Review of Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco

The Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco is located in the heart of the city on Market Street, on the border of SoMa (South of Market) with its many museums, the designer shops, galleries and department stores of Union Square and the Financial District.

Close to San Francisco’s culture and art scene, the hotel is steps from San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of the African Diaspora. Chase Center and Oracle Park are close for concerts and games whilst there are several start-ups and vibrant restaurants surrounding the property. San Francisco’s Chinatown - the largest outside of Asia - and Little Italy are also close by.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is 23 kilometres from the hotel, with transfers taking around 30 minutes depending on traffic. Oakland International Airport (OAK) is around 32 kilometres from the property, about a 40-minute car journey. Mineta San Jose International Airport is around 74 kilometres away, a journey time of around 50 minutes to the Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco.

The hotel’s house car is available for nearby explorations on a space availability basis.

The contemporary, luxurious interior design of the Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco focuses on natural influences, the décor takes inspiration from the organic forms of the Bay Area whilst paying homage at the same time to the city’s high-tech scene to offer a clean-cut vibrant aesthetic.

Custom blue and grey striped carpets, warm wood panelled wall coverings and drapery recall San Francisco’s fog, redwood trees, ocean and mist while furniture pieces feature hand-finished walnut slabs and cerused oak with cool steel and brass accents. The 277 spacious guest rooms feature floor to ceiling windows offering stunning urban views out over San Francisco from floors six to 17 of this 42-story building. Room amenities include hypoallergenic pillows on request, in room safes, suitable for laptops, children’s facilities and babysitting services, plasma/LCD screen televisions, DVR, casting and streaming of personal content, multiple USB ports deskside and bedside and an iHome alarm clock.

There are four categories of guest room range from the superior with a full marble bathroom and large dressing area, to the Deluxe with a dedicated work area, the Deluxe View with floor to ceiling urban views on the 11th to 17th floors and the Premier on the hotel’s upper floors with window seats, armchairs and a small dining area.

The 46 suites are split into six categories from the Four Seasons Executive Suite with a separate lounge area with an executive desk with Artemide Italian desk lamps and Herman Miller desk chairs; to the Superior Four Seasons Executive Suite with panoramic views of the San Francisco skyline and Yerba Buena Gardens; the one bedroom suite with separate areas for work, sleep and entertaining; to the 93 square metre Deluxe Suite located in the northeastern corner of the upper floors for panoramic city views.

The two premium rooms are the Premier Suite and the Presidential Suite, and both have an understated elegant residential feel about them with perks including a dedicated personal assistant to ensure a flawless stay. Premium suite guests are also offered complimentary airport transfers or valet parking throughout the stay, a coffee and tea making service upon request and a hosted mini bar.

The Premier Suite has a large lounge area with ample seating, a dining area for up to six people with a separate pantry and plasma HDTV and Bose stereo. Décor wise, it is all about the textures with leather, textured fabrics, rich walnut and veined marble. If extra space is required, the suite can be linked to another guest room.

Light, airy and over 214 square metres of living space up on the 16th and 17th floors, the Presidential Suite is a symphony of sophisticated style with pops of champagne metals, light walnut, onyx stone and rich leather. It offers windows with sliding privacy screens, a dining area with a pantry, a wine refrigerator with more than 30 hand selected bottles by the hotel’s sommelier and the option to expand to a two- or three-bedroom suite.

There are a range of ADA rooms and suites with bathrooms with tubs with bars and roll in showers with features for hearing impaired guests including TTY/TDD phones and visual notification devices. There are also 30 interconnecting rooms ideal for families who are offered baby-proofing services and toiletries.

Resident guests may enjoy unlimited access to the expansive and highly rated Equinox Sports Club facility and accompanying spa located within the same building.

Overlooking Market Street with 11,800 square metres of sports, wellness and fitness resources set over three floors, there are over 110 classes weekly, a mind-body studios with yoga, Pilates and Gyrotonic training, a boxing studio as well as a 25-metre pool with lap lanes. There is also nutritional and life coaching and a fully equipped gym featuring state of the art cardio and strength machines overlooking the city. Other facilities include a full-sized basketball court, a spa boutique and a café offering juices, smoothies and shots. Equinox also features a Buddhist-inspired design for the spa with treatment rooms, Eucalyptus steam rooms and dry saunas, offering facials, massages and body treatments taken either in situ or in-guest room.

Off-site activities include golf within a 15-minute transfer time, hiking and sailing whilst the Kids Concierge will create custom age-specific urban itineraries for the family to enjoy in the city. There is also a DVD library, weekly movie nights and life-sized versions of the most popular board games. Kids enjoy junior bathrobes, slippers and bathroom amenities and are welcomed with milk and cookies.

Traditionally, the patronage of the arts was the preserve of kings and princes, the church and state. Today, more and more, the luxury hotel industry has picked up the art patronage gauntlet with interior design companies vying with each other to create the perfect curated capsule collection of local artists.

So it is with the Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco. The sleek, modern feel of the building’s architecture is complemented by a similarly contemporary interior design with the public areas filled with more than 90 works of art – paintings, sculptures, prints and works in glass by more than 40 Californian artists. The property has created two self-guided tours of its collection with brochures available at the concierge desk, the suggestion being to check out the hotel’s “galleries” before nipping around the corner to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

MKT Restaurant and Bar – located on the fifth floor - is where guests can enjoy delicious locally-sourced international cuisine – quaffed with delightful cocktails and indeed wines – half from California itself. Expect delightful dishes including the San Francisco Louis Salad which includes Dungeness crab, Bay shrimp, Gem lettuce, asparagus, tomato, scallion (spring onion), hard-boiled egg, olives, and Louis Dressing.

With 180-degree views of downtown, MKT Bar is elegant and simple, offering a California-centric “bites” menu of sustainable seafood, local meats and seasonal produce along with handcrafted cocktails.

There are also three private dining rooms. With floor to ceiling windows, Windows at MKT Restaurant-Bar offers impressive views of downtown San Francisco and the financial district and can set up to 20 guests. View at MKT Restaurant-Bar offers a panoramic view over Grant Street and the gates of San Francisco’s Chinatown and is a semi-private space accommodating up to eight guests. Finally, The Private Den at MKT Restaurant-Bar pays homes to San Francisco’s original speakeasies and private clubs such as the Bohemian Club which was founded nearby in 1872 by a group of journalists and newspapermen. Along the back wall, a built-in bar with original millwork evokes the look of a private-members’ club. With expansive windows overlooking Market Street, the Private Den accommodates up to 40 dining guests. All three rooms can also be booked together.

The Four Seasons Hotel, San Francisco is mindful of its corporate social responsibilities and have several programmes in place to help with sustainability. Their plastic to go containers are now recyclable as are laundry and shoe bags in guest rooms. Employee consumption of water in plastic bottles has been eliminated too. Retired uniforms and linens are repurposed or donated to charity and the hotel partners with Commercial Recycling (CRS), a company that helps manage recycling efforts with more than 70% of their waste being recycled.

Guest rooms use heating / cooling motors to reduce energy usage by approximately 50% with variable frequency drives (VFD) added to all motors in the hotel reducing energy usage by approximately 50%.

The property also hosts a number of rooftop bee hives and harvest the honey for dishes and cocktails with the beeswax being used locally to create Rooftop Lip Balm. The chefs are also diligent and known for promoting locally sourced ingredients from nearby suppliers in their menus as well as using sustainably sourced seafood and meats.