My boyfriend and I stayed for four days at the Queen Anne from 8/20 - 8/26. Our room was huge both times (306 & 217) with comfortable beds and nice, period decor. There are coffee makers in the rooms, nice TV's with cable, and also mini fridges handy for storing leftovers. The bathrooms were nice with decent water pressure and hot water. The only problem with the rooms was whatever they use for cleaning; it has a perfumey smell which was a little bit too strong for me, so we opened the windows during the day to air things out for the evening.

The lobby adjacent to check-in is a nice place to hang out - interesting Victorian furnishings and multiple fireplaces with coffee available around the clock. We brought back a bottle of wine from the convenience/ liquor store next door one night, the front desk gave us a winepull and some glasses, and we relaxed for an hour or so on one of the sofas.

The neighborhood (Pacific Heights) seemed very safe, and it's pretty quiet. If you have noise issues, ask for a room further back from the front of the hotel facing Octavia rather than Sutter Street. We experienced very little noise in room 306, whereas 217 was a bit noisier (right at the front of the hotel facing Sutter). Our favorite thing about the neighborhood was how relaxed it was, it felt more like a real taste of San Francisco versus Union Square, for example, which felt like it could've been plopped down in any big city. Japantown is just down the street on Sutter, walking down Bush Street we saw lots of cute, Victorian gingerbread houses, and three blocks down Bush St from the hotel is the Fillmore district which has amazing little boutique shops, coffee shops, restaurants, and bars, which we really enjoyed.

The breakfast at the Queen Anne was pretty good, although I've had better. However, the breakfast room is neat and serviceable, and there are a decent selection of items, including various breads, bagels, muffins, pastries, sausage patties, hard-boiled eggs, cereal, juice, coffee, and tea. The only fresh items were bananas and orange slices, but we were happy with what we ate.

As far as transportation, we generally took taxis, which were reasonably cheap, although there is a bus stop one block from the hotel that heads downtown and will get you to Union Squre within five minutes or so for $1.50 cash. We also walked from the hotel down to Chinatown and the Embarcadero one day, which took maybe 45 minutes, and was a great way to see the city. You can get to/from the SFO airport easily using the BART subway system; we just got a taxi to take us from the hotel to the Civic Center BART stop, and it was a $6 ticket/25 minute ride straight there. While downtown, we used the MUNI system of trolleys to get around, which was also cheap at $1.50 anywhere you want to go on the line. We paid cash (exact change required) to the driver each time, but you can also get a MUNI card, which might be a little cheaper, depending on how many rides you take.

As far as fun things to do, we had a car for two days ($15/day to park at the Queen Anne with first-come/first-served parking) and traveled to the Napa/Sonoma area one afternoon and hit a few of the wineries for tastings. It took about an hour to get there, and most of them close by 5 pm, so don't get up too late. Beautiful scenery, nice wines, tons of vineyards to try. The next day we drove to Muir Woods, which is an ancient sequoia forest with a walking trail. That was amazing; I felt like a dinosaur would come lumbering out from amongst the giant trees at any moment. We also hit the five-course Cirque du Soleil-style dinner show, Teatro Zinzanni at Pier 27/29; great food, great show - not cheap, but we thought it was worth it; book ahead. My favorite sidetrip was a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. We rented bikes from Blazing Saddles at Fisherman's Wharf for around $45 each, and it was a simply astounding ride past Ghirardelli Square to Fort Point, over the bridge, and down to the cute, little village of Sausalito, where we took the ferry back across (ferry ticket included in price). Took about 2-3 hours total.

Okay, back to the hotel. We also stayed two nights at the Mosser at Market St and 4th in the midst of all the hubbub downtown, and both of us liked the Queen Anne much better. The price was about the same (~$150/night), but the location was an asset, it was much quieter, more authentic to San Francisco, the rooms were 5x bigger, better breakfast (Mosser only had muffins and coffee), better bathroom (Mosser rooms either have shared bathrooms or teeny-tiny ones), more character.

Be aware that parking at the Queen Anne is available but not free. It's $14 per day. Other than that, it was a good place to stay.

We had a very pleasant stay. The accommodations were very ornate and appealing, the rooms were very clean and comfortable, the service was great and we particularly liked the sherry and cookies in the afternoon. If there was anything that could be improved somewhat, we felt it was the breakfast in regard to the choice of offerings. It is also easily accessible by public transportation, being right at a bus stop and close to the California Street cable car line. We recommend the Queen Anne to anyone wishing to stay in San Francisco.

The staff at the Queen Anne did everything to make our stay pleasant after a rough afternoon, even upgrading our room. The hotel is charming and in a great location, and the parking is a lifesaver in the city! We enjoyed the sherry and cookies and all the sitting areas to relax. A much better stay than the cookie cutter hotels.