great stay @ Palomar
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Palomar is a small boutique hotel, part of Kimpton Hotels located on Market and Fourth St. The hotel itself is not that big, it's only 9 stories high, however, it was very homey and inviting.
Positives:
- Location is perfect, a few blocks away from Union Square, less than a block away from Sony Metreon and San Francisco Shopping Center. So a lot to do, a lot to eat.
- We are big on Customer Service, so that was the first thing that we noticed when we arrived. Everyone was friendly and very approachable. They always greeted us with a big smile and was willing to help.
- During check in, we were upgraded to a Suite without even asking. Perhaps because we are members of the Kimpton? They also greeted us with a welcome bag which consisted of a bottle of distiled water and an apple. It's not a big thing, but it's a nice gesture.
- We have stayed at many different hotels in San Francisco, but we have never encountered hotel rooms so quiet before. We were on the 8th floor and we could not hear the busy streets at all. We were expecting to hear a lot of noises, (I even had my earplugs ready) so this was a nice surprise.
Some of the problems we encountered during our stay:
- I usually don't use shampoo and conditioners provided by Hotels, but Kimpton usually provides great amentines, so I decided not to bother to bring my own. The shampoo (Aveda) really dried up my hair. Not a big deal really, for I was downtown- an easy walk to get my regular shampoo.
- The pillows were small. We are used to having either queen/king size pillows on a king size bed, but these pillows provided were the standard pillows. They were so small that they looked out of place on such a large bed and they were somewhat uncomfortable.
- The bathroom was nice, and the tub was big enough, however, the water in the tub took forever to drain. In fact, the water reached my ankle when I was taking a shower. We let the hotel know about this, but we were encountering the same problem the whole time we were there. The toilet wasn't flushing properly also. We had to flush at least twice or three times each time.
Overall, we had a great stay at Palomar, and most likely will return. For downtown SF, $200/night is a pretty good deal.