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Hotel overview
World-renowned, The Fairmont San Francisco hotel presents an awe-inspiring picture of historic San Francisco. The grandeur of this luxury hotel atop Nob Hill coupled with its reputation for impeccable service promises a truly memorable experience during your San Francisco vacation. Each of the San Francisco hotel's spacious guestrooms and suites have been elegantly updated including flat screen TVs, luxury linen ensembles and pillow top beds. Centrally located, this luxury San Francisco hotel is a short cable car trip from the bustling Downtown, Financial District, Union Square and Fisherman's Wharf. In fact, The Fairmont San Francisco hotel is the only spot in San Francisco where each of the City's cable car lines meet.
In addition to its 591 guest rooms and suites this luxury San Francisco hotel offers fine dining with three renowned restaurants and lounges. With a panoramic view of the City and the Bay from high atop Nob Hill, The Fairmont San Francisco hotel presents an unmatched blend of luxurious accommodations, elegant meeting spaces and superb services, which make for an unforgettable stay.
Location
Nob HillProperty information
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Hotel details
Hotel advisories
General policies & fine print
Check-in Policy - Hotel requires a credit/debit card authorization or cash deposit upon check-in for incidentals; this will place a hold on your funds.
Convention Policy - Individuals attending a convention cannot book this property for their stay. If found attending a convention, guests may be subject to higher room rates upon arrival.
General Information - Room taxes are included in vacation price. Minimum night stay restrictions may apply. Reservation changes may not be permitted unless authorized by the hotel.
Ratings & reviews
TripAdvisor traveler rating
5242 reviews
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Apr 11, 2025Top of the hill
I had low expectations after reading recent reviews. I stayed for a week, the first part vacation a a conference the second half. The lobby and meeting rooms are beautiful, in an old world, they don’t make it like this anymore sort of way. The bell desk and front desk staff were wonderful. I had a room on the third floor in the tower that overlooked the bay and it was wonderful to wake up to that view each day. The room was immaculate every day. It was large and so was the bathroom. Bed was comfortable. I ate at the bar once and had drinks there a few other times. Service was great. Prices are ridiculous though. $30 to add a piece of salmon to a salad. The cafe was a let down. Tea ($8) came in a paper cup and croissant ($10) in a paper bag. I would have liked a mug and a plate. Tables were dirty and they closed at 10am! The hotel is situated at the top of Nob Hill and there are very limited amount of shops and restaurants within 2-3 blocks. For someone that recently had knee surgery, this was not an ideal situation as those hills are steep!
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Apr 06, 2025
Great ambience, location, views and service
This is my favorite hotel in San Francisco. This historic hotel is absolutely beautiful with many amazing period features. The views from my suite are absolutely breathtaking- Alcatraz prison , the Golden Gate Bridge, excellent water views and breathtaking views of the city. The staff are wonderful- great service and they try really hard to meet all your needs. I have stayed here 7 times in the last 24 months and would not stay anywhere else in San Francisco. My only suggestion would be that the hotel needs a bit more variety and a more expansive lunch time menu. My last two visits only had a bar menu for the dining room. Despite this their sliders were excellent.
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Apr 03, 2025Chicken Tenders, Bay Views, and One Hell of a Team Memory
You know a work trip is going well when it ends in ten grown professionals howling with laughter in the hallway of one of the most elegant hotels in the country… over chicken tenders. Let me explain. We stayed at the Fairmont San Francisco, perched like royalty at the top of Nob Hill. I was there with our Not the HR Lady team for a leadership-intensive workshop, and it was one of those rare business trips where everything clicked... until we all, independently, decided that room service chicken tenders were the move upon return from our wine tasting adventure. Ten order of nugs for ten different room. Same time. One kitchen. Absolute chaos. Apparently, the Fairmont’s kitchen was not ready for our midnight poultry uprising. It took three hours. We were texting each other updates, pacing hallways, laughing in doorways in various states of hanger and hotel robes, bonding over the most delayed bar food of our lives. And when they finally arrived? Still hot. Still crispy. Totally worth the wait. Justin and I were upgraded to a suite that had — and I’m not exaggerating — an actual telescope overlooking the San Francisco Bay. It felt like we were starring in our own film noir. We watched the fog roll in with martinis in hand. I took a few coaching calls from that suite and swear the telescope added gravitas. One of my favorite hotel suites. Ever. The Fairmont lobby is straight out of a classic... think towering columns, grand piano, and just enough opulence to remind you you’ve made it, but not so much you feel like you have to whisper. Justin popped into the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar, their famous underground tiki bar complete with a floating stage and indoor rainstorms. It's as kitschy and fabulous as it sounds, and if you're ever in the mood for a Mai Tai with mood lighting, this is the place. As the CEO of Workcations and someone who blends family, business, and actual joy into my travel, I can tell you the Fairmont San Francisco hits the rare sweet spot: it’s absolutely corporate enough for your most buttoned-up sessions, and just quirky enough to let your team breathe. And bond. And, apparently, order mass chicken tenders and cause a near riot. If you’re traveling for work, bring the crew. If you’re traveling for pleasure, they have a telescope suite. The Fairmont is classic, stunning, and unforgettable. Come for the views. Stay for the stories. But maybe don’t all order tendies at once.
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Apr 02, 2025Don’t stay here.
We experienced very poor service from the staff at the restaurant in the hotel. Despite lots of empty tables we were told that we would have to wait 15 minutes for breakfast. With our meeting starting at 09.00am this meant a very poor experience. Clearly the hotel knows how many guests are staying & how many have breakfast included. They are simply choosing not to invest the appropriate resources to deliver a breakfast service efficiently. I found the restaurant manager’s attitude rude & very unprofessional.
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Mar 28, 2025
Ooph: An aging, musty property that borders on dreary :(
Ooph. If you’re here reading reviews, looking for reassuring comments that this hotel stands to its reputation, this is not it. It pains me to write this review, because the staff are the pearls of the property. They are not the subject of this review. It is apparent how dedicated the staff at the Fairmont are to guest experience. From the valets and doormen—always greeting and welcoming, remembering your name, and opening your door when you drive up—to the housekeeping staff who say “good morning” seemingly out of genuine friendliness instead of training manual obligation, this is all a lost art in this race-to-bottom era of "not my job" and doom scrolling on the clock. Let me say it straight: this is an aging, musty property that borders on dreary. What’s so sad about that is that it’s the flagship and namesake Fairmont property: the very first! It’s located in a stunning neoclassical edifice perched prominently on a prominent hill surrounded by stately neighbors and leafy terraced plots and the belfry of the cathedral. In any world—including the countless fictional ones that this hotel has staged in film and television—this should be the belle of the ball. Instead, walking into the hotel and wandering its halls, which is necessary to get to the guest rooms, it feels like you’re in the 1980s visiting a hotel that hasn’t changed since the late 1960s. It’s a double time warp kind of place. It’s a property where you sense the sweaty-browed ghosts in polyester and gradient shades walking down the halls, or the shadows of chain smoking, hard-drinking, wife-cheating security personnel who have accompanied heads of states and dignitaries to all the momentous, historical events that have taken place in the Fairmont’s ball rooms and guest suites. If a period piece on AMC wanted to find a hotel in a 70s state of mind without investing in any additional staging and production design, the Fairmont is it. It feels like the sort of place that is famous for being famous but well past its prime—like the Drake or Hilton in Chicago or the Pennsylvania or Waldorf Astoria in NYC before it closed, it’s the sort of hotel that keeps its medals on the wall like your aging, low taste, veteran uncle losing his memory. It all feels like it’s still considered a luxury hotel because it invented a tacky dish 80 years ago that you can only buy in earnest in Las Vegas anymore, or the sort of hotel that’s famous for a political assassination. If the Hotel Ambassador where RFK was killed was still around, it would be the Fairmont. Perhaps the best that can be said about this state of affairs is that it’s a fascinating museum into the visual history of hospitality from the late 60s-early 80s. Signage in myriad typefaces mark every door, and strive to direct guests through the warren of rooms and hallways. It’s a hotel where there is no separation between back and front of house. Utility rooms open up onto main corridors. Staff on their phones, musty room odors, lumpy duvets and pillows where the down has balled up into hard knots, peeling plastic laminate on the toilet seat, stained carpet, slow televisions, dirty and sealed single-pained windows with vintage hardware. And yet, it’s not all bad: Espresso in the rooms instead of Keurig; outstanding jet age water pressure; abundant Le Labo Rose 31 soaps and lotion, fresh bath robes, and views that are totally unmatched. That’s about all I can say. If you’re looking at the reviews hoping to find a persuasive nudge, let me just say this: I know that you want to hear from someone who knows, and I’m telling you right here: this ain’t it. Go elsewhere. Fairmont needs to decide whether to invest in this property or let it fade into dementia. Amex needs to remove it from the FHR program.