Hotel Bijou San Francisco

I will start out by saying that I liked this hotel though it won’t be for everyone. It is in a great location, but unfortunately at night there are a lot of junkies on the street, no joke. One night we saw one get arrested outside a theatre across the street after collapsing and screaming on the street for an hour and on another night we passed by someone shooting up heroin around the corner. The people don’t appear to be violent and they disappear during the day but come out in the evening and can be quite loud throughout the night. I live in NYC, so this didn’t really faze me at all, but I can see how this would not be acceptable to some people.

The rooms are comfortable and the hotel is very kitschy with a movie theme. We were in room 508 near the Sophia Loren picture where she is showing her hairy armpits; the woman was stunning in her day with or without the hair so no complaints! The carpets are a fabulous array of 70’s colors that make things pretty confusing after a night of drinking (are the zigzags moving or not). There is no AC in the rooms, but San Francisco cools down at night so if you open the windows before bed, it isn’t bad at all. You may want to close it before bed though as the street noise can be a bit much.

The breakfast was a little skimpy and they ran out of items a lot, but for the price I really couldn’t complain and walked away full. The breakfast staff was not great, but the cleaning lady was wonderful and the front desk staff was great! They were very friendly and gave great suggestions about restaurants and travel tips around town. There wasn’t a rude one in the bunch.

Many of the people in the hotel were European Tourists which didn’t surprise me as this hotel reminds me of a few of the boutique hotels I have stayed in Europe; comfortable and cheap. I think we may have been the only Americans staying there as I think most tend to stay at the Hilton nearby. I try to avoid the Hilton whenever possible for my own personal reasons.

Even with a few of the problems, I would definitely stay here again. The price and location were great though the street people may make a few feel unsafe. That and if you are looking for a lot of amenities, you will not find it here; just a great place to lay your head at the end of the night.

It was fun to watch an old movie in their mini theatre. Room was comfortable, staff was helpful. Location was very convenient to Moscone Convention Center.read entire review at TravelPost.com