First, I don't understand the comments about the rooms being small. I booked the cheapest room, and it was huge! I just presumed all the rooms were that size. I asked for a quiet room, and didn't want one overlooking the street, as I guessed that would be noisy, and also wanted a non-smoking room (I think the whole hotel is non-smoking, but I didn't want a room that someone had smoked in). We were given a room at the back of the hotel, with apologies that it overlooked offices, as that was the quietest. The room was super quiet, once the door was shut we couldn't hear a thing. It was a huge room though. We didn't really watch tv, but if someone did, they might find the tv too far away from the beds, especially for watching a movie. We kind of felt that a lot of the room space was wasted, but it was certainly a large room. The bathroom also was huge. Lovely fittings in the bathroom, and we liked the 'arty' touch throughout the hotel.

The location was great. I purposefully wanted something not right on Union Square, as that sounded noisy. I liked this location just south of the square, as it was easy to get to for transportation, stores, a grocery store down the road. We walked everywhere from the hotel. We're good walkers, but still we walked up hills, over to China Town and on to North Beach, across to Nob Hill, and took public transportation to the Haight, etc.

No coffee maker in the rooms, but excellent organic coffee in the lobby, so I'd just go down there each morning and bring some up. Free internet access in the room was handy. Also, various newspapers available on each floor or outside your room. I liked the smaller size of the hotel and would definitely return.

First of all, we got great rates on Travelovity - $250/pp round trip from Orange County to San Francisco plus 2 nights stay. Maybe because it was in February?

The hotel is close to the mall and all the shops around Union Square. It is really close to cable cars and electric cars.

Virgil the concierge was very helpful. Ask him about the restaurants in an alley called Belden. Matt th bell captain, Josu and the rest of the front office staff were nice too. The only complaint I have is that our bathtub drain wasn't functioning properly. We had water up to our ankles when taking showers. We let the front desk know about the problem before we left the hotel one morning. We got back late in the evening and the problem was not fixed. The maintenance people had gone for the day. Josu tried to help us but couldn't and instead offered for us to move to another room. But it was about 11 pm in the evening and it was our last night so we decided to just tough it out. Next time I will just ask to be moved to another room right away.

The rooms are on the small side but the beds are really comfortable.

I definitely would stay at this hotel again!!! Next time I will try the Fifth Floor Restaurant in the hotel which has been described as expensive but worth it.

After reading multiple reviews online (mainly this website) I booked a room for our family of four at the Palomar. We were a family of four with two older teenagers, and I was looking for something that would accomodate varying personalities. My husband is older, hates shopping, favors museums. My daughter wanted to SHOP, SHOP, SHOP! Our son would probably have preferred to have been left home, and I just wanted everyone to be happy. The Palomar seemed tucked back from the traffic on the main road, but it was within easy walking distance of several museums and LOADS of shopping. Chinatown was also within easy walking distance. The staff at the Palomar was SO courteous--always greeting us with a smile, opening doors (It may have helped to have the attractive 20 year old daughter along.) The room was not large, but luxuriously appointed with down comforters, really nice sheets and towels. I thought at one point that I should have booked TWO rooms, but we weren't IN the room that much, and we really didn't mind the rare family closeness. As a matter of fact, when we look back on the trip more than a year later, we talk about the night we stayed in and ordered a movie on the television as one of our favorite times on the trip.
We booked one of those tours to Alcatraz, Muir Woods, Sauselito, and the bus stopped right in front of the hotel and picked us up the morning we were going to Muir Woods. We found the location perfect for our needs. My husband and I would wake up early and head out for one of the Starbucks within easy walking distance. Later we'd wake the teenagers and go DO something. Later in the day my husband would rest in the room while I shopped with one or both kids.
The location was wonderful, the room VERY nice, the staff extre mely courteous and helpful. I would definitely stay there again.

I booked my stay at the Hotel Palomar through a great deal my travel agent got for me. The property has a great location right in the heart of downtown San Francisco. Check-in was handled flawlessly and my room was comfortable and spotlessly clean, if a bit small. Considering that I was not planning on spending a great deal of time in my room, this wasn't an issue.

The decor is modern and tasteful and the staff was never too busy to handle any request. All of the four-star touches one would expect were present and service was impeccable. In addition the Palomar has free wireless internet.

Things that might be issues for some travelers would be room size (small - would have been even smaller with a second person in the room) and view (mine was of the Old Navy skylight). That being said, these weren't big issues for me as I wasn't spending a lot of time in my room, and the positives far outweighed the negatives.