Hotel Des Arts

Reviews

• MG

  Michelle Giarmarco

  3 days ago
  5.0
  Had an amazing stay at Hotel des Arts and would enthusiastically stay here again. Incredible location at the nexus of Union Square, Chinatown, North Beach, and the Tenderloin. Cool, retrofitted 1914 building with an eclectic display of art and truly unique rooms. The building is over a century old so manage your expectations, but it seems well-maintained and cleaning staff were around every day. The stairs are narrow and the elevator is an old-timey experience! Rooms are small but fine for a couple. Note that "Economy" rooms share a bathroom on the floor hostel-style, and "Standard" rooms include a private bath. Reliable wifi, but there may be just a few outlets in your room; bring a travel adapter or power strip if you need to plug in many things. If you like a soft bed you'll sleep like a baby here; bring earplugs if you're sensitive to mild-moderate street noise, but it was pretty quiet overnight. Showers get boiling hot with great water pressure. There are radiators but no central A/C. I was on the 3rd floor & it got into the 80s during my stay, but I never got sweaty & none of my chocolate melted. Cool at night, the old windows open, and the room was equipped with a fan. I checked in on a Wednesday afternoon when the front desk was staffed and had no problem getting my key (the app didn't seem to be working?). If you're coming in outside of business hours I recommend calling/messaging 1-2 days ahead to get specific instructions for key pickup. Highly recommend this place for folks who appreciates old buildings & weird art. It's a great a landing pad for exploring the best of SF without a car!
• BI

  Bobby I

  4 days ago
  1.0
  This place is a dive … The advertising in the pictures they use are deceiving. The place is really rundown and the worst part of it was the room. No modern features except the TV. Some dim lighting but no modern lighting. The bathroom door knob fell off in my hand. The room only had one outlet in an inconvenient place. It felt old and un cared for …the elevator was a trip … the art ok in the halls but sporty in the room….rhe location rocks and there was garage parking just three blocks away for $22 a night which is super cheap in SF. Overall, if you can find something in a similar price range grab it this place is in real hard-core decline. I’m not a hater and I give praise when do. The concept is super cool, which drew me in, but the execution sucks.. nobody was in hotel when I checked in at the desk. Keys are digital on your phone, which is pretty cool. Cheers.
• SW

  Shane Wynn

  5 days ago
  4.0
  We only briefly stopped through San Francisco so this was a perfect little nook in the city to be close to everything. Parking was easy, just go to one of the garages either just before or a few blocks away, and you're withing easy walking distance (I mean like a minute to two minutes). We did have to download an app as part of check in so heads up there. The rooms are humble but felt clean. The water in the toilet was rusty but a couple flushes and it ran, that's pretty normal for old buildings so I wasn't worried, no funky smells, sheets are clean, loved all the paintings in the room and along the halls. VERY tight staircase xD it was a very fun adventure! I will say...no AC but the room was just...a little warm? we were traveling at the end of Sept/1st week of October. Maybe there was AC and we didn't see. The staff was very friendly and helpful when we rolled up.
• SZ

  Stacy Z.

  6 days ago
  5.0
  For a 2 star hotel this place was great. Located on Bush off Grant, it's right at the entrance to Chinatown which leads you directly into North Beach and it also borders the financial district. I made sure to book a room with a private bath otherwise you share, um no. Room was cute and had a walk in closet Perfect. Walls are thin so I heard a phone conversation next door but my room was one of two down a hall so I think we were mostly on our own. Some construction during the day but always quiet at night, we never heard traffic noise or anything at all from the bar located at the back of the hotel lobby. Continental breakfast was a joke you can make yourself toast but they don't provide butter? But there are plenty of food options in every direction. Try the Haraz coffee on the corner of Bush and Kearney, the absolute best.
• VT

  Violet Tao

  6 days ago
  1.0
  🆘 HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED 🆘 From the very first day I moved in, I noticed that the ancient elevator looked like it was long overdue for maintenance. The walls are literally paper-thin. You can hear every single word of your neighbors’ conversations and whatever they’re watching on TV. On my very first day, the entire building suddenly lost its water supply without any prior notice or warning. I ended up having to attend a meeting with a client without even being able to take a shower. But honestly, at that point, these were just red flags to me. Unfortunately, I caught a terrible flu on my second day here and was too sick to go outside. I ended up spending 72 hours straight in that space, not knowing that this was just the beginning of a complete nightmare. ⬇️⬇️⬇️ 🤢 THE DISGUSTING SMELL The entire building reeks of an overwhelming combination of disinfectant, mold, and paint. It honestly feels like they’re fully aware of how serious their pest and mold problems are, so they try to cover everything up with excessive amounts of disinfectant. The result? An absolutely disgusting smell. The odors gave me terrible headaches. Even after moving out, I could still smell that place on my skin. Interestingly, my headaches stopped almost immediately after I left, which makes me strongly suspect that the paint fumes inside the room were causing them. 💀 THE CREEPY AND DISTURBING WALL ART Honestly, the owner must have a seriously twisted mind. I cannot understand why anyone would think it’s acceptable to force paying guests to sleep surrounded by such creepy and disturbing imagery. The entire sleeping area is covered in bizarre murals featuring incomplete facial features and aggressively saturated colors. Outside the room, there’s a partially covered mirror featuring what looks like a human face being swallowed, with the words “I love U” written on it. And it gets even creepier. When you turn off the lights, random symbols painted with fluorescent paint suddenly appear on the walls. The drawings look incredibly careless, like random lines a child scribbled on a wall. These creepy symbols were so disturbing that they genuinely made me feel nauseous. These are the kinds of things that would scare people even if you left them on the street. WHY would anyone force paying guests to sleep surrounded by them? You call this ART? This is an absolute insult to art. Please stop disguising poor maintenance and a lack of basic upkeep as some kind of artistic concept. This feels like using “art” as an excuse to charge people money for a poorly maintained space. My illness wasn’t even that severe at first, but the disgusting smells and disturbing artwork made me physically throw up TWICE. 🚨 FINAL VERDICT I strongly recommend that absolutely NO ONE stay here. This place is so creepy, uncomfortable, and unpleasant that I genuinely believe it could negatively affect even a perfectly healthy person’s mental well-being. Even if you’re traveling on a budget, PLEASE just stay somewhere farther away. At least you might have a better chance of finding parking. Speaking of which, parking around this property is EXTREMELY limited. Save yourself the money, the stress, and the nightmare. Stay somewhere else. Update: They advertised this room as en-suite on their website, but the bathroom is actually shared! The toilet and shower are in separate rooms, and the toilet doesn’t even have a sink. You literally have to walk back to your own room just to wash your hands after using the toilet.

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