Argonaut Hotel - a Noble House Hotel in San Francisco, CA

I’m a seasoned global business traveler. We only booked this hotel for one night at an exorbitant rate because a giant IBM conference was also in town this week, but it’s definitely not up to a 4-5 star standard nor worth the $700 my company paid for this stay. 1) Before I even arrived in SF, my husband tried to call the day before and surprise me by ordering a prepaid bottle of champagne since I was going to be there alone on Valentine’s Day. Despite what should have been a fairly simple request, the person on the phone seemed completely bewildered by it and just kept saying that it couldn’t be done with “such short notice.” He tried to explain to her that they would just need to send a bottle via room service and charge his card, or a concierge could send it, etc etc. However the person at the hotel got very flustered and eventually slammed the phone down on him. Not that I wanted to drink champagne alone in my kitschy fisherman-themed hotel room, but it left a bad taste in my mouth when my husband explained his experience (he ended up sending another surprise through my friends in SF). 2) the location is super touristy. I grew up in the Bay Area so I’ve been to fisherman’s Wharf before but this hotel was nestled between very touristy shops and restaurants. This probably makes tourists very excited but not great otherwise if you want to enjoy the cultural foodie scene SF is known for. 3) did I mention the decor is kitschy? Fisherman theme is not really my vibe, personally. The elevator reeked of cigarette smoke, and the room was clean but really unattractive, with octopus tentacle-wallpaper in the bathroom, and weird things like no light in the very dark closet and no full length mirror to get dressed. 4) I had a lot of problems with both of my room keys, both getting back into my room after dinner and then also at 5am trying to access the fitness center. I wasted half of my morning run waiting for the elevator, unsuccessfully trying to get into the fitness center, then waiting for the elevator to go to the lobby to have the key reprogrammed, then elevator again to the gym. The fitness center was really under equipped with two outdated treadmills and one elliptical. Not up to the normal Californian’s standard. Needless to say, I won’t be staying here again, but thought I could spare some other fellow business travelers the inconvenience of replicating any of this experience.

I would like to state that we stayed during early February so I am sure that pricing is much cheaper now compared to a busier time with more tourists. With that said, I really enjoyed our stay! We had a cute room with one queen bed. Our room was small but that is ok because we didn't plan to stay in it much! We had a very comfortable bed, sheets were clean and soft. Nice size closet with a safe. There were two deep drawers in the desk/dresser combo for extra storage. Our bathroom was clean and had ample towels. Shampoo, conditioner and body wash were in large bottles in the shower - I much prefer this to the individual size bottles in other hotels - less waste! One of the other features I appreciated was a VERY long hallway entrance. I truly NEVER heard other guests because we were so far back from the hallway. I loved that they had an electronic system to say if you wanted privacy or if you were ready to have housekeeping make up your room. My only complaint was that the room was small and there were many snacks, wine and items in the fridge and on the desk that I ended up moving into a drawer because space was limited. With that said, if you like treating yourself to in-room snacks, you wouldn't have minded and I certainly didn't mind stashing them, I won't mark them down with my rating for that. Front desk staff were helpful and housekeeping was kind - they always said hello as we walked by in the halls. Our room was always clean and well stocked when we returned from our day out. The best part of this hotel is the location! It is so close to so many things and was VERY easy to get an uber to and from. I will go here again!

I stayed in the Argonaut several times last year and most recently beginning of February 2019. San Francisco is a difficult place to find good hotels (e.g. if you compare to NYC or European hotels) and in regards to the location, size of rooms the Argonaut is certainly one of the better ones. Considering the price, unfortunately the service is poor. Although a returning customer, the would not recognize me, would ask to do all the paper work again and again. If you come back to the hotel in the evenings you will find rubbish from room-service in the halls, and it will not change until the morning. Also security is not up to date, located in a very busy tourist location, you see many non- residents entering the hotel during the day. They can go up to the rooms as they is no security on elevators or video surveillance in the halls. Feels sometimes a bit scary.

Absolutely loved that this hotel is a building with history and has been restored with this in mind. Staff very friendly and welcoming. Room was actually like the pictures, very clean and comfortable. Facilities good. Main thing for us was the location as couldn't have been any better. On a corner with cable cars, bike hire and historical chocolate shop in one direction. Historical dock and beach area in the other. Fishamens wharf just down the road and if you are prepared to walk for a while can easliy do things like Chinatown, Lombard Street and the other docks.

The hotel is ideally located for tourists and especially for family. Pay little extra for bay view and you might get a glimpse of Golden Gate Bride from your room. You may find streets bit noisy at nights but I thought live music and quite nice and windows are mostly sound-proof. Great beds and nice bathrooms. Hotel restaurant has nice clam chowder for lunch but there are many choices within walking distance from InnNOut burger to Gary Danko.