A breath of fresh air...
July 8, 2008
Chinatown, my parents are like tiny Where's Waldos? on the bottom left corner. =)
Lucky for us, the metro system, BART, was quite easy to navigate (except for actually buying the ticket that is) and we arrived at our hotel pretty quickly. Walking into the hotel only made the day better, as it was beautiful inside (see review). It was just a few pillowed seating areas short of a Moroccan dream. We were more than pleasantly surprised at the what a great value we got with our package, as we weren't expecting such luxury. The beds were another great example of that luxury, and having started our day at 5:00am coupled with the time change, we decided to indulge a bit.
My mom, picture taken courtesy of expensive lens we never got.
After a short nap and reading of visitor's guides, we discovered our hotels Wine Hour. Basically, from 5:00- 6:00pm everyday the hotel offers complimentary beer and wine to its guests. My dad, who can rarely stay in one place too long, decided to socialize. A few minutes later he returned with samples for us of the white wine and about a half hour later returned with a couple bottles he finagled. =)
With these gifts safely tucked in our minifridge, we decided to walk the few blocks to Chinatown, the one thing I think my dad was really looking forward to. Unfortunately, we didn't actually get to experience much of Chinatown, as the seductive glow of "Cheap Electronics!" stores lured my father in. I was in the mood for a little knock-off purse lovin', so my mom and I did walk up and down a bit, but I was disappointed in the selection.
Probably the biggest Macy's I've ever seen, in Union Square.
After all that, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the Serrano.
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Relaxed, upscale-ish hotel
We got this hotel in a last-minute package, so I'm pretty positive we paid much less than it's typical going rate. However, I was a little in love with it. The facade of the building is quite unassuming, but once you step inside, you can feel the understated luxury. The lobby looks very Moroccan/Bombay-esque, and was a lovely place as a meet-up.
The Serrano is one of the many Kimpton Hotels in the San Francisco area, with each hotel having a different theme. The theme of the Serrano is "Fun and Games," which provided for a check-in game of Black Jack for the gift of the day and the ability to check out over 100 different board games to play either in your room or at one of the many tables in the lobby.
A different aspect of "fun" was the Wine Hour from 5:00-6:00pm every night, where guests could go enjoy glasses wine of the month (in our case, California's Little Black Dress) for free. I believe they offered beer as well, but since we were in California we opted for the wine. =)
As for the room, the beds were no less than amazing. My only complaint about the beds was that the full seemed to be much smaller than a typical full, but it wasn't uncomfortably so. Mini-bar was fully stocked, although expensive. I don't really know that it's important to people, but the toiletries(i.e. shampoo, conditioner, face bar, etc) all smelled amazing. Our view wasn't the greatest, but a fellow guests said his was amazing (he preferred this hotel to the Westin).
Overall, the hotel was great- friendly, helpful staff, good location (only a couple blocks from BART Powell Station, and a few more blocks from Chinatown), and wonderful beds. Highly recommend! =)
The Serrano is one of the many Kimpton Hotels in the San Francisco area, with each hotel having a different theme. The theme of the Serrano is "Fun and Games," which provided for a check-in game of Black Jack for the gift of the day and the ability to check out over 100 different board games to play either in your room or at one of the many tables in the lobby.
A different aspect of "fun" was the Wine Hour from 5:00-6:00pm every night, where guests could go enjoy glasses wine of the month (in our case, California's Little Black Dress) for free. I believe they offered beer as well, but since we were in California we opted for the wine. =)
As for the room, the beds were no less than amazing. My only complaint about the beds was that the full seemed to be much smaller than a typical full, but it wasn't uncomfortably so. Mini-bar was fully stocked, although expensive. I don't really know that it's important to people, but the toiletries(i.e. shampoo, conditioner, face bar, etc) all smelled amazing. Our view wasn't the greatest, but a fellow guests said his was amazing (he preferred this hotel to the Westin).
Overall, the hotel was great- friendly, helpful staff, good location (only a couple blocks from BART Powell Station, and a few more blocks from Chinatown), and wonderful beds. Highly recommend! =)
The view from the outside. Like…
