A Study Of Dark: Our Brief, Powerless Stay At St. Regis San Francisco

How do you turn a bummer stay into something your daughter can’t stop talking about?  It starts with having a convincing and imaginative wife.

I posted a couple of days ago asking for reader opinions on compensation for the stay, but there’s still a few fun facts about the story.

First, some brief details.  The St. Regis San Francisco is a category 6 property in the Starwood Preferred Guest program which means a 20,000 point per night redemption rate.  This was only going to be a one-night stay, and we had applied a Suite Night Award request to the reservation. The property had upgraded us to an Astor Suite prior to arrival.

Upon arrival at the property, the valet said he would leave our luggage in the car and hold it on the driveway while we inquired inside because the power was out in all the guest rooms.

After we made the decision to stay on property, the hotel had offered to upgrade us to a Metropolitan Suite, which is a bit bigger than the Astor we were supposed to be staying in.  Because my daughter was a bit afraid of the fact that there were no lights, the hotel supplied us with some flashlights, battery-operated tealights and some glow sticks.  That’s where my wife and daughter got creative as you can see from the pictures below.

The light ensemble around the plate of milk and cookies were my personal favorite.  During much of this process the hotel staff (specifically a very helpful front office supervisor named Laura) were helping our daughter feel comfortable and set up the light brigade.

The lobby and bar area was a good mix of traditional and modern (mostly modern).

 

 

Up on the 6th floor, the hotel had an indoor pool.  The pool furniture was very comfortable, though the water was a bit chilly.  Not sure if that was due to the power being out since the pumps were running, but the showers in the pool area didn’t have hot water.  That didn’t stop our daughter from hopping in for a swim at 5am.

While daylight didn’t bring power it did bring a better view of the room.  The living space of the suite consisted of a dining room table with 4 seats, a couch and sizable desk.  While the furniture was packed in tightly the space was perfectly comfortable and usable.  The windows were very tall due to the height of the ceilings on the 6th floor.  Even though it was a bit of a cloudy day, the room felt brighter and larger than it actually was.

The bedroom had two tall windows and a comfortable bed that you’d expect from a St. Regis.

The bathroom didn’t have any windows so my pictures didn’t turn out so well.  It consisted of a double sink, a deep soaking tub and a separate room for the toilet and a rain shower.  No hot water to test out the bath and shower, but they looked comfortable.  And, for a mere $1600 and change, you can have the ultimate bath experience with a magnum of Krug champagne and four ounces of Osetra caviar.  If that’s not in your budget, not to worry.  They have a discounted bath for $525 that includes a regular-sized bottle of Krug along with some truffles.

 

The room on the 6th floor also comes with a bonus, especially if you have kids.  Visible from the window on a nearby rooftop is Waldo.

 

Unfortunately, the wizard and Waldo’s dog (Woof) were nowhere to be found.  The hotel also had a gift bag delivered to our daughter in the room.  During a brief conversation with a member of the front desk staff, they indicated that St. Regis is working on a more prominent kid’s program, including a more robust gift bag that will be handed out at check-in to all kids.  Catherine’s bag came with a Hello Kitty doll, animal crackers and wiki stix.  All were hits with our little girl.

 

The room was definitely of a more modern style which I appreciate.  There wasn’t a whole lot of color in the room which gave it a little bit of a cold feel, but it was very comfortable with plenty of space.  Under more normal circumstances, I’m sure I would return.