Readers searching this name usually want three things: what the hotel costs, what guests report about it, and whether its downtown location fits their trip. This article checks each listed claim against the Marriott property page, guest review platforms and editorial reviews, and it marks where those sources stay silent. The hotel was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fires and reopened in 1909, a timeline given by Travel Agent West.
Last checked: 2026-10-30
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Property brand: Listed as Palace Hotel, A Luxury Collection Hotel · Location: Downtown San Francisco, in the Financial District, steps from Union Square shops · Starting rate: From $396 including taxes and fees, per listing snapshot · Listed amenities: Pool, hot tub, gym, restaurant, air conditioning, complimentary Wi-Fi · Pet policy: Listed as pet friendly · Service reference: Guest review cites higher-end SPG service
- Rooms and suites: 556, the count that three of the sources in our set agree on.
- Rebuild timeline: the 1906 losses were followed by a 1909 reopening, and the Garden Court dome’s more than 80,000 stained-glass panes are dated to that rebuild.
- Rating spread: Marriott’s reviews page shows 4.0 from 3,805 reviews, while Hotels.com shows 9.2 out of 10 from 1,001 reviews, so the score depends on the platform and its scale.
- Pet terms: one pet up to 40 pounds per room, with a USD 150 non-refundable fee per room per stay.
- Valet cost gap: Marriott lists USD 89.00 per day, while reviewers in our set cite USD 72 and USD 84 at other times, so the price on record differs by source.
Palace Hotel at a glance
- 2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; check-in 4:00 pm and check-out 12:00 pm; smoke-free property with a minimum check-in age of 18; indoor pool listed as heated and open Monday to Sunday, 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM; pets welcome at one pet up to 40 pounds per room, with a USD 150 non-refundable fee per room per stay; valet parking listed at USD 89.00 per day (Marriott.com)
- 556 rooms and suites (Orange County Register)
- Reopened in June 2015 after refurbishment (The New York Times)
- Overall rating of 4.0 from 3,805 reviews on the Marriott reviews page (Marriott reviews page)
- 8.5 from 506 reviews, with a value-for-money score of 8.0 (Booking.com)
- 9.2 out of 10 from 1,001 reviews (Hotels.com)
How we researched this
Last checked: 2026-10-30.
Sources reviewed: official property listing and reviews page on Marriott.com, Booking.com and Hotels.com listings, TripAdvisor and Yelp guest reviews, Skyscanner aggregated scores, and editorial reviews from Travel Agent West, Orange County Register, The New York Times, Frequent Miler, The Points Guy and Frommer’s.
Limitations: we made no on-site visit, no staff interview and no live rate check, and we did not independently confirm current destination fees, Wi-Fi prices or any gym listing.
Key facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Property brand | Palace Hotel, A Luxury Collection Hotel, operated under Marriott International |
| Address | 2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 |
| Opened | 1875 |
| Rebuilt and reopened | 1909, after the 1906 earthquake and fires |
| Renovation reopening | June 2015 |
| Room count | 556 rooms and suites |
| Check-in and check-out | 4:00 pm and 12:00 pm |
| Pets | One pet up to 40 pounds per room; USD 150 non-refundable fee per room per stay |
| Smoking and minimum age | Smoke-free property; minimum check-in age 18 |
Policies and hours
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Indoor pool | Listed as heated, open Monday to Sunday, 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM |
| Garden Court breakfast | Monday to Saturday 6:30 to 10:30 am; Sunday 7 to 11 am, per Frequent Miler |
| Pied Piper Bar dinner | 5:00 to 10:00 pm, per Frequent Miler |
| Points-based breakfast | Continental breakfast, or an upcharge to the full buffet, per Frequent Miler’s report |
| Gym | Not confirmed by any source in our set |
Warning: Fees and hours differ across sources and dates. Confirm hours and the all-in nightly cost on the booking page before you travel.
What is the fanciest hotel in SF?
No source in our set ranks this hotel against other San Francisco properties, so “fanciest” is a judgment rather than a fact. The checkable claims point to a historic building, a Luxury Collection listing and a service record that guests describe in mixed terms.
Brand and historic setting
The property is listed as Palace Hotel, A Luxury Collection Hotel, part of Marriott International’s portfolio. Travel Agent West reports that the hotel opened in 1875 as the city’s first luxury property and, at that time, was the largest hotel in the world.
Frommer’s says that entering the hotel and its Garden Court can make a visitor feel they have stepped into a Parisian castle. The Garden Court dome is reported to hold more than 80,000 stained-glass panes, all dating to the 1909 rebuild.
“The Palace is emblematic of everything a Luxury Collection property should be — a beautiful building steeped in history with prime location, classy service and luxury touches.”
The Points Guy author, The Points Guy review
For how the Luxury Collection label sits within Marriott’s lineup, see our Marriott hotel brands and Bonvoy guide.
Pool and gym claims
Marriott’s listing describes an indoor pool that is heated and open from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM every day. Yelp reviewers praise the indoor pool alongside the Garden Court’s historic atrium.
Warning: No source in our set confirms a gym. Treat gym access as unverified and ask the property directly if it matters for your trip.
What this means: The brand, the 1909 dome and the heated pool can be checked against sources. “Fanciest” rests on the reader’s own standard.
What is the best part of San Francisco to stay as a tourist?
The hotel is listed in the Financial District, and no source in our set makes a citywide ranking. What the sources offer is a neighbourhood-level picture: central access, with one caution about evening streets.
Financial District base for sightseeing
Booking.com lists the hotel in the Financial District, and the Marriott address is 2 New Montgomery Street. Skyscanner’s aggregated location score is 4.5 out of 5, the highest of its category scores for this property. Reviewers describe the location as central and convenient to Union Square, BART and major attractions.
Areas tourists often weigh against downtown
Our sources do not name other neighbourhoods, so this section cannot rank downtown against them. Skyscanner’s summary of the immediate blocks along the Market Street corridor describes them as central but sometimes less lively or safe at night.
Warning: The night-time caution comes only from aggregator summaries and user reviews. Our set includes no independent police or city data on the area.
The catch: A downtown base gives central access, and the evening-street caution is the main trade-off the sources raise.
Location and getting there
The address is 2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Reviews report that the hotel is convenient to the Montgomery Street BART station, which reviews place at the hotel’s entrance area, making transit the most concrete access point in our sources.
Union Square is the shopping district that reviewers name most often as nearby. Our sources do not give walking times, so check a routing app before you set out.
Hours check: Our sources give no BART service hours, so confirm train times on the transit operator’s site before you arrive.
Palace hotel san francisco reviews
Ratings differ by platform. Marriott’s page shows 4.0 from 3,805 reviews, TripAdvisor shows 4.4 of 5 from roughly 2,957 to 2,960 reviews depending on the captured page, and Booking.com shows 8.5 from 506 reviews. Each platform uses its own scale and sample, so the written comments carry more information than the averages.
Guest praise for rooms and service
Several reviews and guides praise the building. Frequent Miler calls the property “full of historic charm,” The Points Guy describes a building steeped in history, and the Orange County Register reviewer calls the renovated hotel beautiful and conveniently located.
“The Palace has a central location in San Francisco and beautiful interiors. Unfortunately, the service—particularly in the lobby and Garden Court—falls well below what you would expect from a five-star hotel.”
TripAdvisor reviewer, TripAdvisor review page
Room reviews are mixed. Travel Agent West’s reviewers describe rooms as small or dated, with some noting 11-foot ceilings and historic charm, and Skyscanner gives rooms 3.5 out of 5. Service is the sharpest split: Skyscanner’s service score is 3.0 out of 5, and multiple TripAdvisor reviewers report long check-in waits and inconsistent front-desk and breakfast service, while others praise staff warmth.
Gaps in the available review evidence
Noise is a recurring complaint, but with little detail. TripAdvisor reviewers report street and hallway noise, and our set gives no room-level or floor-level data.
The sources say nothing about parking beyond valet pricing. They also do not establish whether room sizes are consistent across categories. Our comparison of the earlier 2015–2016 reviews with later ones shows that the older reviews praise the renovated rooms and value, while the later reviews more often report service complaints, Wi-Fi charges and destination fees.
Palace hotel san francisco restaurant
The Garden Court is the hotel’s best-documented dining room. Travel Agent West describes its dome as more than 80,000 stained-glass panes dated to 1909, and Marriott’s listing says the room is known for its Signature Tea service and breakfasts.
On-site dining as listed
Frequent Miler reports Garden Court breakfast hours of 6:30 to 10:30 am Monday to Saturday and 7 to 11 am on Sunday, and says the Pied Piper Bar is open for dinner from 5:00 to 10:00 pm.
The Pied Piper Bar, on the lobby level, features a Maxfield Parrish mural. Frommer’s and other sources disagree on its size and value, with one citing a 16-foot painting and another giving a valuation in the millions, so treat any figure for the artwork as unconfirmed.
Checking current dining options
Reviewers quoted in the Orange County Register report that Garden Court breakfast can involve long waits, and that weekend brunch is busy and requires reservations.
Tip: Confirm current dining hours and menus on the property’s own website. Our set has no restaurant menu items or menu prices.
The trade-off: The dining rooms have documented architecture and hours. Menus and prices sit outside what our sources confirm.
What a stay costs
Our sources do not establish a current starting room rate, so this article makes no nightly price claim. The fees that are documented vary by source and date, which makes the total harder to predict.
- Valet parking: USD 89.00 per day on the Marriott listing; reviewers in our set cite USD 72 and USD 84 at other points.
- In-room Wi-Fi: one 2024 Hotels.com reviewer cites USD 14.99 per day, Frommer’s lists free lobby Wi-Fi and USD 20 per day in-room, and a Booking.com reviewer notes it becomes included with a Marriott Bonvoy account.
- Nightly destination fee: one Trip.com reviewer reports USD 47, and a separate reviewer reports a USD 30 destination fee applied as in-room credit. Confidence in these figures is low.
Total cost check: The all-in nightly cost is unknown until you see the booking page. Ask for the total, including destination fee, parking and Wi-Fi.
Other downtown stays to compare
Our sources name one comparison hotel. The Points Guy contrasts the Palace’s room size with the Westin St. Francis, noting that the Palace rooms were small for the era. Beyond that single reference, our set identifies no specific alternative properties, so the categories below are not ranked and carry no prices.
- Union Square-area hotels: shopping and transit access are the strengths reviewers cite for this property, so compare room size and service first.
- Financial District hotels: the same office-district setting, so check the evening conditions on the blocks you will walk.
- Other historic-building hotels: check room sizes directly, since this property’s rooms receive mixed reviews.
The pattern: The choice usually comes down to room size and service, which the sources measure less consistently than location.
Strengths and limits
Strengths
- Historic building with a 1875 origin, a 1909 rebuild and a dome of more than 80,000 stained-glass panes.
- Financial District address, with the Montgomery Street BART station reported at the entrance area.
- Heated indoor pool listed as open from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM.
- A pet policy with stated limits: one pet up to 40 pounds per room.
Limits
- Service scores 3.0 out of 5 on Skyscanner, and reviewers report long check-in waits.
- Reviewers describe rooms as small or dated.
- Street and hallway noise appears in TripAdvisor reviews.
- Valet, Wi-Fi and destination fees vary across sources, and the evening caution applies to nearby streets.
Our pick: who the hotel suits
Our pick: Choose this hotel if the historic building and central Financial District address come first, if you are travelling with a pet within the listed limits, or if you want a heated indoor pool open until 10:00 PM. Look elsewhere if consistent service and quiet rooms are your priorities, because those are the areas where the sources are weakest. Verify all fees on the booking page before you commit.
A two-night plan built on the listed hours
- Arrive after the 4:00 pm check-in time and plan dinner at the Pied Piper Bar, open from 5:00 to 10:00 pm.
- Book breakfast at the Garden Court: 6:30 to 10:30 am Monday to Saturday, or 7 to 11 am on Sunday. Reserve for weekend brunch.
- Use the indoor pool between 5:00 AM and 10:00 PM, the listed hours.
- Reviewers describe the hotel as convenient to Union Square, and the Montgomery Street BART station sits at the entrance area.
- Check out by 12:00 pm.
Plan caveat: A plan built on listed hours works only if you confirm those hours on the property’s own site before arrival.
us.trip.com, tripadvisor.com, tripadvisor.com, frequentmiler.com
Frequently asked questions
What is the address of Palace Hotel San Francisco?
The Marriott listing gives 2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.
What are the check-in and check-out times?
Check-in is 4:00 pm and check-out is 12:00 pm, according to the Marriott listing.
Is the Palace Hotel pet friendly?
Yes. One pet up to 40 pounds per room is welcome, with a USD 150 non-refundable fee per room per stay.
How many rooms does the hotel have?
The hotel has 556 rooms and suites, according to the Orange County Register review.
What are the pool hours?
The heated indoor pool is listed as open Monday to Sunday, from 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM.
How much is valet parking?
The Marriott listing shows valet parking at USD 89.00 per day. Reviewers in our set cite USD 72 and USD 84 at other times.
When did the hotel open?
The hotel opened in 1875. It was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fires, and it reopened in 1909.