Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USE) Westin St Francis

[Colfax]

I used my $5/night Priceline Bonus Bucks and won the Westin St Francis for two nights at $69. ($64 bid + $5 bonus)

$68 was rejected.

Westin's regular rate is $139. Hotwire has what looks like the Westin for $89.

I've never stayed at the Westin before and I'm looking forward to exploring this San Francisco classic.

I bid through the BetterBidding PRICELINE link, as is my habit.

[Gallus50]

OK, you know the 4*s are a great deal if Colfax is going for it!

Hope you get a good room and not one of those itty bitty ones. Be extra polite and wear nice shoes ....

(Wish I hadn't jumped the gun on my September stay. I could have done a lot better.)

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Enjoy the extra stars, amenities, and be spoiled by the heavenly bed!

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICLINE link to begin your bidding.

[Colfax]

Be extra polite and wear nice shoes ....

Shoes? What are shoes?

[thereuare]

:)

[Colfax]

I was on the 9th floor of the historic tower. I didn't make any requests at checkin. I didn't know what to ask for.

The desk agent, very nice, told me my room had a queen bed. Really it was smaller though---a double. By myself it was okay, but I don't know how two people would share that bed. I saw another poster who checked in the same day as me got a King, which is usually a $35 upgrade. He/she must have nicer shoes than me.

My room was smallish but larger than I expected based on some other posts. The main room was about 160 square feet plus walkin closet and bathroom. The high ceiling made it seem larger that it was. These interior rooms have views of brick walls and other people's rooms, so people keep their shades down. But also no cable car or street noise on the interior.

The room's main shortfall for me was no second chair or freestanding lamp. The only chair was the desk chair; good for sitting at the desk, but hardbacked, not comfortable for lounging or reading or watching TV. I noticed some other rooms had a second chair.

The next morning I inquired about an upgrade for Night Two. They said $35 to upgrade to larger room with 1 King room or 2 beds, available in either tower, historic or new. I didn't do the upgrade but probably I would have stayed in the historic because I enjoyed the "classic old hotel" atmosphere. The rooms in the new tower have the stunning views though. New tower is 32 stories vs 12 stories historic.

People report a range of experiences at Westin, depending a lot, it seems, on what room they get. I was looking at the floorplan posted on the door, which was fairly detailed, and I saw there were so many different room shapes and sizes on one floor---L-shaped rooms, square rooms, shoebox-shaped. The floorplan looked almost like a jigsaw puzzle and I can understand now why people have such varied opinions. They're staying in many different room sizes and configurations, at least in the historic building. Probably there's more consistency across rooms in the new tower.