San Francisco Hotel Review: Hotel Zoe Fisherman's Wharf

Hello everyone!

A little different review as I went to San Francisco! I thought I should go to San Francisco at least once before my official move in next year. I'm super excited!

 

Location:

This hotel is close to Pier 39 which has a boardwalk full of shops and food stalls. There’s even a spot to watch seals! Fisherman’s Wharf is known for their clam chowder and crabs so expect many places with those two options available. There is a large cafe, shop, restaurant called Boudin which is known for their sourdough! You can watch the workers bake from the outside window. No worries if you don’t like those two options as there is an Applebee’s, In-N-Out burgers, McDonald’s, and Krispy Creme donuts to have satisfy your chain food cravings. Right next to the hotel is a World Foods Market that you can purchase snacks or beverages and Ross for clothes. A block or so down is a Trader Joe’s and across the street is a Safeway. 

Hotel:

There is a parking garage right next to hotel so good if you want to self-park. There’s also a little half-circle driveway that is perfect for drop off and pickup for ride share apps. The street itself is mostly not busy so even if there wasn’t that half circle it would be fine for curb pickup. If you want to valet that is also available. The staff there by the door is really nice. Multiple times I have noted that there was a doorman who opened the door for me.

Amenities:

There’s a daily fee about $39 per day quite hefty and the amenities don’t make up for it. Let me explain. The most disappointing feature is that there is no inside fitness center. You do have access to the 24hr fitness which is across the street and inside the 2nd floor of a rather old and empty building. There’s also fruit included water right across the elevators but that’s nothing special. Inside of having coffee maker in the room, they have a coffee bar in the morning that you can also get tea or hot chocolate. Upon arrival, you also get a coupon for 10 off lunch or dinner at their attached restaurant. If you like to bike, they do have bike rentals on a first come first serve basis. If you prefer to pay to ride a scooter there are ones available as well.

 

Room:

The room is decent size and the bed is pretty comfortable. There is a chance that the window of your room faces a brick wall. I looked at online reviews that said sometimes position of the bed maybe right by the door. Overall the theme of the room is Nautical/Beach themed. I was on the fourth floor which is the highest floor. Other than the occasional people talking and walking down the hallways and there was onetime my neighbor forgot to turn off his tv, overall pretty quiet room. You do have an option to forgo the housekeeping to get a $5 per night on the honor bar, restaurant, or room service.

The only downer is that the tv channels doesn’t have TLC.  

The bathroom is good size with the the other exception is the door opens up unless you close it completely. There was Q-tips, makeup remover, cotton balls. The counter space is small but still have a decent amount of room to lay stuff down.

As part of the packaged I booked, there is free breakfast for two every morning at their attached restaurant. It’s a basic continental breakfast so like fruit and toast or muffin. Yeah only used it for one morning because I rather eat bread at the comfort of my hotel room.

Overall: 4.5/5

I would choose to stay in this room is I can in the future. The only real disappointment was the gym. The location is such a big plus and thus making this a great hotel to stay at.

Fisherman's Wharf 

There is a perfect spot to view the seals at Pier 39 which I totally recommend! It's right by Fisherman's Wharf. Additionally, there's plenty of food places and as well as shops in this area. i really liked how they had a Biscoff shop there!

Japantown

Originally, I had planned to stay at a hotel at Japantown but due to hotel being fully booked I didn't. There was some pretty cool architecture there.

The most exciting thing about this area is all the shopping centers are semi-connected. I love shopping at Daiso which I have been to one while I was at Seattle. There were many good places to eat and especially for Japanese food!

So happy to find a fish ice cream place! I got the matcha one!

This was probably about $10-15 but worth the money for how cute it was!

Chinatown

I stopped by chinatown as I wanted to stop by to where the my office was. The fortune cookie factory was a must see!

Downtown

I met up with my friend and her friend at Hakkasan. This restaurant is hakka and cantonese-style. For warned that this place is pricey! For the three of us it cost about $70 per person. The service of the waiters and waitress was phenomenal. We always had our waters filled. In between the main dishes, they cleaned our table as well as giving us new plates. The picture above is an appetizer that's so cute with tiny bit of crunch. 

This is the duck salad. 

I don't remember what this dish is but it is some sort of vegetarian dish. 

I really wanted some noodles so I asked our waitress what was popular. This is so good. It's the hakka style noodles. 

This was some sort of meat and it was delicious.

Overall I was super excited that I had made this trip.

XOXO

-M

Pittsburgh Hotel Review: The Westin

Hello There!

Time for yet again another review!

Location:

The Westin is located right next to the convention center. This is definetly a good spot to stay at if you have an event to attend. There's are also some good food places downtown the street which is super convenient. The downside of this hotel location is this is where the sinkhole happened. Therefore the only way to get to the Westin is from Liberty avenue since 10th street portion is only local drive through. The is valet as well an underground parking garage. The garage is small, under construction, and spaces are very limited! It took me a bit to find a spot. 

Hotel:

Inside the hotel there is a pretty nice lobby area. Sometime I saw that there was unfused water as well as cookies. Additionally, there is walkway from the lobby to the another building with Starbucks. On the way to Starbucks, I saw some shops and even a post office. Fitness center has the basics that I would need in a gym. Some of the equipment they had was old. Also the way the equipment was placed made the center seem very crowded.

Room:

I was put on the 5th floor which was one of the lower floors and I didn’t like that. There wasn’t any view and it felt very dingy. Additionally I don’t know what else is on this floor but I would hear people’s voices at 6am in the morning. Overall the room was not quiet in the morning. Also the hallways felt very dingy.

The bed was ok but I didn’t feel like it was very comfortable. The pillow was too soft and the sheets were hard to pull over for me to climb in like I literally would pull the entire sheets off and I could see the mattress. The amenities in room was very nice. They had a lavender oil roller by the bed that you can put on your risk to help you to sleep. The desk area I also did not like because either the desk was too low or the chair was too high so my legs would be squished in between. 

They had a small space where the fridge and coffee maker was in which I liked. Also for Marriott member the water bottle in the room was complimentary.

The bathroom had a very unique waterfall type head which is different from the other hotels that I have been too. The soaps and shampoo smelled nice. Also wide counter space to spread my things out.

Overall: 4/5

I wouldn’t choose to stay at the Westin again if I was driving however I think that it was a good hotel to stay at. They had many good amenities that made up for the not so good things.

At the recommendation of my senior manager I went to this meatball place called Emporio. I was able to online order so that was the main thing that attracted me. The main selling point of this place is the ability to customize your meatballs. You can pick what kind of meatball and what kind of sauce. Even though I just got the regular meatball with marinara it was so good! These are larger meatballs as well and I got them as sliders. It’s closer to the Westin than the other hotels that I stay at so I might do ubereats or DoorDash next time.
Hope my review was helpful!

-M

Chicago Hotel Review: Hyatt Place

Hi!

It's that time again for another review! I typically stay at the Kimpton Allegro since it's the closest to my work when I'm in Chicago. This time due to a suggestion from a coworker I decided to stay at Hyatt Place. I've had a good experience staying at a Hyatt when I went to Seattle. Another reason as the hotel is close to my work as well. The street that the hotel is one is not very populated. Similar to the other Chicago hotels there is valet available. One thing that I did notice right away at the reception desk is that they used a laptop to check-in guests which is different than what I see at a typical hotel. The lobby area is quite small and the business center is right behind a wall. As a Hyatt member you get two free bottles of water per a night as well as free breakfast in the morning. The fitness center is nice as there are floor to ceiling windows and TV screens on all the treadmills and ellipticals. It's pretty small overall but sufficient for a good work-out. 

Room

The room that I got was a king bed and they gave my an accessible room which made it every larger. There is a semi-separate sleeping area which is very nice but I didn't utilize as much and only put my stuff there.

The bed itself was large and the windows were floor to ceiling stretching from the bed area to the bathroom sinks. The downside of having these windows was the bed was very close and you can see the office building next door very clearly. I had to keep the blinds down for the most part. The room was quiet and I slept very well.

This is the desk area and as you can see there is a small coffee maker. There is nothing very special and it's pretty standard. 

There was two sinks in this area and the toilet and shower stalls are behind the door which is not shown in the picture. The shower part was also a tad bit weird just because there's no ledge between the shower and the bathroom floor but I assume that feature is because that it is an accessible room. The face towels though were very soft. 

I haven't been to a hotel yet that offers complimentary breakfast bar like this one. I love it! There was eggs, potatoes, and bacon available as hot foods. There's your typical yogurt, bagels, bread, and oatmeal. I love oatmeal and they have a variety of toppings as well as fruit. For beverages, they have a coffee, tea, and juices. 

Overall: 5/5

The complimentary breakfast really got me. The rooms were huge and there's nothing really bad that I could say about this hotel. Definitely recommend staying there! 

Chicago Hotel Review: Aloft

Hello Hello!

Before my week trip training in Chicago during the month of September, I actually went their a day two days earlier to walk around the city. Also during this time I got super sick which was a bummer. 

I stayed at Aloft hotel which is a part of the Marriot. The location was decent with restaurants nearby. Also the hotel is very close to Northwestern University I think. The location of the hotel is very close to the intersection so beware that your uber driver can get confused so I recommend entering the hotel's address when getting a uber instead of solely relying on location services. The hotel itself was modern rustic type of feel. I did not check out the fitness center. 

Room

The first thing I see when I walk in is the sink which the toilet and shower is separated by a door. The sink area is well lit and the counter has good amount of space. 

This is the bed which faces a tv and there was plenty of little stools. Standard bed and nothing too special. The downside for aloft hotels are the thin walls and you can pretty much hear whats going in the halls. 

This is no closet instead you can hang your clothes on the bar on top of these drawers above. The room itself is conservative of space and simple.

My favorite thing about the entire room must be this sitting area. It is perfect for relaxing or working. 

Overall: 4/5

I surprisingly like this hotel. The location is ok and the style of the room I liked. 

Around the City

I took a SoulCycle class! 

I went to see the band's visit at Cadillac Palace! We got cheap $15 tickets so we were super far from the stage and it was hard to see. The next time I got the chance to watch the show I got closer seats and was able to see al the performers faces clearly.

One of the places that I liked is Eataly. A fun Italian food location that had various Italian restaurants inside. The places there were casual and the food was yummy!

I probably would've enjoyed my stay at Chicago a lot more if I wasn't sick.  Hoping that you enjoy reading about my review and have a lovely Christmas!

XOXO

-M

Pittsburgh Hotel Review: Distrikt Hotel Pittsburgh, Curio Collection by Hilton

Hi!

Distrikt Hotel Pittsburgh, Curio Collection by Hilton

This hotel is farther from where I usually stay at and a little bit more remote. There isn’t a lot in the area but there is a couple of food places down a block. It’s also fairly easy to get to since the street that I used wasn’t super busy. This have this little turnaround and makes it convenient to valet. However, the valet is really slow and I had to sit in my car for 3-5 minutes before I saw a valet employee. There is a garage that is next to the hotel that you can self-park. The hotel used to be a Salvation Army building so the architecture of it is very unique. There is nice small lobby area and there was a random seating area out in the front. I think it is considered a boutique hotel. I didn’t use the fitness center but they did have one. There was also vending machines that were right outside the fitness center.

Room:It was a spacious room with a closet out in the front instead of a walk-in one. There is complimentary k-cups for coffee and two bottles of water. I also appreciated that the glass cups were wrapped in plastic so it was kept clean. The bed was spacious and the entire bed was actually super comfortable. The downside is that the room that I got had this ticking noise overtime the heat was on, the walls were thin and I hear what was going on outside, and the fridge didn’t work. The bathroom was standard and I don’t know why the toilet seat was up. 

Overall: 3/5

I would be ok staying there but it would not be my first choice. The experience wasn’t terrible but there were things that could be better. 

Chicago Hotel Review: Kimpton Allegro

(sunset at Navy Pier)

Hello!

This is a late post as I meant to have it up earlier but I forgot about it until now. The experiences are still the same as I am going to talk about my time at Chicago. So I've been to Chicago around 4 times thus far and I've gone to the city during various times of the year.



Hotel

I always think that with a new year there comes new opportunities. I started off 2018 by actually going to work. This is my first actual real job. Right off the bat on January 2nd, I went to my local office orientation then later than day I flew to Chicago. This is my first time being in the city so I was still excited even though it was a bit chilly. I stayed at Kimpton Hotel Allegro. This hotel is a part of HGI just an info for those who likes to collect reward points. Location wise it is right next to a theater (Connor Place).  They do not offer self-parking so if you do drive in you have to valet. You have to use the stairs or the elevators to get to the lobby. The lobby area is very nice with plenty of space and chairs to sit at. There is a bar area as well as a connecting restaurant. It's interesting that they do not do room service. They have a small fitness center that was renovated in 2018 but nothing too special. They do not have a coffee maker in the rooms instead they have a pretty decent coffee/tea bar in mornings so perfect to grab and go. Additionally, a feature that have specifically is free champagne during 5-6 every day! That's definitely a pro as I am all for free champagne.

The room is very small if you stay in a single but the bed is your standard size. There are even two large accent pillows as well as a smaller one. They have a small area and the rooms in general are pretty quiet which is important to me.

The bathroom is quite tight as you can see the sink is right next to the toilet. There's no much counter space to put your things. 

It had everything that I need in a hotel room so not too much to complain about. Additionally, the bathroom has robes if you choose to wear.

The hotel allowed dogs so we saw a lot of them. The dog above is Sherman and he was super well behaved. I got pet him and see him during the last day I stayed at the hotel.

Overall 4/5

I would stay in this hotel again. The amenities are sufficient, the rooms are quiet, and champagne. The location is pretty good except a bit farther from shopping and food places. A good location to stay at if you like to see plays/musicals!