Best Hotel Executive Or Club Lounges At Hotels In San Francisco
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This article reviews hotels in San Francisco with the best club or executive lounges. By reviewing each of these club lounges, in turn, I conclude which hotel club lounge comes in at the top and which hotel I would select as having the best club lounge in San Francisco.

If you want club lounge access for free, book a standard room at the InterContinental in New York, Paris, or London, which partner with our luxury travel concierge and you will get a room upgrade and free club lounge access. This free lounge access has got to be one of the best hotel deals in New York, Paris, and London!

The other luxury hotels in San Francisco include the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco, The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, Fairmont San Francisco, Palace Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Loews Regency San Francisco, The St. Regis San Francisco, and Taj Campton Place.

I have compiled a list below containing the club lounges available across luxury hotels in San Francisco. I list the ones I consider to be the best at the top. I will review each of these San Francisco hotel club lounges in detail so that you know what you will get if you book a room with club lounge access.

1. Ritz-Carlton San Francisco

In first place is the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, which is an excellent luxury hotel in San Francisco and one of the best earn and burn Marriott Bonvoy point hotels in the city. Ritz-Carlton Club Levels tend to be a step above the rest and pretty brilliant, with 5 rather than 3 food offerings in a day and more than enough to fill you up. The lounge at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco is pictured above.

This Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge is elegant with a grey-navy color scheme and cream walls. It is very stylish and intimate and could not be compared to something like a Marriott MClub lounge. This Ritz-Carlton lounge is the real deal and offers true luxury. An intricate fireplace sits to one side of the room, and natural light streams in from the windows on the other side. The seating is around dining tables or on comfy sofas.

The view overlooks the San Francisco city skyline and the tranquil courtyard below. Continuous culinary offerings are provided throughout the day, as small dishes of beautifully designed and tasty food. There is a breakfast, a light lunch, evening hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and sweets, accompanied by a full-service Club Concierge. Additional unique offerings include evening hors d’oeuvres inspired by the cuisine of San Francisco’s extraordinary neighborhoods, plus a caviar tasting on Saturdays. You will not go hungry in this lounge, and you will not need to eat out. The food inside is exquisite, and Ritz-Carlton hotels, as a general rule, tend to be a step above the rest.

Each evening in the Club Lounge, Executive Chef Luis Lujan presents hors d’oeuvres inspired by the diverse neighborhoods of San Francisco and the rich culinary regions of the Bay Area:

  • Sunday – North Beach/Little Italy
  • Monday – Union Square
  • Tuesday – The Mission
  • Wednesday – Chinatown
  • Thursday – Japantown
  • Friday – Napa Valley
  • Saturday – Fisherman’s Wharf

An additional nice touch here is a complimentary coffee that will be delivered to your room, upon request, for Club Level guests requesting a wake-up call.

2. Fairmont Heritage Place

The Fairmont Heritage Place is located steps from the waterfront in the old Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory and offers fantastic views of San Francisco Bay. Residences in this all-suite hotel range from one- to three-bedroom suites (850 to 1,900 ft²) with dark wood floors and eclectic furnishings. We like this lounge because of the views, fire pits, and the fact that the lounge is free if you book with our concierge.

Ghirardelli Square offers sophisticated retail shops, wine cafés, and fine dining ranging from scrumptious BBQ to fabulous seafood with a view. Don’t forget dessert at Ghirardelli’s Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop!

Key features of this hotel are that all residences have a sofa bed, so a 1-bedroom will sleep a max of 4 guests at no additional cost. All residences are really big, and even the smallest has a sofa bed so that a 1-bedroom will sleep a max of 4 guests at no additional cost. The staff here will arrange dining reservations and provide free drop-off and pickup anywhere within a 2-mile radius of the property. A continental breakfast is provided in their club lounge, as are coffee and tea throughout the day and wine and cheese in the evenings. The home-away-from-home atmosphere extends to the game lounge and club terraces, where guests congregate around fire pits and enjoy the views.

3. Grand Hyatt San Francisco

The Grand Hyatt is definitely one of the better chain hotel choices in San Francisco. The Grand Club lounge at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco is on the 32nd floor of the 36 story building, which means you can enjoy some great views.

The look inside is modern, with hues of brown and mustard, a sofa area in the middle, and cafeteria-style seating to the side. High bar stools and tables are set up against the windows so that you can enjoy the views while working, eating, or drinking.

The lounge has a coffee machine and a set of refrigerators that hold juices, sodas, water, and even yogurts. Both of these are available throughout the day.

For breakfast, there is a huge array of pastries, including muffins, cakey bread, croissants, and some pastries with fruit in the middle, along with cereals in mini boxes including Raisin Bran, Cheerios, and Frosted Flakes, and a variety of juices. There is a large bowl of smoked salmon next to the savory bagels and bread for toasting, and there are tomatoes, onions, and cream cheese to go with these. There is a big fruit bowl with apples, oranges, bananas, chopped melon strawberries, and, strangely, a lump of cheese on a wooden platter in the fruit area. There’s ham and other meats, tomato, and salad to go with your scrambled egg.

In the afternoon, the fruit bowl remains out, and a big bowl of various cookies is available, which can go with all the drinks on the refrigerator and the coffee from the coffee machine.

You can have alcoholic drinks from the honor bar in the evening, which are very cheap at around $2 USD for a beer and $3 USD for a glass of wine. The canapés are squirts of cream cheese with salmon or meat on small pastry bases and salad items, including raw broccoli, celery, carrot, and tomatoes with dips. There is plenty of cheese, and the highlight is two large and plentiful hot options, including vegetarian pasta and chicken pasta in tomato sauce, which would be more than enough to fill you up in the evening.

There is very little between meal times, but this is definitely one of the better lounges of the chain hotels, and the fact that evening canapés and decent main dishes are offered is a much better food spread than, for example, the JW Marriot, which only offers breakfast in the lounge and shuts on the weekend. Of course, the Ritz-Carlton and the Fairmont outlined above are more luxurious and better options, but this is always considered in the price.

Book an Executive lounge access room and get lounge access included in your rate. Book the Grand Hyatt San Francisco via our luxury travel concierge to get a better deal.

4. San Francisco Marriott Marquis

Another option for earning and burning Marriott Bonvoy points in San Francisco (in addition to the Ritz-Carlton) is the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Union Square, which is another reasonably luxury hotel in San Francisco. The Marquis is located one block from the main thoroughfare through San Francisco and by Union Square and is a category eight Bonvot hotel that costs 40,000 Marriot points per night for around $400 USD in cash.

The Marquis San Francisco has a club lounge with very decent food, which puts it above the JW Marriott below, which is a decent choice and has been newly refurbished but only offers a limited breakfast in the club lounge.

At the Marquis, you are spoiled! Breakfasts include hot scrambled eggs, hot scrambled egg whites, smoked bacon and a potato dish, a hot porridge dish, plenty of fruit and yogurts as well as croissants, pan au chocolate, muffins, and bread.

Evening canapes are also very good here with cheese plates, large vats of fish in a sauce that you can put into a bowl, lots of greens, soup, as well as a large selection of fruit and strawberries. Cookies, muffins, brownies, cupcakes, and sweet pastries follow this. There is also beer and wine available at cost.

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, and Ambassador Elite — plus one guest — can enjoy access as part of their Elite benefits. Any additional guests may be purchased for an additional charge.

5. JW Marriott San Francisco

An option for earning and burning Marriott Bonvoy points in San Francisco (in addition to the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott Marquis) is the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE, which is a reasonable luxury hotel in San Francisco and has been recently refurbished.

It offers good food in the restaurant and a nicer refurbished look; the rooms are marginally better than those at the St. Regis. But the service is very average, bordering on the bad, in a sea of rather mediocre San Francisco hotels.

The club lounge here is nice but busy, nothing like the one at the Ritz-Carlton. Get out your elbows and try and grab some egg and fruit before it’s gone. Not a relaxing experience. Breakfast is mediocre, and there is no happy hour at this JW, plus the lounge closes at weekends. If you have breakfast included in your rate, you can also try the restaurant downstairs, but the experience isn’t a whole lot better with waits for tables and slow service.

The best rooms at this hotel are on the west side on the high floors, as there is little to no street noise and there’s an ocean breeze. This is an important point (noise) as all the windows are single-paned and sometimes leak cold air and noise into the room.

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, and Ambassador Elite — plus one guest — can enjoy access as part of their Elite benefits. Any additional guests may be purchased for an additional charge.

6. InterContinental San Francisco

InterContinental San Francisco is tall and has breathtaking views. It opened in 2008 and stands at one of the most strategic locations in the city. Its South of the Market location makes it easy for leisure and business travelers, with Union Square just a short walk away. Powell Street station is also about a 5-minute walk away. Its facilities also include a pool and a 24-hour gym.

The rooms here are slightly dated, but the panoramic views cannot be argued with. They look out over the famous San Francisco skyline thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows. If you can snag a corner room, the views here are staggering, with glass on two sides of the room.

One of the Intercontinental San Francisco highlights is its club lounge with continental breakfast, evening cocktails, plus hot soup, afternoon tea, hor oeuvres (evening cocktails), and late-evening desserts. The club lounge itself isn’t very big, but it has sweeping views of the San Francisco skyline from the floor-to-ceiling windows. There’s also a useful PC and printing station in one corner.

The food selection during evening cocktails is good but limited and is unlikely to fill you up. Book an Executive lounge access room and get lounge access included in your rate.

7. InterContinental Mark Hopkins

A great option for earning and burning ihg points in San Francisco is InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco, which is a mediocre luxury hotel in San Francisco with a more traditional in design than the “Intercontinental San Fransisco” outlined above. The location is in a clean and safe neighborhood with no homeless issues, but it is quite far from where you would probably want to tour if you are a tourist here.

The building, a classic Depression-era building with sweeping views of the city and bay, is at the top of Nob Hill. You need to like the exercise of walking up hills to stay here. Chinatown, Financial District, Union Square, and Fisherman’s Wharf are all an easy, if hilly, walk away. Unlike the vicinity of the hotel, Union Square does not feel safe.

The rooms here are disappointing and feel old and dated, and their club lounge is on the lobby floor, so it has no views. The lounge is traditional in design, clean, and quiet. Not ultra-stylish, but then neither is the lounge at the other InterContinental in San Fransisco. Still, the food is good and of decent quality, and you can about fill yourself up with the evening offering, but the array isn’t huge.

Breakfast includes a large buffet of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, cereal, pastries, and fruit. Soup of the Day is served until the afternoon, followed by Afternoon Team Hors d’Oeuvres (evening cocktails), culminating with late evening desserts.

When comparing InterContinental San Francisco vs. Mary Hopkins, the more modern InterContinental is, the nicer overall. The Mark Hopkins is a fairly old hotel with dated, depressing rooms, and it is in a less convenient location for getting around as it is a long walk from most things. The club lounge is also slightly better at InterContinental San Francisco because of the views, although the food on offer is comparative and good at both. Finally, the facilities are pretty poor at the Mary Hopkins IC. The InterContinental San Francisco has a nice 24-hour gym and pool.

Note: Benefits & upgrades subject to availability. Benefits offered correct at the time of writing. Terms & conditions apply. Enquire for more information. Benefits offered correct at the time of writing but may be amended at discretion of the vendor. Posts may be sponsored by the proprietor or brand being appraised. All opinions remain our own & are in no way influenced.