Great value, great location
Written: Apr 30 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great price and location, cute, nifty decor, decent amenities for a budget hotel, good service
Cons: Small rooms, noisy at times
The Bottom Line: Great location, neat hotel, excellent value for the money. Go for it if you're single or couple and aren't looking for lavish accomodation.
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| jasminalea's Full Review: Diva Hotel |
On a recent trip to San Francisco, we booked through Priceline.com for a boutique hotel in Union Square. The result: Hotel Diva. The price: an AMAZING $60/US per night. The rack rate was $149+ (already cheap for Union Square) so we were thrilled with the $60 rate.
Priceline, as you know, doesn't give you a specific choice of hotel, so after we received our confirmation I checked their website (very cool) - http://www.hoteldiva.com. I was a little worried though, after reading the reviews here. Luckily, we had a pretty good experience with the hotel. I would definitely recommend it for a budget traveller. It's definitely suited to singles or couples though - not for big families!
THUMBS UP STUFF:
Location:
It's a block and a half from Union Square (total shopping mecca!), less than a five minute walk. It's easy to hop on a bus or on the cable car from this area, and there's excellent shopping, galleries, and theaters all around. The Powell BART station is about a 10 minute walk away, too. The hotel itself is situated right across the street from two of San Francisco's main theaters - The Curran and the American Conservatory Theater. There are lots of restaurants in the area, all within easy walking distance - in a wide variety of price ranges. On the same block, there's a Jack In The Box, California Pizza Kitchen, Starbucks, Thai Noodle Takeout, Irish Pub, NY style deli, Kosher restaurant, and a couple of diners (the Pinecrest kicked butt for breakfast, although a little pricey).
Often we'd be out doing the touristy things and would stop in to our hotel mid-day to drop off our purchases and take a breather between seeing the sights - it's *that* central.
You don't have to go out of your way to stop back to change your shoes or pick up that extra roll of film you left in your carry-on (not that I would know anything about that! ;))
Room:
It's an older building that's been renovated quite nicely. Being older, the rooms are pretty small - we were actually a little shocked at how tiny they were (mind you, with a $60 internet rate, I wasn't expecting much). I'm sure there are bigger rooms in the hotel, if you want to pay more - but we were there on the cheap and you get what you pay for. Having said that, the room was very clean and cozy, and decorated in non-traditional, ecelectic style (think IKEA meets Office Place meets Pottery Barn meets Umbra). Cool fixtures, a very comfy bed with a warm fluffy comforter, wireless internet (there's an extra charge of $9 a day if you want to use it, but it's cool regardless), complimentary magazines (Saveur, 7x7, Where SF, etc), neat soaps and toiletries, hairdryer, ironing board/iron, small safe. There's even "his" and "hers" file folders in the desk filing drawer if you need to put stuff away!
Service:
We had no problems at all with the service. The desk staff were all friendly and accomodating, providing recommendations for places to see and restaurants. The concierge guy was a hoot! Very friendly and informative, a little bit kooky and fun. The rooms were cleaned very well every day, and everyone smiled and was gracious. No problems there.
Amenities:
They've gotten rid of the free continental breakfast, but there's still free coffee / hot chocolate / tea on the 6th floor 24/7. Every other floor (I think) has a little lounge area with free magazines, music, and an iMac where you can surf the internet for free. There's also a fitness room which is small but quite well appointed: stair climber, treadmill, several weight machines, TV. Not bad for a little hotel. The lobby is tiny, you can't socialize there, but the Starbucks has an entrance off the lobby and it's quite comfortable (and they open at 0530). There is also a business center with PC's, photocopying, fax, etc. if you need it.
THUMBS DOWN STUFF:
Bathroom:
Very small. Smaller than I could have ever imagined. Suitable for one person only; two people could not fit into this space (unless one was in the shower!). Having said that, it was clean and serviceable, the soaps and toiletries were nice, and the hairdryer was handy. There's also an adjustable shower head which was pretty neat.
Noise:
The hotel is located on a busy street, and the windows on the rooms are probably the original ones (single paned, thin glass). They *do* open up, which is great for fresh air or people watching (and there's lots of people to watch!). Our room looked out onto Geary Street and you could pretty much hear what was going on on the sidewalk below at all hours of the night. We were pretty pooped from walking around all day, so we slept pretty soundly, but the noise could be a problem for those that don't fall asleep too easily.
Homeless People:
This was touched on in previous reviews. There are a LOT of homeless people / panhandlers in San Francisco. We encountered them all over the downtown area. Being from a big city ourselves, it was not that big a deal, although we did find the panhandlers a little more aggressive than we were used to. If you're used to being assertive and giving these folks the brush off, it won't be a big deal for you, but if you're not used to it, it can be a bit unnerving. There are quite a few homeless people that hang around the Mason/Geary intersection (very close to the hotel) so be prepared for that if you're not accustomed to it. The street around the hotel does have it's share of homeless people - it's up to you how to deal with that. There were panhandlers in front of the Marriott too, though - so no matter where you go, you're going to have to deal with this.
Room size:
The small rooms were not an issue as we didn't spend a whole lot of time in the room (lots of other things to do!) - but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than singles and couples. Kids probably wouldn't like this hotel very much - not a whole lot for them to do. I can't picture Mom and Dad and two kids in this hotel.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jasminalea
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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