Kimpton Alton Hotel Review: Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco
This week, my husband had a work trip for a few days in San Francisco. We have lots of friends in San Francisco from our four years living there, so we decided to extend the trip to a full week. My son and I also tagged along for the trip. We stayed in the Kimpton Alton Hotel for the first half of our trip. This was actually our second time staying here, so I feel like we have a good sense of it now.
Hotel lobby and restaurant
How we Booked
When we decided to extend this trip beyond the nights that my husband’s work was covering, it was important to me that we did not pay much for the additional nights out of pocket. Since I knew we had four IHG free night certificates, this felt like a good use of those certificates.
“Free” Nights
My husband and I each had two free night certificates in our account from having the IHG Premier Credit Card. Since 2021 was a special year (aka pandemic year), our free night certificates from last year were extended to the end of 2022. Although these free night certificates are typically only valid for hotel rooms that cost up to 40k points, they now have the ability to be topped up with additional IHG points. This feature turned out to be extremely helpful for this trip because we needed to add about 10k points for each night (IHG points cost is variable, so the number of points needed each night was slightly different).
The IHG Premier has an annual fee of $99 per year, so we actually paid about $400 for four nights at this hotel, which is roughly half of its regular cost.
Challenges
To use free night certificates, you need to book each night separately. Although the front desk agent was able to combine the nights into one stay to allow us to stay in the same room for all four nights we were at the hotel, the room charges closed out after each night. This was inconvenient because I was hoping to use an Amex Offer for $40 off $200 on my Platinum card for charges we made in the hotel restaurant. Overall, though, this was the only inconvenience. I used my IHG card to earn IHG points on our restaurant charges.
When we stayed at the hotel last year on points and free nights, we were charged a resort fee of $35 for each night. This was frustrating because it added to the actual cost of the “free” night. The amenities offered did not feel worth the fee, either. When I considered booking the hotel again for this trip, I hesitated because I thought we would be charged the resort fee. However, when we got to the hotel, we were told that the resort fee is not charged on award stays. I am pleased with this change and think it makes the free night certificate much more valuable.
View of the mountains a few blocks away from the hotel
The Location
Things to Do
The Alton Hotel is located in Fisherman’s Wharf. This is the most tourist-centered neighborhood of San Francisco, which can make it a crowded place to stay. The neighborhood definitely has its share of tacky restaurants and activities.
However, I actually think this area can be a great location to stay, especially if you want to do some of the more typical tourist attractions in the area. This area provides great access to:
Ferries to Sausalito, Angel Island, or Alcatraz
The Palace of Fine Arts
The Golden Gate Bridge
Ghirardelli Square (check out cute boutique store Lola while here)
Sea lions at Pier 39
Winding Lombard Street
Bike and car rental locations
Ube biscuits and gravy at Abacá restuarant
Things to Eat
Some of my favorite brunch restaurants in the area are Surisan, Homeplate, and New Spot on Polk. You are also close to North Beach where you can get your fill of Italian food like Il Casaro and Original Joes. Chinatown is also very close - try Z and Y Restaurant and China Live. The only In-N-Out in the city is also a couple blocks away in case you’ve never tried it!
The restaurant in the lobby is called Abacá - it serves FIlipino-Californian cuisine. Last year when we stayed here the restaurant was having its opening week and we couldn’t get a reservation! This time it was a little less crowded. We went for Sunday brunch and for breakfast during the week. While a bit on the expensive side (about $35 per person including drinks and tip), I highly recommend this restaurant! Everything our group had was delicious and it would rank as one of my favorite brunch spots in San Francisco.
We didn’t get a chance to try the dinner menu, but I’ll definitely do that next time! The lobby isn’t very big, so having such a popular restaurant in the hotel did mean that the public areas were quite crowded in the evenings. If you’re looking for a cheaper breakfast near the hotel, I recommend Cafe de Casa, a Brazilian coffee shop serving acai bowls and pastries.
Getting There
The Alton is about a 30 minute drive time from San Francisco International Airport and there is not a good public transportation option because there isn’t a BART stop nearby. We used Uber to get from the airport and it cost around $40. This varies widely depending on traffic, I believe last year when we stayed at the hotel we took a cab and it cost closer to $80.
Business travelers may prefer to stay a shorter walking distance to the Financial District, although the cable car drops off directly in Union Square so that could be a fun, althoug crowded, commuting option.
Restaurant patio at hotel entrance
The Hotel
The Kimpton Alton is a modern hotel that opened in the summer of 2021. It’s five stories tall, and is one of the many mid-range price hotels in the neighborhood. Like most major cities, mid-range is still pretty expensive (~250 per night), so I always try to book with points in San Francisco.
Kimpton
Part of the Kimpton brand includes a “social hour” with free wine and beer for hotel guests from 5 - 6 pm, as well as free coffee in the common area in the morning. The coffee was actually so good that I didn’t seek out a second cup later in the morning, which I am not sure I can say about any other hotel.
Throughout the year, Kimpton offers a secret password so make sure to look it up and say it at check in! I’ve heard that they offer things like free upgrades, drinks, or gifts. I forgot to say the password at check in so no chance for an upgrade (oops), but halfway through my stay I remembered, and got a free tote bag. I think these little touches make Kimpton a really fun brand that I will keep seeking out.
As far as I could tell there was no room service available although I did not ask as we preferred to eat in the restaurant. Free wi-fi is available for all IHG members (it’s free to join).
The Room
The room was very comfortable. We were assigned a top (fifth) floor King room both times we’ve stayed at this hotel. The room is a good size, with a desk and lounge chair in addition to the bed. Based on the hotel’s website, it looks like they do have a one bedroom suite, but we were not upgraded to this room type on either visit.
The view from our room was just the other side of the building, although it did get nice natural light. In fact a little too much, until we discovered the blackout blinds for sleeping the second night.
One fun touch is that the hotel offers a Victrola record player in each room with a record library at the front desk where you can choose your soundtrack.
There was a flat-screen tv available in the room, but we couldn’t figure out how to use the smart TV features so we ended up watching Hulu on our laptop. I’ve definitely experienced much more user-friendly TVs in other hotels.
Kimpton rooms always include yoga mats and umbrellas. While I aspirationally would like to use the yoga mat, I can’t say I ever have. I did take the umbrella on a sightseeing adventure, before I remembered that it rarely rains heavily enough to require an umbrella in San Francisco.
The private bathroom was nice and spacious. I found the shower strange, though - the “door” only covers half of the shower stall which meant some water did get out into the bathroom, but honestly not very much so this was not a big deal. Overall I found it to be a spacious, modern, and comfortable room that I’d be happy to stay in again.
Status
Both my husband and I are Platinum Elite members because we hold IHG Premier credit cards, which automatically comes with this status level. For our status, at check in we were offered 600 points or $20 from the “pantry” they had in the lobby with drinks and snacks. We ended up picking the $20 but I had 600 points credited to my account anyways. Maybe this is because we booked each night as a different stay under both my and my husband’s names.
Other than the welcome amenity, there weren’t any additional benefits that we received from status, as far as I noticed.
Ghirardelli Square is just a few blocks away from the Alton
Would I book again?
I would definitely consider booking this hotel again! I think Kimptons in general are fun, the guest rooms in this hotel are nice, and I loved the lobby restaurant. The biggest negative for me is that the location of this hotel is a bit out of the way of the places that I typically go when visiting San Francisco, but I don’t think that would stop me from staying here again. For first-time tourists in the city, I’d say it can actually be a good location.
I would also not stay here if I were driving to the hotel, as valet parking is the only on-site option and it costs $65 per day!
Another IHG hotel in San Francisco I’d like to try is the Kimpton Buchanan, but it looks like they are temporarily closed. From what I remember previously, this hotel was at a higher price point as well. If you’re looking for a San Francisco IHG hotel closer to Union Square and the center of transportation options, I’d check out the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins.
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