The Metro Hotel

I definitely enjoyed my stay here for 2 nights. It doesn't feel like a hotel, but I felt like I stayed in an appartment which is close to home. The area around with it has a lot of good food, cafe, and store so buying what you need isn't a problem. The room is very clean, and the people in the lobby are very nice. If some of you guys curious about the place, you should go try it. It's one of my favorite hotel here in SF. Very cheap as well. I would definitely come back here everytime I visit San Fransisco.

I realllly love it here!
I can't think of anything wrong with it.
The moment my mom and I went in, the lady receptionist already suggested how we can get around, gave tips about the area and was very delightful overall. Easiest check-in. Room that I reserved online was ready 15 mins before check in time... It was very clean with a cozy feel. We picked two twin sized beds so my mom and I can have our own and they are soooo nice and comfortable! Soft mattress and soft pillows and clean smooth sheets which make all the difference since I'm not paying a lot for such great experience! Bathroom is small but private and clean!! There's nothing about this place that'll make you feel icky and I'm sooo grateful for it. Affordable and awesome!

Only thing is no a/c so that's just an FYI
And no elevators if this is an issue and no parking provided by hotel

I called to see if they had an available room.
I got a call back from Shana, to tell me they were booked. She did spend some time advising me where to look, with some 'insider' tips. She was helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. She definitely went the 'extra mile.'

I didn't realize how superfluous most hotels are until I stayed here. No frills, nothing fancy. There's just a clean room and great, personal service. It's a small boutique hotel, almost hostel-like, but clean, cozy, and with your own private bathroom. For the location - walking distance to Haight/Castro/Golden Gate Park - this can't be beat. Plus, the fire escape doubles as an awesome balcony from where I can do my people-watching!

Some pointers: wi-fi is included, there's no parking lot (but plenty of residential street parking if you're lucky and mindful of the signs), no complimentary toiletries. The staff is pleasant and helpful. There's an adorable chalkboard downstairs that has weather stats and local events.

To my friend who suggested this place and booked the room - thank you! The city needs more hotels like this.

PROS
Loved this little hotel (but it was not perfect)! It is utilitarian and practical. The lobby is cute and the staff are amazingly helpful with directions and advice. The rooms are small and very basic but just what you need to have a nice stay in SF, especially if you are out and about all of the time. The room was clean. I would say that this "hotel" is more of a "hostel" or "Inn" rather than a hotel in designation. The outside patio is very cute and a nice place to hang out. Free Wi-Fi is a big plus!

CONS
There were only a couple of drawbacks. The noise was a bit much. First, there is a restaurant next door and I was able to hear conversation, dishes clanking and things dropping late into the night. The hotel in general is also loud (a guest door opens and you can hear it...someone is talking in the hallway and you can hear it, someone is taking a shower and you hear it). This was a bit disappointing. My particular room was very bright at night which was bothersome (there were blinds on the window but no curtain so the room was not completely dark (or even kinda dark) at night.

OVERALL
Overall however, I would highly recommend it for the price (you can't beat it!). If you can deal with some noise, I think it will be great for you! You can save your money to have a great time in SF instead of paying for a room that you are never in.

**PARKING TIPS** (as well as outstanding customer service comment below)

I'm sure you have already read through the reviews regarding room size, location, etc. So let me help you out with PARKING.

If you want to park in front of the hotel, the metered parking is FREE overnight after 6PM. But be mindful of when and where street sweeping is the next morning. Street sweeping is from 6am to 8am, every other day, on alternating sides of Divis. If you are on the correct side of the road where you can park over night and NOT worry about street sweeping, the meters start back up at 9am. Don't want to wake up at 8:50am to put in money? Guess what, you don't have to. You can prepay your meter ONLINE via the website and meter identification number on the actual meter. You can pay up to 2 hours in advance, so that you may be able to take your time in the morning before starting your day in the city.

If you are not planning to use your car for a whole day (like we did for a day), there are a few steps you have to take in order to make sure you avoid getting parking ticket, or even towed. There is a park about 3/4 mile away from the hotel. Head down Divis towards Page until you hit Haight (I believe), turn right and go up the hill, or just punch into your phone the nearest park that is on Buena Vista street. You may park along side of the park for free with no time limit, But again, there are certain sides of the park that have street sweepings on certain mornings. We moved our car there in the morning after the street sweeping time, and just took an Uber deeper into the city to spend our day. The park is in a good neighborhood. When we were done with our day at about 5pm, we took an Uber back to our car (please note nearest home address near you), parked at the meters in front of hotel, paid for an hour, and we were good to go until the next morning.

The price and location of the hotel heavily outweighs their lack of parking.

My husband and I had family emergency, and had to leave San Francisco one whole day early. We informed Shana that morning (after receiving the news, about 10:30am) that we would be checking out early, and she did not charge us any fees for early checkout. We only paid for the nights we stayed. Now where else are you going to get that kind of outstanding customer service? No where! I was ready to bite the bullet on the early checkout fee because we had no choice but to leave, but Shana went above an beyond any other hotel would do for their guests. Amazing.

I highly recommend this hotel for your stay in San Francisco!

So glad I found this Hotel on Yelp. Loved it here! We needed a place to stay for a night just to bath and sleep & this place was perfect. The rooms were a bit small but it has their own private bathrooms. It was clean and simple.

Awesome front desk service. Checking in was easy and fast. They even recommended places to visit & other spots in the neighborhood that we should check out.

Only downside is parking. No private parking. Had to find street parking but it wasn't a problem for us. A stall was always available.

So if you're looking for a place just to sleep and get ready in, & with a decent price, this is the place to go! :)

For our first trip to SF, b. found this affordable and conveniently located hotel where we booked a room (one full bed with a private bathroom) for $88/night. Score!

As other Yelpers have noted, be realistic about your expectations. This is a no frills budget hotel suited for travelers who are planning to spend most of their time exploring outside and not lounging around inside. Now moving on to a description of Room 112...

Website description: "Room 112 is a full room on the 2nd floor. It is one of our interior rooms with a window opening to a light well. The bathroom is generous in size and the room also has a desk & chair so, it is slightly more spacious than other interior rooms." (Me to self: What is that comma doing there?)

We weren't quite sure what to expect by "light well" but our large window faced an outside entryway to the back garden/patio area. A door on the left looked like it may have led into Ragazza? I had raised the blinds and was startled by a girl wearing an apron exiting from that doorway. I then turned frantic when I couldn't lower the blinds and was waiting for the girl to return and see my deer-in-the-headlights look on my face until b. took away the cord and calmly lowered the blinds again. A sucky thing was that the window did not have a screen! So we couldn't open it to air out the musty smell in the room. Boo. As for the desk and chair, there were none unless you counted the wall-mounted night stands on each side of the bed and a tiny ottoman stool thingy that had enough space to accommodate one butt cheek. As for spaciousness, there was maybe about 2-3 feet of space on each side of the bed with one foot of space at the end of the bed. The bathroom was brightly lit with plenty of space although the shower stall itself was somewhat cramped. The room also had a large wall length mirror and a small closet area (no door) with hangers, a luggage stand, a space heater, and an extra blanket.

Other things to note:
- Bring your own toiletries. There is only liquid soap in a bottle by the sink and in a dispenser that is inside the shower stall.
- There is a small flat screen TV mounted on the wall with basic cable.
- Free wireless. Front desk staff will provide you with the code upon check-in.
- You can borrow a hair dryer from the front desk and keep it for the duration of your stay.
- There is a large ceiling fan above the bed that can be turned to different settings. The fan's light is the room's main source of lighting and can be dimmed to various settings. Our lighting was generally pretty poor and one of the two recessed lights was burnt out.
- Room has high ceilings, which helps with cramped quarters.
- Daily cleaning service that will provide you with fresh towels.
- There was some construction noise that we couldn't quite tell where it was coming from and that started around 6:30-7 AM. Seriously.
- There is an alarm clock and a thin guidebook to San Francisco. Lobby also has plenty of books and maps to check out.
- There is an airport shuttle that the front desk can help you arrange the day before your departure flight. The shuttle will take you from the hotel to SFO for $10/person, not including tip. No deal for SFO to hotel. Note about the shuttle: It's a 12-seater van that appears quite worn out on the inside. Smelled like stale cigarettes. Note about potential passengers: One of ours had camped out on the whole backseat with her blanket and was rolling a joint when we climbed into the van. Then laid down and started "secretly" smoking. Then kept complaining to the driver about how hot it was and then climbed to the front of the van and proceeded to fiddle with the controls herself. (Me: Girl! Oh no you didn't!) Then kept admonishing the driver to slow down when we were barely going 60 mph. Yup. Note about the driver: Older man, softspoken, and friendly. Incredibly patient with the passenger noted earlier. But dude, seriously?! Girlfriend was all over yo' dashboard! Oh, and he put on some Chinese opera music halfway through the ride. Awkward and weird. Thankfully, he switched it to a less painful radio station soon afterwards.

In summary, an old building with cramped rooms but clean and affordable with friendly and helpful staff, and is conveniently located in a neighborhood with character. And ride the shuttle at your own risk.

Whooeee, this must be the longest review ehVAH.

Truly a hidden gem of a hotel in San Francisco. The Metro Hotel is a great value for clean, comfortable no-frills accommodation.

The ROOMS: They're small, but sufficient. Very clean. Quite comfortable queen-sized beds. Ceiling fan and good lighting. We had an "interior room", which basically meant that the window faced out onto an interior courtyard. Nothing to write home about for views, but light during the day, good ventilation, and a lot quieter than being on Divs. Free Wi-Fi was not quite as good as I would have liked, but adequate.

The STAFF: Shana at the front desk was our favorite. She was so cheerful, friendly, and thrilled to make recommendations. I wish I could remember the other staff person's name, but I needed to print something. I e-mailed it to her, and before I could make it downstairs, she had already sprinted up two flights of stairs to deliver it. Awesome!

The LOCATION: It's almost at the intersection of the Haight and Divisadero. The Lower Haight neighbourhood has a good selection of restaurants and bars with plenty more in walking distance. Both Divis. and Haight have quite good bus lines along them...don't be scared to take public transit. Short walk to Toronado, which has one of the best beer selections in the country. Easy walking to the Castro, Painted Ladies, Hayes Valley, etc.

OVERALL, at $100/night for a smallish, clean comfortable room, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this. In a place like SF, you're really not going to be in your hotel room very long...mostly to sleep, shower, and send e-mails. If that's the case this place is ideal. If for some reason you plan to spend your vacation in your hotel room, you might find this a little less satisfactory due to the room size.

The Metro has been my first choice hotel in San Francisco for 10 years. In the past decade my husband & I have probably stayed here 25 times.

It's clean. The beds are comfortable. The family that owns & operates the joint is super nice. There is someone at the front desk 24//7.

Oh, & it's about half the cost of other hotels in the city.

The hotel can keep the price low because this is a very minimal hotel experience. As in, if your idea of a great vacation is sleeping on 600 count sheets, ordering room service, & watching television while you take a bubble bath, this is not the hotel for you.

If you are the kind of traveler who just wants a comfy bed, a private toilet, & a safe place to stash your stuff while you explore the city, this is your place.

The rooms are small by American hotel room standards. The rooms I've stayed in contain a bed, a narrow, console-style table that can be used as a desk, one side chair, & a small flat screen tv. Although every room has its own private bath, the bathrooms only have showers. No bathtubs. There are wall-mounted bodywash/shampoo dispensers by the sink & in the shower instead of the little bars of soap & shampoo. (Personally, I like this because it cuts down on plastic waste going into the environment).

Although I recommend this hotel to all my friends who belong to touring bands, please note that there is no elevator, only stairs at this hotel. Be prepared to lug your heavy baggage up several flights of stairs.