Travel Reference
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bathrooms with very small tubs. Water pressure is iffy, but not disastrous, and the
rooms facing Grant Avenue are nice and bright. The value is a little slim at $119,
which it charges at busy periods, but it's a great deal at the more typical $89.
$$
The kind of no-frills hotel that I might pick if I were coming into town for
the night to catch a concert or a comedy show,
Hotel Astoria
(510 Bush St., at
Grant;
%
800/666-6696 or 415/434-8883; www.hotelastoria-sf.com; AE, MC, V)
succeeds mostly on its prime location; some of its 80 rooms have a view of the top
of the Chinatown gate on Grant Avenue. But what you get is nothing special, and
wouldn't be even if it were 1985, with tube TV sets, a lack of alarm clocks, pink
textured walls, clinical tile lobby, retrofit wiring, and room numbering derived
from stick-on hardware-store numbers. However, here's the rub: Everything,
including bathrooms, is remarkably clean, which distinguishes a junky hotel from
someplace worth talking about. And the rates are downright cheerful: $85 to
$100 a night including a feeble continental breakfast, although a phenomenal
$69 rate can often be secured via the hotel website. It's tough to find rates that
low in this part of town, and I for one am willing to sacrifice charm in exchange.
$$
Another popular little place of just 48 rooms, the
Andrews Hotel
(624 Post
St., at Taylor;
%
800/926-3739 or 415/563-6877; www.andrewshotel.com; AE,
MC, V)
charges good prices for its smallish “cozy double,” “corner king” and
“comfy queen” rooms ($99-$139, usually with a shower stall, not a tub, and
postage-stamp-tiny bathrooms). But beyond that, the value fades at $150 or more
per room, not because of any issues of quality (things are clean, staff is attentive)
but simply because of price. A small continental breakfast is served on every floor
each morning, a free glass of afternoon wine is offered daily at the Italian restau-
rant off the lobby, and each room has a DVD player; free movies are available at
the front desk. I actually covet the chunky black side chairs in every room—
they're '80s chic—and you may appreciate the fully draped windows and the
shaded reading lights above each place in the beds, which is a feature lots of places
overlook but which makes couples' travels easier. Some of its front rooms have
wide bay windows—ask for a room on an upper floor if street noise irks you (most
urbanites won't even notice).
$$
Another good-quality, family-run hotel in an old building with odd-size
rooms, the five-story
Cornell Hotel de France
5
(715 Bush St., at Powell;
%
800/232-9698 or 415/421-3154; www.cornellhotel.com; AE, MC, V)
comes
with a full cooked breakfast, not just a continental one. Although the lobby is a
curious mix of bric-a-brac, from heraldic crests to Latin bird pottery, the rooms
upstairs are far plainer and less adventurous, which may be a relief to some. The
most affordable ones (usually around $100) have showers but not tubs; spend
more on a medium-size room ($115) and you'll get a claw-footed tub/shower
combo. The little touches are generous, such as the use of real glasses instead of
plastic cups, and the fact that breakfast includes cooked items like French toast
and eggs, not just continental-style breads. The hotel offers a smart weekly rate of
$725 for one and $1,050 for couples, and that includes both breakfast every day
and dinner at the downstairs restaurant Jeanne d'Arc (French cuisine, of course)
from Tuesday through Friday. That place is too pricey to be handy for a la carte
