Review: The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square

Why did this hotel catch your attention? What's the vibe? Looking up from ground level, the Westin St. Francis feels almost too big to fathom. Towering 31 stories above Union Square and spanning a city block, this gray stone hotel looks like a European castle that somehow landed in the center of San Francisco. Inside, the lobby follows suit, with soaring ceilings, cream-and-black marble flooring, and huge glittering chandeliers.

What's the backstory? In the early 1900s, the family of railroad magnate Charles Crocker dreamed of transforming San Francisco into “the Paris of the West,” constructing the St. Francis as a sort of centerpiece. The hotel, remarkably, survived the 1906 earthquake, and quickly became a magnet for the glitterati. The parade of people who have passed through the hotel reads like a who’s who of…everyone. Louis Armstrong played here, Shirley Temple posed here, Ernest Hemingway drank here, Emperor Hirohito slept here. Perhaps most famously, in 1983, following a state dinner, Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip retired to the hotel’s Windsor Suite, while President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan stayed in the London Suite.

Tell us all about the accommodations. Any tips on what to book? The St. Francis has a whopping 1,196 rooms, split between the hotel’s original (Landmark) building and newer (Tower) building. While parts of the property date back over a century, the rooms feel fresh, thanks to renovations in 2018. I stayed in the Bridgeview Suite, one of the hotel’s 81 suites (though it's currently under renovation). Like the St. Francis itself, the room impressed with sheer scale: Just inside the door, it had its own miniature lobby, with marble flooring and a chandelier overhead. Huge windows granted views of all San Francisco, from the downtown skyscrapers to the glittering Golden Gate Bridge. This room, like all the others on property, features the trademark Westin brand bed, which feels like a cloud. And the rain shower is so soothing, it was hard to get out!

Is there a charge for Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi is free to Marriott Bonvoy members, and $14.95 per day for everyone else. (FWIW, it is incredibly fast!)

Drinking and dining—what are we looking at? At the hotel’s sit-down restaurant, The Oak Room, Chef Fernando Reyes draws on various culinary influences to breathe new life into old standards. To wit, his Dungeness crab cake arrives topped with miso-ginger dressing and Napa cabbage kimchi. Indulge in a nightcap at Clock Bar, which harkens San Francisco in the 1920s and is overseen by Michael Mina. In the lobby, Cafe Rito offers grab-and-go Italian fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They brew Starbucks coffee.

And the service? The service depends upon who happens to be on the front desk. Some staff members are knowledgeable, helpful, and anticipatory; others are less so.

What type of travelers will you find here? Flip-flop wearing tourists laden with shopping bags, Silicon Valley types tapping away on laptops, international travelers toting oversize luggage, airline pilots in uniform. You never know just who’ll you encounter.

What about the neighborhood? Does the hotel fit in, make itself part of the scene? Perhaps no hotel is more intricately interwoven into Bay Area life than the St. Francis. The hotel caters events all over town, hosts proms for local high schools, and organizes fundraisers for the likes of Guide Dogs for the Blind. But above all, locals know the St. Francis for its opulent holiday display in the lobby, centered on a massive, intricate sugar castle, built by Executive Pastry Chef Jean-François Houdre and his team. Many people make an annual pilgrimage to the hotel to come admire the décor.

Is there anything you'd change? I would have loved to see more anticipatory service.

Any other hotel features worth noting? Chateau Montelena—the Calistoga winery whose Chardonnay famously bested its French competitors in the 1976 Judgment of Paris—has a tasting room in the lobby, the only one outside the chateau. Reserve a tasting in advance, and you can have the Napa experience right here in San Francisco.

Riding the elevator in the Tower Building is utterly magical. The glass-walled elevators run up the building’s exterior wall. That means that, at first, you’ll ascend first through darkness, then behind the Landmark Building, and, finally, you’ll clear its roof…and get a breathtaking bird’s-eye panorama of Union Square below.

Bottom line: Worth it? Why? If you’re looking for a stunning property with a fascinating history, the St. Francis is a good bet.