The Palomar has it all - great location; spacious, comfortable, well lit rooms, with ample places for 2 people to plug in their electronic gadgets, to relax or to work; great amenities including complimentary local and national newspapers, coffee,tea or hot chocolate in the morning, and wine tasting each evening; a very friendly, welcoming and helpful staff. There is also a high end fine dining restaurant on the 5th floor.

My recent stay at Hotel Palomar was perfect in every way. The location was brilliant for my trip which was a Christmas shopping mission. The hotel is in the thick of the shopping action and close to everything I required. After my 12 hour flight I was fortunate to be able to check into my room early which was very much appreciated. On reception was Lauren who was very welcoming. My room on the 8th floor was quiet, tasteful and spotless thanks to my meticulous room cleaner Jan.
I didn't eat at the restaurant except for breakfast but the staff I encountered were cheerful and efficient. I did attend one wine reception and enjoyed chatting with Josh Frizzell, Guest Services Manager who was knowledgable and charming in a professional way.
The Hotel ordered a town car for me to go to the airport and my driver Meena could not have been more helpful. I had 3 large suitcases and she kindly helped me while I wrangled a cart from the rack!
All in all the Hotel met every expectation and more, location, quality of room and customer service were all excellent. I will be returning with my family next July and I can't wait.
Do join the Kimpton In-Touch programme, the free wi-fi is so useful and you get a credit on your mini bar, I used mine to get a great fold out map of San Francisco but aside from the usual drinks and snacks they also have cd's.

My boyfriend and I stayed and Palomar San Francisco last summer.
Overall it is a nice hotel. Our room had a lovely street view. The layout of the room was great, lounge and the restaurant very enjoyable. Unfortunately, I had to bring down my overall rating of our stay due to the “screaming” incident.
One night we decided to tuck in early and were peacefully asleep before I was woken up by a sound of someone trying to open the room door with a key. Assuming it is a confused guest who would try a couple of times and be on his way, I quietly waited for him to go away. Then to my surprise door opens and a guy with a trolley luggage enters the room.
As I was still half asleep, and as this chain of events was rather unexpected, I decided (probably not the most rational decision, I agree) that the best reaction is to start screaming. So I did. My boyfriend wakes up (of my screaming I am sure) and in sudden awakening shock started screaming as well. I heard his screams and feeling that screaming is now fully justified started screaming louder. At this point our midnight intruder, that just entered a dark hotel room that I am sure he assumed empty, and was greeted by screaming started screaming back. After few minutes of all three of us screaming, he apologized and left the room.
We laughed it off, and were ready to fall back asleep, when someone knocked on the door. It was a security manager, who told us that front desk checked someone else into our room by mistake.
Next morning we went to get some coffee from the lounge and upon return we discovered that our keys no longer open the room door. I went to the front desk and asked to fix the keys. Front desk lady reactivated the keys and commented: “Next time keep your keys away from the credit cards so they don’t deactivate”. “Solid advice” I said “However, this particular time, I believe the key problem is caused by Front desk checking in another guest into our room by mistake in the middle of the night last night”. “Weird” was the response.
“Weird” indeed. I kind of expected and apology…. But oh well….
I generally like Kimpton, because of the boutique feel and nice amenities, but since the incident I tried to stay away. I guess “Weird” was not a reaction from the hotel staff I was expecting in this situation.

This hotel lives up to the standard you would expect but what makes it such a enjoyable place to stay is the staff. Only a 2 minute walk to Union Square and right in the middle of everything you need downtown. The rooms were of good standard but most of all its a great location and even better staff.