Reviews of HI-San Francisco Downtown (Union Square)

11 February 2012 Sara would recommend this property

Liked: The best location, very clean and the beds are more comfortable than some 5 star hotels!

Disliked: Nothing

06 January 2012 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: clean and very well placed. Near by Union Square, easy for shopping, take metro (MUNI), cable car, Bart. Perfect place.

Disliked: Sometimes wifi doesn't work very well in the bedrooms, just in the lounge.

15 December 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Free breakfast, very helpful staff, great location

Disliked: Water didn't work when we got there, but this was probably not a recurrent issue

05 December 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: I loved everything about it

Disliked: nothing

14 November 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Location

Disliked: Expensive

10 November 2011 Afra would recommend this property

Liked: location; room for 2 with bunkbed was quiet (for a hostel) and clean; Staff very friendly and helpful; Kitchen super clean; good for socializing

Disliked: one bathroom with plumbing issues, though plenty of other bathrooms available;

17 October 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: I liked the atmosphere and the location is really good

Disliked: some members of the staff were really unfriendly and rude, it was very annoying!

15 October 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: great atmosphere with lots of common areas for meeting other travelers and activities like a wine and cheese reception. Clean, free towels and sheets. Small dorm rooms so not too many people in each one. Fully stocked kitchen to prepare your own meals, and generous breakfast with bagels, cream cheese, coffee and milk. centrally located.

Disliked: it was pretty noisy at night, but a lot of the SF hostels are in this area so it would probably be similar at any. It was very hot for SF during my stay (80F), and the rooms were stuffy and hot. Again, I doubt any budget hotel or hostel in this city offers A/C.

02 October 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: it was comfortable and close to transportation.

Disliked: Staff was somewhat rude.

24 July 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Centrical and very safe place.

Disliked: The lack of variety and space for breakfast.

19 June 2011 marc would recommend this property

Liked: Friendly atmosphere, great location and met good people

Disliked: None really

16 June 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Good common room, one bathroom to 4 people

Disliked: No convenient powerpoints in room, free wifi didn't work from the room and kept cutting out even in full range

14 June 2011 Daniel would recommend this property

Liked: Kitchen

Disliked: Bathroom not completely clean.

30 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Staff were very experienced and had interesting events like a walking tour, which we unfortunately missed by a few days! Very easy to get to from the BART from the airport, we also had to catch the GoToBus to LA (Hollywood), which left just across the street at the Hilton! Perfect :)

Disliked: Elevator was a bit small, but at least there was one!

29 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: The location is awesome. It is only a few minutes from the BART station (Powell). The breakfast they offer is great - you will get sick of it after a few days of eating just bagel and coffee though. Their facilities are great and clean. The beds are very comfortable (we had a private room). They have lockers for huge bags and limited space for bikes if you decide to rent a bike to go around san fran.

Disliked: shared toilet and shower. it's just less convenient. internet on computers are not free so not so good for people without laptops. they are very busy so sometimes it takes ages to ask a simple question in the mid morning or late afternoon because a lot of people are checking in or checking out.

25 May 2011

Liked: Good location, especially for the price

Disliked: Itching all night for the first night, probably due to bed bugs. Annoying as that's exactly what I was trying to avoid when booking somewhere in SF!

24 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: The staff was very, very helpfull

Disliked: Front desk organization was chaotic, for ex. I had to wait 45 minutes to get a $5 bill changed for the laudry room. By that time it was too late to do the laundry. Waits in general were very long due to staff shortage.

10 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Location is amazing! Very clean and nice staff!

Disliked: Nothing. It's a great hostel!

09 May 2011

Liked: location

Disliked: Had to wait 1/2 hour for Check In

04 May 2011 Valentyn would recommend this property

Liked: good location, friendly staff, hostel's facilities

Disliked: lack of left-luggage service. after check-out you need to care about your luggage. bad noise prevention.

04 May 2011 Sara would recommend this property

Liked: awesome place to stay, great location (easy to get to from both Amtrak and greyhound stations) and breakfast is awesome!

Disliked: Nothing

22 March 2011 Deborah would recommend this property

Liked: We moved rooms to 605 which was much better. The location was the best aspect of this hostel

Disliked: Initially given room 325. A box in the middle of the hostel sandwiched between the vending machine which hummed all night, the toilet and shower and the kitchen. 2 windows into shaft but stuffy and hot. Only 2 toilets per 25 rooms per floor. Only 2 washing machines but 4 dryers??? Breakfast was good for first 2 days, looks like they only have delivery of bagels at the weekend, by Thursday there was only bread left. Never enough knives!

09 March 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Feels like a hotel - safe, with a nice basic free breakfast.

Disliked: Feels like a hotel - closed spaces that don´t invite conversation that much. But just try starting conversations nicely with people and most should be as open to new friendships as you´d expect in a hostel.

02 March 2011 Yann would recommend this property

Liked: Good location, environmental consciousness.

Disliked: The kitchen is too crowded at breakfast, feels like you have to struggle to eat after you wake up. The big lockers have to be emptied by 10pm, that's really unconvenient.

11 February 2011

Liked: Met some cool people, the facilities being an ex-hotel were good.

Disliked: I could go on and on (but to summarize): 1) The WiFi was REALLY bad. When the staff were approached by a number of us on a number of days/nights, they didn't seem to care 2) The staff were really bad. Unfriendly, actually to the point of being impolite, unreceptive and thoughtless to the fact that it's the travelers that keep these guys paid. 3) The bed was dirty - mattress stained.