Bucket List Hotels: The Huntington, San Francisco

Like most hotel-dwellers, I have a bucket list of hotels I want to stay in before I die. Not necessarily properties outside my price range just ones that I havent yet had the chance to visit.

Until this week, one such hotel was the The Huntington in San Francisco, perched on top of Nob Hill and with its iconic signage one of the few things bright (and high) enough to pierce the citys fog.

A large part of the hotels charm is its stubborn resistance to embracing the future. While every hotel is chasing its tail to adopt the latest booking and in-room technologies, the Huntington keeps it refreshingly old school.

From arrival where a friendly doorman in traditional uniform made conversation about the weather as he welcomed me to the hotel to the copy of the San Francisco Chronicle waiting outside my door the following morning the whole stay was like a step back in time. I mean, sure, theres pretty decent wifi (via ATT) in the rooms, but why send an email when you can write a real letter on the hotels luxurious in-room stationary and drop it in the mail tube that runs through each
floor?

Of course not all un-progress is good. Although I was able to book a room online via Tablet, the hotels booking system still requires that reservations be entered manually by staff every few hours. As a result, my last minute booking was received too late and on check in I was told the bad news: there were no more available rooms in the class Id requested.

Fortunately, there quickly followed the good news: a complimentary upgrade a junior suite. A note to almost every other hotel in the world: thats how service is supposed to work.

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