We arrived at this hotel at 11pm, worn and weary after a long flight from the UK, only to be told that the hotel had overbooked and there were no rooms left. This was somewhat disappointing given I had booked and paid for our accommodation in full over a month previously. In addition, I had called earlier in the day during our stop over in Philadelphia to say that we wouldn't be in until about 11pm and check everything was OK - I had been assured it was...

And so we found ourselves shuttled off at 11pm to a what we were told was an equivalent-standard, family run hotel nearby. This turned out to be a tired and grotty motel in the red light district that was crawling with prostitutes and drug dealers. We were put on the first floor which had patio doors with a dodgy lock that was easily accessible.

We spent a very uneasy night then headed with our luggage straight back to the La Quinta in the morning. We demanded a room or an upgrade to a better hotel rather than one of inferior quality to what we had paid for. Fortunately they now had a room available and the rest of our stay there was fine.

I must say the staff did apologise for what happened and were nice enough trying to sort things out. The error had occurred at central booking and wasn't their fault, but it did create a pretty poor start to our holiday. If you make a booking here you'll really need to make sure the hotel is ready to honour it!

For all you princesses this is not a place for you! My boyfriend and i stayed at the La Quinta Downtown from Friday December 16th to December 19th and we couldn't wait to get out of this hotel. When we got to the room, we were flabergasted by the size of the room and bathroom (#302. It was so tiny. After touring the city and walking 10-15 miles in one night, we came back to the room, turned down the sheets and on the right side of the bed found a very odd stain on the sheets. This was totally unacceptable for any hotel, let alone one that got 4 stars on many websites including this one. We have stayed in many hotels that were in the $90-$150 night range hotel and have never had this experience. Don't stay here if clean sheets are your priority!

Pros:
Beautiful room, comfortable bed (it was king size), great complimentary breakfast (waffle, yogurt, orange juice,apple juice, coffe, cereal, bread, bagle, boiled egg), adequate room space and bathroom. Fancy lobby. Good access to everywhere. Good price when booked through Priceline or Hotwire.

Cons:
Limited vending machines, no business center, slow WiFi, thin wall and floor.

If you come here from SFO, you can take BART($4.95) to Powel station, buy City Pass($42) in information center, take muni bus from Geary (short walk from the station).

Walgreen is several blocks away. I recommend Swan Oyster Depot.

I booked for three day stay in this hotel. All I can say is that they provide excellent service plus the fact that they are one of the cheapest. The hotel was nice with gold accents from the front door to the reception hall. They have a free breakfast with waffles, cereals, fruits, eggs, bread and whole lot moree. My room was awesome (try to get 413). It has a big window showing san francisco view. It is very clean as well as the bathroom. They provide highspeed internet and cable tv. Everyday the housekeeping cleans the room and replaces everything with new ones. I would recommend this hotel and would like to stay once more if i visit sf again..tahnks hermie, hamid and all the staff!