Location provides unusual view of urban America”

I checked in on Nov. 9, 2012 at the Embassy Hotel in San Francisco for 3 nights with some Mongolian friends. We were on our way back to Ulaanbaatar from a conference and tour in Las Vegas. Our San Francisco experience was a turn-around from the highly charged Vegas town. From the Vegas impersonal atmosphere, we were greeted each day by Embassy Hotel staff who always asked what they could offer, from keeping our luggage in a room when we arrived early for check-in to carting them to our rooms and reminding us of breakfast at the ground floor. The hotel has a vintage ambience, old wall paintings, an elevator only two meters wide that you have to pull and lock the outer door with a small glass window before the inner steel door shuts and you feel the car creak and rise. The hotel is of stone and wood and soft –colored rooms and clean well-lighted bathrooms whose design from floor tiles to plumbing obviously have seen history in the past twenty years or so. Most guests I saw were families or groups of young friends. For my Mongolian friends who enjoyed buying things to bring home, malls and small shops were all within minutes of walking. Before the shops open, we would leisurely walk to the City Hall area and watch bikers, joggers and seniors bundled for the cold. It was the Fisherman’s Wharf at night for seafood and souvenirs. In the few minutes of walk from the hotel down Turk street you would feel a quaint Asian atmosphere, unexpected in my early notion of this American tourist area. For a short stay, the Embassy hotel offers a relaxed peek of the urban and quaint in San Francisco .

Great value for the money in a genuine art deco.”

It was fine. The hotel is located in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco with a lot of homeless, that said take a taxi at night to be on the safe side. The hotel is truly Art Deco in design and furnishings, very interesting. Brenda's Restaurant is located in the same block and has excellent French Creole food which is open breakfast-lunch-diner and is always busy. The excellent Noble Bar is located in the hotel. This hotel is an outstanding value for the money in the downtown. If you want to spend $500/night, stay at a five star Hilton, but if you want something uniquely interesting for a little money stay a the Embassy. I would go back.

Above average”

I read the reviews before booking this hotel and went ahead and booked as it was one of the cheaper hotels in the downtown San Francisco area. The hotels in San Fran are ridiculously priced!! If I went it again it would be on an off season so I could stay somewhere much better. The room was so tiny, no air conditioning and very little room to lay your suitcases. The staff was okay but definitely not overly friendly. The homeless near the hotel weren’t bothersome but be prepared for the amount of homeless people in the area. People were shooting up drugs right in front of us. I will say during the day I never felt unsafe and the location makes it walkable to several areas. With that said, I wouldn’t stay here again if I could avoid it.

Great value for the money.”

I spent little time in the room as I was a conference the better part of each day. The hotel was fairly close to the conference venue ( Moscone Center) , a 20 minute walk or a short cab ride away. The room was spacious enough for my needs. No frills but the room was clean and the bathroom had all the basics.I needed a place to freshen up and sleep. It fit my needs for a very reasonable price. The staff was very attentive and helpful. For the price, I was extremely satisfied. If I wanted luxury I would have stayed at a bigger and posher hotel, bu the Embassy Hoter suited my needs just fine.

Hotel as well as personel are great. The only one problem is location and tons of homeless people. I”

Hotel as well as personel are great, room was very clean and comfortable. The only one problem is location and tons of homeless people around the hotel. I've seen in my life lots of homeless people but these in San Fran are super crazy and addicted. If you decide to stay in this hotel you need to stay north of the hotel.

Dodgy area”

Possibly in the worst area of San Francisco. Neither of us felt safe in the area and the bouncer at the club next door told us to uber or taxi anywhere from there at night. The area is dirty. The hotel was satisfactory however the elevator has not been checked since 2012 and every day there was a strong smell of weed on the 2nd floor which the staff obviously ignore. Good for people on a budget but if you can afford somewhere in a nicer safer area go for it

Nice Boutique Hotel”

Pros: I found that the staff were great and the room was kept very clean. WIFI was good speed. Very cool trendy boutique hotel. The White Chapel speak easy was a interesting place to get a drink. Cons: Facilities were dated, i understand that they want to keep the 20's motif. However, my room had no thermostat, The shower needed a reno (please replace the shower handles). Unfortunately the hotel is very close to the "tenderloin" of San Fran, so be prepared for many homeless folks near by. Also because of the bike paths in front of the hotel, no cabs/uber/lyft can stop in front of the hotel. You typically have to be picked up\dropped off across the street.

Very good”

Stayed for 6 nights. Did not get housekeeping per our choice. All we needed was towel changes and trash. Room with two double beds was a decent size for 3 ladies. Room cleanliness was a bit lacking. Shower floor had black mold. Shower curtain also had mold which means it wasn't changed before we checked in. I work in the hotel business and would have expected better conditions from a name brand hotel, but cleanliness no matter star rating and brand name shouldn't change. I know this is a smaller property which maybe doesn't have a brand coming to inspect them every quarter, but there' s no way they didn't know shower had mold. Some tilex even would've helped. You can hear people yelling on the street at night and lots of road noise. Again, that was expected because of the location. I think the only thing that would have made the stay better is checking in to a cleaner room with more attention to detail.

Enjoyable”

My stay was perfectly fine, until I wanted to extend my stay for an additional night. Agonda was extremely hard to contact , and the site has no way to extent, I spent over an hour trying to do this. Come to find out you must check out , then check back in but, not for the same rate, oh no a new rate of $70.00 increase, ( other site s have the guest stay at the same rate , or very close. So with no help from either the site or the hotel, I checked out.with both,. Checked in to a hotel 10 minutes away, for a lower rate..

comfortable, bad location”

Our room was comfortable, a good size and had free wifi however it was a really bad location. When we had a chance to look around san francisco we realised we should have stayed up near china town. Staff were fantastic and it was great we were able to store our luggage

Affordable, Large room, fridge, with nearby restaurants and transport”

Read reviews that only focused on the negative. Went with it anyway and SO pleased I did. It was affordable, room was spacious, own bathroom, small fridge, windows opened, cafe next door that you could access from reception so did not have to go outside. Airport shuttle to and from airport was only USD$17. Only a 5 minute walk to nearest bus to take you to Fisherman's Wharf. Easy walk to restaurants. Yes there were a few homeless in alley nearby but never bothered me. Being a solo traveller I was back at hotel by 8pm would eat out before returning to hotel or got a delivery or brought food back with me. This is a lovely hotel with a bit of class to it too. Escalator was great as I was on the sixth floor so it made handling your luggage easier. Give this hotel a go and I'm sure you won't be disappointed unless your a snob or someone who just finds faults and not the good in things.

Good for the price”

Looked around all over SF and booked this hotel. The hotel was old and chic. Over all clean rooms and showers. Smelt muggy but that is due to the old ness. My experience was great and had no issues. I slept great and the shower felt very clean.

Clean and friendly ”

The room was spotless, cleaned daily with fresh towels and bedding made. The staff were very friendly and helpful. Hotel is central to all public transport and all tourist sites are easy accessible by either foot or transport. Coffee shop was lovely also.

Exceptional”

The staff is nice and helpful. Cute room and location is in downtown. I enjoyed my stay.

My experience ”

My experince was good. We went to sf for pride and this hotel is a block from where the celebration was so that was great. The receptionist was going to contact us when we was able to check in because we got there early. She said she was going to call around 1 and we didn't get a call and that was around 2. When we got to the hotel to see if we could check in she said oh I lost the paper so I couldn't call you. So we got to check in and the room she gave us was really stuffy. There was no air circulation and it was hot. They don't have air conditioning and the window that was in the room was nailed shut. So I talked to the lady and she was not trying to give us another room. I told her I can't stay in that room so she eventually changed the room. The room was better because the window could open. Besides that I will be staying at this hotel for now on for pride.

Nice place to stay in fair price”

This hotel is quite good for its location, its service and the fact that it has the free parking is very important. The breakfast was fair, not to reach but OK. The only two problems I faced was that in the room wood floor below the carpet there was a small hale that we need to take care not to step on, and the fact that the hot water in room was easily effected by the other guests in the hotel.

No complaints here”

Nice hotel close to the civic center and downtown.

Great service from staff /room was musty”

Great historic art deco hotel, the rooms were a little musty and could be freshend up, but is to be expected due to the age of hotel.

Excellent value for the money”

I am perplexed by some of the other comments. This hotel is a nice old art-deco building. It is by no means a luxury hotel but for the price, it is clean and the rooms are surprisingly big. Front desk staff is nice. Rooms are very clean. Location is good; just a few blocks from City Hall. Still, one should be careful at night because the hotel is in the Tenderloin, the heart of the homeless area.

Value for Money & Location is good”

Hotel is really good. If you are looking for a Quick travel & proximity to your locations, this hotel is really good. Would not provide all the facility which you are looking for but would be happy to stay for a week or so. I have spend 10 days here for my last trip & it was pretty good experience.