Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fraternizing with strangers, but many true travelers swear by the entree that know-
ing a local can bring. You can also spend as long as you like online in advance of
your trip, vetting your prospective host (or guest). There are dozens of folks in the
city—students, waitresses, and lots of artists—offering their space in this way.
Bed-and-breakfasts that operate more or less like hotels—that is to say, multi-
unit properties where the owner doesn't also live—are listed with the hotels later
in this chapter.
RENTING YOUR OWN APARTMENT
For those seeking more privacy, renting a complete apartment beats hotel stays on
every front. And this form of lodging has many pluses—chief among them a
kitchen! This is actually pretty transformative for a vacation, because Northern
California is renowned for its wealth of fresh meats and vegetables. It's one of
America's breadbaskets, and many of San Francisco's most charming spots happen
to be ones where artisanal foods are made and sold, so putting yourself in the posi-
tion to enjoy those foods by cooking them will bring you much closer to the
essence of Bay Area life. (It'll also save you a small fortune on restaurants.) Second,
many rental apartments have two or more bedrooms for the same price as a stan-
dard two-person hotel room. So for families and groups, they're a much smarter
buy. Also, if you're traveling with more than two people, the close quarters of a
hotel room may grate you, yet it's easy to find apartments that sleep up to eight
people for as little as $200 a night, which split among eight would mean just $25
per person per night.
Another giant advantage is that the people who rent these places are usually
proud to share their neighborhoods with you; and often, when you check into the
place, you'll often find a helpful listing of all the local finds, such as which stores
are run by friends, where to find the freshest bread, and so on. San Francisco is a
city made up of dozens of cozy neighborhoods, and there's no better way to get
to understand life in the city than to stay with the locals.
Now to the downside: Though apartments are a terrific option, they're diffi-
cult to book in San Francisco. Here, it's a rent-by-owner world. Unlike other
world cities, no major rental offices handle short-term vacation rentals, meaning
that there's no source acting as a middleman between the tourist and the owner,
no third party to insure quality or step in when something goes wrong.
But there are services, some with nominal membership fees, that aim to help
you find temporary homes inside real homes. Real estate is so expensive in San
Francisco that most of the owners don't let their homes go for cheap, so it's
unusual to find someone who advertises his place for less than $150 a night. That
may be high for a double, but as I said before, groups can score on this type of
lodging.
VACATION RENTALS BY OWNER
This is one of the most promising databases of apartments, because homeowners
pay an annual fee to list their properties, so it's in their interest to give exhaustive
information about them—and they usually do. And unlike craigslist (see below),
VRBO
(www.vrbo.com),
HomeAway (see below), and Zonder (see below) will
remove an owner if complaints arise about their property. Craigslist has no such
policing capabilities. At any moment, you'll find more than 100 options, with lots
