughout even the financial district.

The entire central business district of San Francisco is the hotel area for 95% of the city’s rooms. Of the city’s 750,000 locals, 95% live in other parts of San Francisco. San Francisco seems like a small city until you try moving from one end to the other in a bus or taxi.

Oyster Hotel Review – Starwood Hotels Luxury Collection – The Palace 

In the service section the reviewer states there was no doorman at arrival to help with bags and follows with the statement, “That wouldn’t happen at the St. Regis.”  Well, that did happen to me at the St. Regis last June when I was ignored by the doormen. Car valets were standing within 15 feet of me and didn’t bother to assist me at a time when no other guests were arriving.

One issue I have noticed with the Oyster reviews is the tendency to label hotel rooms as suites when there is not a separate sitting area room.

My helpful suggestion to make the photo sets more user-friendly is please use the same labels as the hotel’s own website uses for room types so a reader can match the Oyster photos to the correct room rate when searching hotel rates.

I find it interesting that the bed at the Palace Hotel was described as “sumptuous”.  Perhaps I like an abnormally firm bed since in my opinion I found the soft, bouncy bed the most serious flaw of the property after staying in three different rooms at the Palace Hotel this year.  The reviewer may have never had a back injury to know the value of a firm mattress.

Loyalty Traveler Palace Hotel review April 20, 2009 

History of the San Francisco Palace Hotel and California Earthquakes – Loyalty Traveler April 23, 2009

Maxfield Parrish painting in The Pied Piper bar at the Palace Hotel

St. Regis San Francisco

Oyster Hotel reviews rates the St. Regis San Francisco as the best luxury hotel in the city. I won’t argue with that since I haven’t stayed in all the other luxury hotels. The St. Regis beds are the best I have slept on in 2009. The Oyster reviewer states a large staff prevented front desk pile-ups and the hotel has some of the best service in town.

A hotel may have only one opportunity to make a great impression. My three stays at the St. Regis San Francisco this year had me convinced the hotel had cut back too much on service. I didn’t feel the front desk was adequately staffed on several occasions. I saw inconsistencies in service between stays. The butler service is a standout feature of the hotel and that aspect of the service worked fine during all my stays.

Loyalty traveler St. Regis San Francisco hotel review part 1 – June 15, 2009

Loyalty traveler St. Regis San Francisco hotel review part 2 – June 16, 2009

Loyalty Traveler Best Bed Award goes to St. Regis San Francisco

Westin St. Francis

The Oyster.com reviewer suggests to readers to pick the Palace Hotel over the St. Francis. The rooms in the historic building are described as “small – 200 square feet or so.”

Sure, there are small rooms in the historic tower. I saw a woman once working her way around the bed in a tiny interior room and I wondered if she regretted booking the St. Francis. I have not stayed in one of those 200 square feet rooms.

I absolutely love the historic building rooms facing Union Square with windows that open and the sound of cable cars clanging below on Powell Street and musicians playing in the Square. My wife and I find the historic building of St. Francis to be some of the most romantic hotel rooms in the city. 

I am a Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum member. I book those 200 square feet room rates all the time when staying at the St. Francis. SPG elite-level membership means I have never actually had to stay in one of those small rooms. The Tower rooms are good for views, but lack the ambience of the historic section.

Loyalty Traveler Westin St. Francis Hotel review – June 7, 2009

Union Square late night view from historic St. Francis Hotel

Hyatt San Francisco

“Spitting distance from the Embarcadero and Union Square.”

The Embarcadero? True. The hotel is actually called the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero on building nameplates.

Spitting distance from Union Square? False

I recall being rather late for a meeting after a 15 minute walk to meet my sister last year.  I left the Hyatt Regency Club to meet her at the Starlight Room at the top of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel at Union Square. Even Tiger Woods would require a few long club drives to get his ball the 0.75 mile distance from the Hyatt Embarcadero to Union Square.

There is little mention of the top floor Regency lounge in the Oyster review. As a Hyatt Diamond elite-level member of Gold Passport I get complimentary access to the Regency lounge. This is a great lounge for relaxing, viewing the waterfront, eating snacks and breakfast, using computers, or relaxing in a full body massage chair. The lounge makes this hotel my favorite in San Francisco when the rates are low.

The reviewer also lists this hotel as a dull part of town at night. I love the food places at the Ferry building and there is a bit of life here after dark. Take a night ferry on San Francisco Bay. The hotel is physically connected to the Embarcadero Complex offering a few blocks of shopping, a variety of restaurants, a movie theater, and overground pedestrian bridges linking the complex from the Hyatt hotel  to Le Meridien Hotel (formerly Park Hyatt) on the opposite end of the complex. There isn’t going to be a 4am rave happening in the Embarcadero Complex, but if you want to eat and drink, go to a comedy club (The Punchline), or see a movie, you can find it all in this neighborhood.

Loyalty Traveler Hyatt Regency photos and website useability issue – August 25, 2009

Loyalty Traveler Hyatt Regency San Francisco review – August 5, 2008

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Bay view

Bottom line on hotel reviews: There are all types of travelers and all types of reviewers. One person’s experience and expectations may not mirror another’s.

I am glad to see Starwood Hotels St. Regis (Best Luxury Hotel), Westin St. Francis (Best Hotel Restaurant) and Le Meridien (Best Business Hotel) rate highly with Oyster Hotel Reviews for their best in class picks.

Oyster Hotel Reviews San Francisco Best Hotels link.

View of Union Square from 10th floor St. Francis historic building junior suite

$49 rate is truly a bargain priced room for Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf.  This Sunday-night-only, November 29 rate beats the $90 Starwood Best Bate Guarantee I received last May. This online only special offer rate is almost too good to pass up.

The otherwise low AAA rate is $104 for Sunday night. The buffet breakfast for SPG elites is an added bonus to a Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf stay. (Read this Loyalty traveler post if you are not currently a Starwood Hotels loyalty member and want to become an instant SPG Gold elite).

The weather is supposed to be in the 60s and sunny on Sunday . The outdoor pool at the Sheraton will be feasible with the sun out. The fourth floor rooms with the slanted roof are the rooms I have been given this year. The rooms are bright and comfortable.

I had planned to book this cheap stay for Sunday night until I learned today I won tickets for an advance showing of the George Clooney movie, Up in the Air for Wednesday night in San Francisco.  And Wednesday, being the first Wednesday in December, is free museums day in San Francisco.

The Sheraton offer is 49 rooms at $49. There were still rooms available when I checked at 10:30am Pacific time.

Warning: Parking is $43 at the hotel. I have managed to get street meter parking on my last two stays and Sunday night should be free meters. Be prepared to move your car on Monday morning.

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco Special Offer Link

Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco

My idea of a Loyalty Traveler Walk for Hope team for San Francisco this past weekend was too much to tackle in the last month of Kelley’s cancer treatment. I sincerely apologize to the persons who responded favorably to the idea.

Kelley wasn’t so excited about getting out of bed at 8am on Saturday morning to make the October 3^rd Walk for Hope 9am start at the Embarcadero. I have to admit that the bed at the InterContinental San Francisco rivals the St. Regis San Francisco bed for sheer luxurious sleeping comfort. Just hanging around in bed was rather tempting.

Then again, cancer doesn’t stop while you luxuriate in a comfortable bed.

I kept the two of us committed and on task. We were out the door by 8:40am and walked from the InterContinental San Francisco a mile down Market Street, past the Hyatt San Francisco at the Embarcadero, to the Walk for Hope registration desk in the grassy field adjacent to Justin Herman Plaza and the Embarcadero office building. 

San Francisco, Justin Herman Plaza at the Embarcadero and Ferry Building in background

The park was full of volunteers and sponsor booths rather than the usual morning scene of a few homeless men sleeping or waking up under the trees at 9:05am.

We signed in and picked up our t-shirts and headed under the pink balloon archway to start the 5K walk.  There are actually different colors associated with ribbons designating different types of cancer. Walk for Hope is focused on breast cancer and designated by pink, hence the pink balloon arch.

Butterfly by Hilton HHonors Sponsor

Kelley and I were two of the last starters of the San Francisco Walk for Hope walkers. Bringing up the rear seemed to be the appropriate position considering Kelley is a newly-minted rectal cancer survivor. She finished her final chemotherapy treatment session on September 18. Colorectal cancer is a navy blue ribbon.

Now we just hope that was the final medical care she will need for cancer.

Walk for Hope San Francisco October 3, 2009

The San Francisco morning was gorgeous with the temperature in the mid-60s and barely a wind. The forecast had said 15 to 20 mph winds and a high of 62.

San Francisco 2009 Walk for Hope participants on Embarcadero waterfront path

The walk route traversed 5 kilometers along the Embarcadero waterfront past a dozen piers, underneath the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge span and circling around the AT&T Ball Park, and back.

Cupid's Span San Francisco

The crowd seemed smaller than when we walked Oakland in 2004.

Bay Bridge view from San Francisco Embarcadero

There were a large number of walkers and joggers along the waterfront route not associated with the Walk for Hope event. Still, there were many hundreds of participants, perhaps even a thousand or two walkers, and there appeared to be about 20% men.

San Francisco 2009 Walk for Hope along the Embarcadero waterfront path

When we reached the backside of AT&T Park the music from the LovEvolution Parade floats gathered in a large waterfront lot could be heard across the inlet. The techno beat sound machines were revving up for the afternoon event on Market Street.

AT&T Baseball Park, San Francisco

You say you want a LovEvolution

An entirely separate event, the Market Street LovEvolution Parade at noon allowed us sufficient time to get back to the InterContinental Hotel. We passed by the Love Parade truck floats on 2^nd street, as hundreds of people in colorful clothing gathered along Market Street for the music party.

LovEvolution Street Performance

This is San Francisco’s small-scale version of the Berlin Love Parade. Hey, getting Market Street closed is a pretty big deal and the parade passing on a single street allowed us to stay in one spot and let the music pass by on about 20 rocking floats.

Love music float at LovEvolution. Palace Hotel San Francisco in background.

We hadn’t even made it back to the InterContinental San Francisco before we passed gold-painted naked guy on 4^th Street around the corner from the hotel. After Bay to Breakers last May I wasn’t surprised. Camera-toting tourists stopped him to pose for photos.

A quick hotel phone check-out, then back to Market Street where we stationed ourselves outside Starwood’s Luxury Collection Palace Hotel to watch the 75-minute parade of blasting techno music floats drive slowly by with music loud enough to rattle the brain in our skulls.

LovEvolution Parade float

 LovEvolution also had a breast theme as a visible parade feature.

LovEvolution Market Street San Francisco music party

 I couldn’t help but wonder how these two very different collectives of people – breast cancer research supporters and bare breast party dancers might have melded together two distinct crowds to increase public awareness through education and music.

LovEvolution music blasted from floats and the street party was a welcome celebration.

The Parade of Love and Walk for Hope gatherings in San Francisco were faces of our collective stories – health and sickness, love and hope.

Lost Heart San Francisco (Union Square)

This is a San Francisco view from room 1108 Metropolitan Suite St. Regis taken Labor Day (Sep 7, 2009) at 6:13am on the corner of 3rd and Mission in San Francisco.  The roof tops of four major hotels are pictured under the past-full moon at dawn. From left to right are San Francisco Marriott on 4th Street, Hilton San Francisco (white tower in far background, 333 O’Farrell St), Four Seasons Hotel and Residences (Market St), and the Westin Market Street Hotel located on 3rd Street.

These four hotels alone have over 4,300 rooms and each hotel from upper floor locations offer some of the best high-rise urban landscape views in the city of San Francisco.

St. Regis view of San Francisco hotels at dawn

On the 39^th top floor of the Marriott Hotel San Francisco is the View Lounge. Open at 4 pm with beer at $6 to $8 a bottle, other drinks a little more. The View offers the visitor a relaxing environment in one of San Francisco’s best vista overlooks of the city.

Table for One - The View Lounge Marriott San Francisco

The View from Marriott San Francisco of Westin St. Francis, InterContinental Mark Hopkins, Grand Hyatt

The View 39th floor window frame Marriott San Francisco

The View Lounge Marriott San Francisco

Beer in The View Lounge Marriott San Francisco

Room in The View Lounge, Marriott San Francisco

San Francisco Marriott, The View Lounge view of St. Regis (center left) and W Hotel (right)

Westin Market Street Hotel seen from Marriott San Francisco The View

Marriott San Francisco view of Yerba Buena Gardens and Moscone Center Convention Center

Marriott San Francisco, The View Lounge

A couple of articles I read this month by Henry Harteveldt and Glenn Haussman discuss hotel website usability.  I’d love to read Harteveldt’s Forrester research report, “Using Digital Channels to Calm the Angry Traveler” but the $500 price tag is out of my usability range.  

This loyalty traveler notices room size is mentioned on many hotel websites, but too many websites do not present any information on the cost of parking, the prices and menu selection at the hotel restaurant, fitness room and pool hours, or the location and views from different sides of the hotel.

This week I have run into the issue three times where I struggled to match the website room category descriptions with the room I stayed in at the hotel.

Descriptions on the hotel website of room types are often generic, detailed on room amenities, but not specific to any particular room category. In addition, there are sometimes variations with the room type categorization used in the booking process to the room category descriptions used on the hotel website.  

The room descriptions and one or two photos do not provide sufficient detail for me to positively identify the web site’s category description to the specific room I stayed in for a night and I have 25+ photos to help me make the correct match.

How is a guest supposed to make a relatively informed decision when spending $200 on a hotel booking for a room that is barely shown and poorly described on the hotel’s own website?

I typically take more photos in the first five minutes in a hotel room than the total photos for the entire property on the hotel’s own website.

Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research published the blog piece August 5, “Angry Travelers Consider Abandoning the Web”.  A graph shows only 34% of leisure travelers feel travel websites clearly present choices and tradeoffs when describing booking options.

2 out of 3 leisure travelers feel travel websites do not adequately present choices.

Glenn Haussman added more detail to Harteveldt’s research with his August 11 piece. Here is an excerpt explaining why the hotel website contributes to the leisure traveler’s focus on price rather than value. Hotel websites do a poor job convincing potential guests there is good value in higher priced rooms and packages.

Glenn Haussman, “Hotel Websites Fail to Meet Consumer Expectations”

HotelInteractive.com http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=14516

One of the problems is that too many hotel branded websites fail to fully explain what comes with a specific rate. The end result is people make decisions based on price and not value. Harteveldt says consumers don’t live in a vacuum. They’re on sites all the time in different industries and they’re downloading applications for their iPhones. In these other arenas they are getting the full taste of customer focused websites and they like it.

The hotel industry, however, is not giving customers valuable information they need to make wise choices.

“One of the big points is the industry is focused on booking. But they have failed to evolve this and ignored the other phases of travel planning such as sharing information about the hotel brand proposition and the destination. They don’t even tell you what a standard or deluxe room means. They leave the consumer thinking about price only and ultimately no one wins,” says Harteveldt, who authored the recent Forrester report “Using Digital Channels To Calm The Angry Traveler.” He also said there should be gas calculators and a method for customers to shop based on their overall budget.

Other information conspicuously missing is basic elements such as room sizes, and the differences between room categories. A consumer may find a more expensive room a better value but without being able to understand the differences they respond by booking on price only.

Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero, San Francisco

Here is my Loyalty Traveler example of insufficient information for a traveler searching for information on the Hyatt Regency San Francisco hotel website.

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco is a triangle-shaped downtown San Francisco hotel. There are three sides to the hotel with different views and at least three major room types of deluxe bath, balcony, or standard room city view. The hotel website shows 9 different room categories for the hotel.

1.       Business Plan  no photos and minimal room description. No room size given.

2.       Regency Club City View only one photo shows five bed pillows and the top of a dresser. No other photos of this room type.

3.       Deluxe Double only one photo showing the beds. My experience as a traveler who has taken thousands of hotel room photos is the bed photo is one of the least informative pictures in helping visualize a room. Unless the bed is an uncommon design, then there is little information in a bed photo for the potential guest. We all know the shape and sizes of the bed. The rest of the room is what matters.

4.       Embarcadero Suite only one photo, however this photo makes the point in my statement above. The photo shows the room layout and only a small corner of the bed. This is an informative photo.

5.       Deluxe King only one photo with limited useful information.

6.       Regency Club Balcony King has only one photo and the difference between this and City View Regency Club is the balcony and the view. The website does not give a clear picture of a balcony or the difference in the views from Regency Club City View room.

7.       Guestroom only one photo of what I assume is the primary room category for the hotel and the lowest priced room type.  This photo of pillows gives no significant visual information to the potential guest.

8.       Balcony Suite only one photo with a partial view of the room interior for what should be one of the highest profit margin room bookings at the hotel. Why isn’t the website selling this room with a dozen suite photos?

9.       Balcony King Room only one photo shows partial room view. Can the potential guest even recognize the ocean in this photo?

This photo of the Regency Suite is in a set of photos under the tag “Dining and Entertainment” yet there is no Regency Suite shown in the room types listed above.

There is a virtual tour of room types with a Standard Room description yet there is no Deluxe Room shown in the virtual tour when this is two of the room types shown in the category descriptions.

Is a Deluxe room a standard room? Is “Guestroom” the same as a “Standard Room”?

A search for room rates on the hotel website shows “Bay View King”.

Which room category above matches Bay View King?

My guess was #7 Guestroom, but this is another example of the poor usability in matching room type wording used on the booking engine to the room category list on the hotel website. Reading the hotel room description it was described as a “Balcony King” room.

Looking at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco hotel factsheet, the rooms are described this way:

802 guestrooms, including 45 suites / parlors, 513 kings / queens, 245 double /

doubles, 104 Hyatt Business Plan®, 176 Hyatt Gold Passport®, 21 accessible rooms,

144 with balconies / patios, and 670 non-smoking rooms.

Another room category not previously mentioned is described as “176 Hyatt Gold Passport” rooms. I assume these are the Regency Club room types but I have no direct evidence from the website to support that correlation.

Loyalty Traveler Hyatt Regency San Francisco Photos

The Regency Club City View room is described as having a “lavish granite bathroom with built-in TV”. What does that mean to you? A picture of the built-in TV would probably have a significant effect on bookings for this room type.

Have you been in a bathroom with this kind of TV before? Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo with the TV turned on.

Hyatt Regency built-in bathroom mirror TV (not turned on)

The Balcony Rooms are primarily located on the Sacramento Alley north side of the hotel. Here is a balcony view of the Embarcadero Center and San Francisco Bay.

View of San Francisco Bay from Hyatt Regency King Balcony room

Some rooms were remodeled in 2008 with no bathtub and a glass shower stall. The website does not clearly identify which room types have this style of bathroom.

Hyatt Regency San Francisco glass shower stall

Balcony Suite rooms are longer balconies shown here on the east facing side of the hotel and a similar set are located on the west facing side of the Hyatt Regency.

Hyatt Regency Balcony Suites have 30 foot long balcony

The Market Street side of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco hotel has some great views of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Market Street view of Bay Bridge

Here is a sample city view room from the Drumm Street front entrance side of the hotel.

Drumm Street room view of TransAmerica pyramid

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco has one of the best locations in San Francisco and some aspects of the hotel rank it as a premier choice for a San Francisco hotel stay. The Hyatt Regency hotel’s website does an inadequate job of selling the many features of this iconic San Francisco Embarcadero waterfront hotel.

Eclipse Fountain in Hyatt Regency San Francisco lobby