The Fairmont San Francisco is one of the most posh luxury hotels in North America and certainly the creme of hotels in San Francisco. It rests atop Nob hill, looking down over the city as if it were sitting upon a throne, the matriarch of the hotel family in the Bay area. It survived the complete destruction of San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake, two world wars, and the great depression, all while maintaining it's position as the social hub of the city. It's hosted foreign dignitaries, movie stars, and has served as the San Francisco residence for every US president since William Taft. It's A-list accommodation at it's finest, so why am I here in my T-shirt and shorts, checking in to one of the best suites they have.
Well for starters, it's my birthday. Lori and I have had a night available to us at this hotel all year, so when we decided to go to Vegas just before my birthday, it seemed like a great opportunity to come out to San Francisco and use the night up on our way home. We haven't spent too much time in San Francisco, and when we have been here we usually stayed down by the pier, close to all the tourist attractions. It just seemed like the perfect place to stay.
Yeah, I was probably wrong about that. The Fairmont San Francisco has one of the most amazing big city views I've ever seen. The view from our room covered most of the city, spanning from the Golden Gate bridge, past Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, and the Transamerica building, around to Union Square. We've had bigger and fancier rooms, but I don't think we've ever had as amazing a view.
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| Of course the room wasn't bad. Lots of room for guests if we actually knew anyone in San Francisco. Heck we didn't even bring the kids with us. |
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| See where Lori is sitting? |
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| Bedroom view of the Transamerica building and the Bay bridge. |
A room this size does present some of its own challenges though. For instance, we were only staying one night, but there were two bathtubs to try out. I suppose we could have divided the work up, but Lori decided to take one for the team and test out both tubs. Surprisingly, she preferred the smaller one, as the bigger one was too hard to read in. "I kept floating away" was the actual quote given.
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| Can a bathtub be too large? |
Now remember, it was my birthday, and here we were with a giant room and no kids around to disturb us. What kind of "adult" fun could we get up to?
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| Bubbles! Hey we're on the 23rd floor and the window opens. You have to do it. What were you thinking? |
We spent the day out exploring San Francisco, but the best thing we could think to do with our evening was to come back and enjoy the room. It doesn't hurt that San Francisco looks amazing in the dark.
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| Sunset behind the Golden Gate bridge |
It was a great stay in an amazing suite. If you didn't catch the video tour of the room that I posted earlier, go
here and take a look. It truly was a room that I didn't want to leave.
Of course, we had to leave. This isn't the kind of room that Lori and I can afford normally (the rack rate on it is $4,000 a night). It took a serious deal and a very specific set of circumstances for this to come together for us, and I'm going to tell you about it. Tomorrow.
The Fairmont San Francisco is one of the most posh luxury hotels in North America and certainly the creme of hotels in San Francisco. It rests atop Nob hill, looking down over the city as if it were sitting upon a throne, the matriarch of the hotel family in the Bay area. It survived the complete destruction of San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake, two world wars, and the great depression, all while maintaining it's position as the social hub of the city. It's hosted foreign dignitaries, movie stars, and has served as the San Francisco residence for every US president since William Taft. It's A-list accommodation at it's finest, so why am I here in my T-shirt and shorts, checking in to one of the best suites they have.
