1 Hotel San Francisco review

1 Hotel San Francisco location

1 Hotel San Francisco is located at the very end of Mission Street where it meets the waterfront Embarcadero. It’s near several cable cars, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Muni stops, making it easy to navigate using public transport, whether you are heading to the airport or just out and about in the city.

1 Hotel San Francisco booking details

1 Hotels are not part of any of the major points chains. However, 1 Hotel San Francisco is something of a unicorn in that it participates in not one but three of the premium credit card hotel booking portals.

Standout features

• Fabulous location along the Embarcadero across from the Ferry Building Marketplace
• Tranquil rooms with windows framing excellent city and bay views
• DJ sets and delicious Mediterranean food make Terrene a happening hangout.
• The Bamford Spa, tucked away on the eighth floor, feels cozy and exclusive.

Drawbacks

• The lobby gets busy (and crowded), so checking in or out can take a while.
• Certain architectural features make it clear this used to be a very different hotel.
• There is only one on-property restaurant.

The vibe

You’d be forgiven for overlooking 1 Hotel San Francisco at first glance since the exterior has a generic-early-aughts aesthetic of limestone and brick.

Once you set foot inside (past a row of bikes for guests to borrow), however, the ambience immediately shifts thanks to the rough-cut yet polished wooden floors and the blocky reception desk. A profusion of potted plants, moss-filled terrariums and various coworking and socializing seating vignettes including low-slung wicker chairs upholstered in natural fabrics and deep-set love seats for casual canoodling mean that the space is rarely empty.

The crowd seems to comprise an energetic mix of designer-clad tech execs in town searching for next-round financing, international visitors lured by the location and San Franciscans passing through on their way to coffee dates or happy hour at Terrene.

Stop by the informal “good things” boutique — really, it’s just two tables displaying a carefully curated selection of goods — to pick up locally produced jewelry, candles and diffusers with the hotel’s signature scent or exclusive Vintner’s Daughter plant-based skincare products among other goodies.

The room

The hotel has 186 rooms and 14 suites. My Water View King room on the fourth floor, its door accented by a side panel of live moss and a shelf where I could put out a “do not disturb” rock, was at the northeast corner of the building.

One window looked out toward the Ferry Marketplace Building, and the other faced toward the Bay Bridge. Both had comfortable seating options — a small sofa with a side table under one and a bean bag-like chair in the other.

Like the rest of the hotel, the look here was salvaged-chic with live-edge wooden furniture, hand-loomed natural-fiber carpeting and bare stone accents.

The king-size bed, backed by a textured woodblock headboard, was dressed simply in sumptuous Kassatex white linens with a cream-colored duvet and a soft woven runner. On the nightstand to one side, the hotel provided a pair of glasses and a carafe that you could refill with water at a station near the guest elevators to reduce the need for single-use bottles.

The stone-topped work desk with a Scandinavian-style chair sat beneath a wall-mounted, 55-inch LCD television, and doubled as the minibar, with items including an 88 Acres granola bar, a Mast chocolate bar and an organic coconut-almond Jonesbar among its offerings. Wi-Fi was fast and free throughout the hotel.

The bathroom was the part of the room where the link to the hotel’s past life felt strongest, although what must have once been a basic, box-like space had been fancied up with dark stone tiling and a long, glass-walled walk-in shower plus a handsome above-counter stone sink.

My favorite touch was a small hourglass embedded in the shower shelf that you could use to time your ablutions and thus minimize your water usage, though I’ll admit I took longer than its duration in order to luxuriate using the provided Bamford skin and haircare products.

As I packed my suitcase to depart, I noticed a card on the nightstand with the words “1 less thing.” It’s a program the hotel runs where guests can leave pieces of clothing for a local charity the hotel works with. Just another way the property can literally help lighten your travel footprint.

Food and drink at 1 Hotel San Francisco

The hotel has just a single restaurant, Terrene, located off the lobby. But thanks to extensive menus that change from morning to night, it feels like an all-day destination unto itself.

The large interior dining room felt like an indoor garden party, featuring a mix of low and high wooden tables with cushioned chairs, a beautifully backlit tiled bar and a profusion of hanging plants and netted orb lights.

The outdoor patio looking across the Embarcadero to the Bay Bridge, meanwhile, was excellent for a sun-dappled morning coffee or after-work drinks with colleagues complete with DJ sets every Thursday night.

In the morning, guests will find healthy options like overnight oats with almond milk, raisins and cinnamon ($12) and a wellness wrap with scrambled free-range egg whites, spiced chorizo, mushrooms, baby kale, avocado, feta and roasted peppers ($19). There are also plenty of coffee and tea options and a variety of smoothies.

For lunch and dinner, the menu shifts to more Mediterranean-style sharing plates made with ingredients sourced within a 50-mile radius (you can even find some of them in the chef’s rooftop garden).

Start with a neighborhood-inspired zero-waste cocktail that creatively uses kitchen byproducts, like the smoky, Old-Fashioned-like Golden Gate Empire with High West rye whiskey, Fernet Branca, sherry, banana syrup and faux tobacco bitters ($20).

Dip into smoky baba ghanoush ($12) or spicy carrot harissa ($12) with fluffy, oven-fresh laffa bread. Then enjoy hearty but light options like luscious tuna tartare with avocado puree, radish, cucumber and cashew chili oil ($26) and sizzling steak skewers with mint chimichurri and grilled seasonal market vegetables ($25) plus sides like organic broccolini with roasted pepitas, romesco and garlic-brown sugar shimeji mushrooms ($18).

The olive oil cake with cardamom icing and seasonal fruit ($14) is a popular choice, but the ultrarich flourless chocolate torte with toasted pistachios and pistachio cremeux ($16) is not to miss.

Amenities and service at 1 Hotel San Francisco

One of the reasons for 1 Hotel San Francisco’s popularity is the variety of programming it offers guests. Activities range from sunrise HIIT classes and sunset yoga sessions with area fitness studios to workshops on how to mend clothes to special DJ sessions out on Terrene’s patio. Guests can also borrow electric Rad Power bikes or Velosophy Re:Cycle bikes made from recycled aluminum to explore the city or visit the small but well-equipped gym to get in a quick cardio or weight-lifting session. Just note that these offerings, along with the use of bikes and the house car, are what the $45 per night amenity fee covers, so try to take advantage of these if you can!

Up on the eighth floor, I found the hotel’s pocket-size Bamford Wellness Spa, which had just two treatment rooms with fantastic bay views and a small reception area.

The most unique setting, however, had to be the private rooftop garden where you could book a relaxing open-air aromatic soak with mineral-rich Pacific Ocean salt (30 minutes, $120; 50 minutes, $220).

Among the other treatments available using Bamford’s signature natural and organic products were a customized massage (80 minutes, $385; 100 minutes, $450) and a radiance-boosting Bamford Awakening Facial (50 minutes, $230; 80 minutes, $315).

Finally, if you need a ride somewhere close, you can request one of the house electric Audi e-tron cars for jaunts within a two-mile radius.

Service throughout the hotel was warm, polite and efficient. From a quick check-in with an explanation of all the hotel’s amenities to chatting over the menu items in Terrene and explaining the spa’s services in detail, all the staff I interacted with were professional, courteous and eager to answer any questions, while also asking if there was anything else they could do to improve my stay. There was not.

Out and about

The hotel’s location puts it within easy walking distance to the Financial District, so if you are in town on business, that’s likely to be a plus in its favor. It’s also a doable stroll to the bars and restaurants of SoMa and even Oracle Park. Since it sits near both Mission and Market Streets, where they meet the Embarcadero, the public transportation options abound, making it easy to reach practically any part of the city without a car.

I ambled along the Embarcadero to the Ferry Marketplace Building to enjoy the Saturday morning farmer’s market, then took the cable car to Ghirardelli Square to pick up some treats for my colleagues.

I also hopped on the Muni from Embarcadero to Civic Center Station in order to visit the Asian Art Museum, which only took about 15 minutes. Friends and I went out to dinner in Jackson Square and then on to North Beach, which were also easy, if hilly in parts, walks back to the hotel.

Accessibility

The hotel offers six categories of wheelchair-accessible rooms and suites with features like 43-inch-wide entryways for maneuverability, adapted baths or roll-in showers with chairs, raised toilets with grab bars and lowered sinks.

All floors are accessible via elevators with lowered buttons and have wide hallways. The hotel entrances and public areas do not require the use of steps, either. Service animals are also welcome.

Checking out

A soothing setting with serious sustainability cred and an unparalleled location all set the 1 Hotel San Francisco apart from the city’s other luxury lodgings. Although its small size means it fields just one restaurant and a diminutive spa, they are both excellent and play into the intimate vibe of a stay here.

It’s not part of one of the major points programs, but if you carry certain credit cards, you can enhance your stay with a lot of value-added extras thanks to its participation in Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts, Capital One’s Premier Collection and Chase’s The Edit. That’s why I’ll consider it for my next stay in San Francisco … and the one after that.

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