From the doorman at the beautiful golden door to the conceriage to the pool in the sky, to the grand buffet under the stained glass dome in the Garden Court, we loved everything about this hotel. As everyone has written before, the staff is beyond courteous and extremely friendly. The attendant at the spa/pool was very welcoming with chilled water bottles, freshly folded towels and crisp apples. Everyone we dealt with at the conceriage desk was informative and knowledgeable, and could even tell we didn't want a lot of extra information, just wanted our questions answered. The hotel itself is gorgeous, but then we love older hotels for all the history and special decor. We did upgrade to get a larger room, and it was plenty big enough. The bath was large and well appointed with upscale bath products. The location was great with cable cars and buses right in front as well as the BART. We didn't take the BART but it was there. There are enough stores, restaurants, lounges open in the evening that it didn't feel closed up and quiet and night, which I was expecting. Like everywhere we visited in SF, there were many homeless looking for money and cigarettes in the area. The buffet in the Garden Court was expensive, but also very good, as was the service. We would recommend this to anyone who prefers the style of an older hotel and excellent service.

This hotel has some fantastic positive characteristics. The train stop from the airport puts you right in front of the hotel (10 steps, no more). This is a fast, convenient, and very inexpensive at $16.50 for a roundtrip to and from the airport. I was in town for a conference, and the Moscone centre is about an 8 minute walk away.

Check-in is quite efficient, and the staff member I dealt with (for both check-in and check-out) was very thorough.

The room itself had high ceilings, and the furnishings were quite nice. My room had a wet carpet, which to me meant they had just washed it. It wasn't a problem. The bed was fine, and I would say it was comparable to the Westin bed. The linens were a step above Westin.

The biggest negative was the bathroom. I don't recall the last time I have seen a Starwood hotel that had rusty fixtures and mold in the bathtub. There was a fair bit of mold throughout the bathroom, and was a real turn-off. I didn't see the mold until late at night, and I was frankly too tired to kick up a fuss, so I lived with it for the three nights and mornings I had to bathe there.

With my status, internet is included, and it worked well for me during the entire stay. The fitness area was good. I only made it here twice, and although the controls on a couple of the machines didn't work, it wasn't very crowded, and there was a decent selection of free weights, resistance machines, and cardio machines. The fitness room looks over the pool, and that appeared to be a good size for a work-out.

The breakfast was included in my rate. I think if you had to pay for this, it would be very expensive, given the number of choices within a short walking distance of this hotel. However, you don't really pay for the food. The food was good, no doubt, but the room where they serve the breakfast is very grand and beautiful. It's a great way to start the day, particularly if you can schedule business meetings there. It really gives a great impression to your business partners. The breakfast rate made up for the fact there is no coffee in the room.

My ratings would have been higher, if not for the cleanliness issue, so if you come here and have a spotless room, I would suspect you would think this is a solid 4 star hotel.

Stayed here for a work conference. Clean average sized room. Neat antique hotel built in 1875. Gorgeous lobby area. View from my room was a roof and other side if the hotel. Walk to my room from the elevator was about 6-7 minutes. At check in the staff urges you to decline maid service during your stay. Expensive wi-fi. Decent location in financial district. Lots of public transportation right outside the front door. Rooms were very expensive for value.

We were delighted with our experience at the Palace and would highly recommend it to anyone seeking a comfortable stay in a grand hotel with a rich history.

This iconic "Grande Dame" is centrally located, has stately public areas with wi-fi, comfortable rooms, helpful (if smallish) business center, lovely pool, and best of all, the service from all staff was superb! This included, providing: courier delivery to our room, a referral to a doctor on a Saturday night, excellent restaurant suggestions, tips for public transit to sites of interest, to name just a few.

We thought the hotel breakfast was a bit pricey, and so opted (as did other guests) to take out coffee and breakfast foods from one of the neighboring Starbucks (there are 3 within 2 blocks of the hotel). At the time of our visit, a Ghirardelli chocolate store had also opened in the building, complete with a rich, creamy hot chocolate more akin to its Spanish cousins, than the watery version found in most of North America.

Some North Americans might find the rooms a touch small, but for travelers familiar with hotel room sizes elsewhere, this is less likely a concern. For ourselves, we were there to explore the city, not spend all our time in the room. It had everything we needed, the beds were comfortable, the linens of quality, and it was well equipped technically.

When we were there, the hotel had a mix of businesspeople (including a number of corporate and industry events), families, friends and solo travelers staying there.