Hilton San Francisco Union Square Rating: 4.0 Pearls

Union Square, San Francisco, California

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The lobby bar

With 1,908 rooms and 134,500 square feet of meeting space, including nine ballrooms, this Hilton is the quintessential business mega-hotel. The business services are indeed impressive: a business center that prints posters and an office to help with a PowerPoint presentation. But leisure travelers may feel crowded out.

Even at 10 p.m., throngs of people fill the sea of maroon armchairs in the lobby. At any time of day or night, guests wait in line at the front desk and concierge station. Even in my sleep I couldn't escape the flood of humanity. Because my Standard Room shared a floor with meeting spaces, the chatter and bustle of people in the hallway woke me up at 7:45 a.m. Granted, I was at the hotel in early October, the busiest convention season of the year because of the city's temperate fall weather. But even without the crowds, the hotel feels too big and impersonal to enjoy. While the large fitness center has a wide array of machines, the pool is unimpressive.

Other than attending a conference on-site, the only reason to book here is the hotel's central location near Union Square. Still, other hotels with similar features in the same price range and neighborhood don't feel as crowded. The Hotel Nikko next door has an elegant, Zen-like lobby, an indoor pool, and a popular cabaret lounge. A few blocks away is the JW Marriott, which has large, luxurious rooms housed in a beautiful building. For a business hotel with stylish rooms and good service, try the W in SoMa or the pricier Le Meridien.

Lines at the front desk are typical.

While the breadth of business services is impressive -- the hotel can print posters to your specification and deliver them to your meeting room -- service breaks down when it comes to the basics. Service tends to be impersonal at any large hotel, especially one that deals with large groups on a daily basis. Here it's also slow. There's always a line at the front desk and the concierge. One morning I saw 40 people waiting to talk to one of the six receptionists.

• Concierge, available from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., helps with sightseeing requests like show tickets and dinner reservations.
• Separate business concierge assists with all business-related needs, like finding a notary public; available from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
• Bell service is available, but you have to request it. They're not stationed at the entrance, ready to grab your bags.
• The business center is a full-service FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Center. Guests can order signs, banners, posters, brochures, or presentations, and buy office supplies.
• Audiovisual services desk available for equipment rental and technical support. Open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday
• Package Express service for regular and overnight shipping
• Express checkout by video, voice mail, or drop-off box, good for circumventing long lines in the lobby.
• Self-parking at garage on Ellis Street between Mason and Taylor is $52 for 24 hours; valet parking, at $57, is only slightly more.
• Room service available from 6 a.m. to midnight (but it's pricey)

View on a Larger Map

Hilton San Francisco, which takes up an entire block on O'Farrell Street between Taylor and Mason, is two short blocks southwest of Union Square, an area famous for its couture shops and not much else. Home to enormous outposts of Niketown, Saks, Tiffany, Macy's, Louis Vuitton, and Neiman Marcus, among others, Union Square is to San Francisco what 5th Avenue is to New York and Rodeo Drive is to L.A. Locals don't hang out here, but the square is great for people-watching nonetheless, and occasionally plays host to small festivals and demonstrations. Other business hotels abound in the Financial District, a 10-minute walk from Union Square.

• The Mason-Powell cable car station is two-and-a-half blocks from the hotel. For $5, it can take you to Fisherman's Wharf, or, with a transfer, to Lombard Street and Ghirardelli Square.
• Far from top tourist attractions like the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, the Presidio and Haight-Ashbury -- $10 to $20 by cab -- but then, so are the other neighborhoods with mid- to high-priced hotels.
• Discount day-of theater seats available at the Union Square ticket kiosk
• Plenty of dining nearby, but if you want to avoid high-end hotel dining and chain restaurants (Cheesecake Factory being the most visible), explore the blocks leading up to Nob Hill, where there's an abundance of small, locally owned restaurants.
• Il Caffe at Union Square, on the eastern side of the square, charges exorbitant rates for its coffee and snacks, but you can't beat the outdoor setting on a sunny day.
• The nearest drugstore, Walgreens, is two blocks away, on Geary Street near Taylor.
• $40, 30-minute taxi from San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
• While Union Square is a safe area, be careful of wandering into the neighboring Tenderloin district, which isn't as safe.

A newly renovated Standard Room

Everything about the room has a middle-of-the-road feel, from the beds that are comfortable but not luxurious to the out-of-date electronics (in some rooms). And the drab color scheme -- yellow, brown, and plum -- does nothing to make the room more inviting. This 40-year-old hotel renovates rooms gradually, and unfortunately I was booked on a pre-renovation floor (Tower 3, floor 6). The newly renovated rooms basically have the same furnishings, except that the old tube TV has been replaced with a flat-screen TV. Plus, the hotel says some renovoated rooms have stand-alone showers.

• Standard rooms have one king-size bed or two double beds. Mattresses are firm and comfortable, but they not pillow-tops.
• Clean 250-thread-count linens and a down comforter
• Flat-screen TV with 32 channels, pay-per-view movies, and video games
• An alarm clock/radio with an iPod connector cable and weak speakers that produce a tinny sound
• Cuisinart coffeemaker with free coffee packets and tea bags
• Work desk with ergonomic chair and an Ethernet cable. Wired Internet and Wi-Fi cost $13 a day (free in the lobby)
• Not all rooms have safes; free safe deposit boxes at the front desk.
• Small bathroom with the toilet, sink, and shower/tub combo
• Bath products are La Source by Crabtree & Evelyn
• Standard Rooms are on floors 5 to 21. City View rooms, on floors 22 to 30, overlook the San Francisco skyline and bay. Suites have balconies.
• When the hotel is fully booked, walk-in and last-minute guests have the option of booking just the living room of a suite for a discounted rate. The bed is a drawback -- just a pullout couch; pluses include a balcony, a wet bar, and extra living space.

The extensive FedEx Kinko's business center

With nine ballrooms and more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space, the Hilton has the largest hotel conference facilities in San Francisco. So not surprisingly, the hotel has a feature for just about every business need: an extensive business center to prepare for all-day meetings, and a pool and large fitness center to unwind afterward. All that's missing is a good bar for sealing business deals after hours. For that, head next door to the Hotel Nikko's Rrazz Lounge, a popular cabaret that hosts famous acts.

• The business center is a full-service FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Center; computers, printers, copiers and a fax machine are accessible after 7 p.m. on weekdays, 5 p.m. on weekends. Internet costs 40 cents a minute.
• Safe deposit boxes are available at the front desk, free of charge; accessible 24 hours a day.
• Impressive 2,800-square-foot fitness center with top-of-the-line cardio and strength-training equipment by Precor. Machines have individual TV screens; free headsets available; open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• A nondescript heated outdoor pool and whirlpool on the 16th floor; towels available.

Pets that weigh as much as 75 pounds can stay at the hotel for a nonrefundable fee of $75. Free beds and bowls are available, but they're in limited supply.

The heated pool on the 16th floor

Families are not the primary market at this business-oriented hotel, but the Hilton nonetheless has many family-friendly features, including a pool. For more family friendly hotels, consider a hotel at Fisherman's Wharf, such as the Radisson, which has a scenic pool and direct access to Pier 39.

• Standard rooms with double beds, at 300 square feet, are cramped.
• Rollaway beds cost $25 a night and can fit in a standard room with a king-size bed.
• Cribs and high chairs are free.
• For more space, book a Junior Suite with two queen beds, or a One-bedroom Suite, which has a pullout couch in the living room.
• The pool, which has no lifeguard, goes down to eight feet deep.
• Urban Tavern has a children's menu that includes full meals with dessert for $10; restaurant provides a portable DVD player with cartoons.
• Free video games in every room. Parental controls are available for in-room movies.
• Mini-refrigerators available for $15 a night.

With close to 2,000 rooms, this 40-year-old hotel renovates only small segments of the property at a time. At any given point, some rooms are older than others, waiting their turn for a renovation. I was placed in an old Standard Room that was clean and tidy, but there were signs of wear, like the scuff marks on the wallpaper and bed posts. As of October 2009, six floors in Tower 3 were scheduled for a major renovation in 2011. Until then, all rooms will continually be updated with small changes, such as flat-screen TVs instead of flat-panel or tube TVs, and shower stalls instead of a tub with a showerhead.

The communal table at Urban Tavern

The restaurant and bar Urban Tavern is at once cozy and slick, two adjectives that describe no other aspect of this hotel. Olive-green velvet chairs, a communal dining table, and centerpiece scrap-metal horse add a level of cool that is, frankly, surprising for this property. What's more surprising is its affordable prices. Most entrees are under $20, and the large portions won't leave you hungry.

• Like many San Francisco restaurants, the menu focuses on local and organic ingredients.
• The restaurant, open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner; bar menu between 3 and 5:30 p.m.
• Breakfast buffet served daily; full American breakfast spread for $28, with eggs cooked to order. A la carte also available.
• Starbucks in the lobby, open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Guests can also dine in the lobby. The lobby bar serves soups, salads, and sandwiches starting at 4 p.m.
• Room service prices are astronomical. An omelet costs $35, for example, and that doesn't include the 22 percent service charge, tax, and $5 delivery fee. Dinner entrees average $35.