The Hotel Castro San Francisco

Great hotel with nice views both day and night. The concept is a little different (no front desk) but this didn't impact the stay at all.

Visiting family who live in the Castro and this location was excellent. Super clean rooms, the bed is really comfortable, the ease of checking in getting into our room, and the response of we needed anything was great. Would definitely recommend staying here. Like some other comments, the walls are thin but people weren’t being overly loud.

POSITIVE: Check in was easy - on our arrival day (Monday), we requested and received early (3 pm) check in (normal is 4 pm), which was helpful as Castro St. rush hour starts after 3 on weekdays. Didn’t have a problem with the access code mentioned in other reviews at check in or throughout stay. There’s a space right in front for easy loading/unloading. Note: if you have a car (we didn’t), parking is limited - the hotel recommends using SpotHero. To get an overnight (free) street space, you likely would need to find one up Castro or one of the cross-streets, which is doable but will take luck & time. Tip if you have a car: drop bags off, punch in access code and drop off in room. There are 4 rooms each on floors 2,3,4. Level 5 is roof lounge with excellent panoramic views (when not raining) couches and cozy fire pit. We booked a handicap accessible room (we needed two twin beds). Our room had a toilet/shower room with pocket door, sink with lighted mirror just outside pocket door, 2 twin beds, HDTV connected to wifi, 1/2 height wardrobe cabinet below TV, small fridge, coffee maker, tea kettle, small table for meals/work, and terrace overlooking back of property. Terrace had a chair and small cube. Prior reviews indicate better to be in back of building on higher floor. We were in back - it WAS very quiet, peaceful - got great non-interrupted sleep. Plenty of nice restaurants, a really nice supermarket, pharmacy, a Starbucks, and shops within walking distance. There are some homeless but they’re friendly and respectful and we never didn’t feel safe. (One actually held door open when I went into Walgreens and hands were full.). Check out was easy - take photo of QR code, leave door hanger, vacate unit, building. We were asked in texts a couple of times if all was well on our stay. Never needed to contact customer support. FOR IMPROVEMENT: We only found out lobby bar not open Monday or Tuesday - after arrival Monday (and we checked out Wednesday morning.) Still, they gave us two drink tokens - which we will use if/when we return. Very limited counter space and no shelves - none in toilet/shower room, a little area on either side of sink, small table (see note about lighting below), a few sq cm on nightstand between beds(see note about lighting below), and top of wardrobe closet. Very few power outlets - there is a cluster of 4 with 4 usb slots on small table, one behind nightstand(see note about lighting below), 2 on wall between small table and wardrobe, 2 at door, 2 hopefully GFI protected (didn’t see reset button) at sink - so unless you travel with a power *****, you’re going to have to sequence what gets recharged when thru your stay, or leave phone/ipad etc. away from bedside - not road warrior desireable. Coffee maker is Nespresso - lots of caffeinated pods zero decaf pods (for old timers or an evening cup. More caf pods in essentials cabinet on 1st floor lobby. They also provide small assortment of teas in room and more i

I'm sure it is as clean and comfortable as advertised, however I will not be staying there because the virtual check-in process requires uploading a driver's license and uses facial recognition to verify your identity. I'm not super paranoid about that stuff, but it felt a little invasive to have to provide facial imaging to some random hotel while there are plenty of other options in the neighborhood that don't require it. When i asked to cancel my reservation I was told that it was outside the 24 hour cancellation period so no refund was possible. They explained that the virtual check-in process is described in the terms and conditions, which is not something I usually read when booking a hotel room. Just found the whole process a little creepy.

I stayed at the hotel for 4 days. The location is convenient to the Castro neighborhood, but there were problems. Because it is across the street from a grocery store, delivery trucks begin arriving every day around 5AM. They park on the street in front of the hotel and it was very noisy. If you are ok getting up at 5:00AM, it may not be a problem for you. In the evening, the loud music from the lobby bar, and the loud patrons on the sidewalk, make sleeping an issue. If you are ok with loud noise until 1:00 or 1:00AM, then maybe that's ok for you. Lastly, the door access, elevator and room codes stopped working after day 3. It took customer service almost 20 minutes to respond to my chat and texts. I was finally given new codes, but those codes worked only once. Another 20 min with customer service. Every time I left my room, the codes stopped working. I spent a lot of time standing in the rain and cold on the sidewalk waiting for codes. In all, I spent 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon trying to get reliable access to my room. I eventually gave up and decided to skip my holiday party and just stay in my room. I didn't want to risk trying to get in at 10 or 11PM. There is no onsite help, and their virtual help is overwhelmed and can't respond in a timely way. For my trouble, they offered to refund the $50 cleaning fee. I didn't realize there was a $50 cleaning fee. There are a lot of hotels in San Francisco; I wouldn't choose this one again.