Archive for the ‘Kimpton Hotels’ Category

My husband and I have always been huge fans of the Kimpton Hotels. One of our favorites just happens to be the Hotel Palomar in San Francisco. 

Recommended Resort:  The Hotel Palomar.  Centrally located at Fourth and Market, this beautiful hotel serves as a great starting point to get to anywhere in San Francisco. It’s within walking distance to MOMA, Moscone Center and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. 

If shopping’s more your thing, the Palomar’s just a hop, skip and a jump to some of the best shopping on the West Coast including Bloomingdale’s (when are we getting a Bloomingdale’s in Sacramento?!), and it’s a very brief walk to Union Square and all of the wonderful shops that make up this fabulous shopping district.

Every one of the Kimpton Hotels is themed — and the theme behind the Palomar revolves around art:  “Art in Motion.” Not only is it artfully decorated — the pattern of the parquet floors of the lobby, elevators and lounge are reminiscent of an M.C. Escher painting — but all of the of meeting rooms (3,000+ square feet of meeting space) are artfully named:  Gallery, Zeum, de Young Boardroom and MOMA.

The decor of the hotel was created by Cheryl Rowley and Bob LoCoeur with a touch of whimsy and dose of Paris. Each of the 198 guestrooms is spacious and extremely well-appointed with complimentary in-room Internet, iPod docking stations, flat screen TVs, DVD and CD Players, luxurious Frette linens and L’Occitane bath products.

And talk about other amenities and services:  in-room TV fitness programs, complimentary yoga baskets, complimentary morning coffee and tea, and one of our very favorites… the hosted evening wine hour! 

Oh, and did we mention that they’re pet-friendly?  Each room is equipped with its own pet goldfish to keep guests company during their stay — we named ours Fred. And, their resident chocolate lab, Maverick, greets guests of both the human and furry kind alike and generally watches over things in his doggie bed placed directly behind the front desk — he even has his own business cards (his title is “Director of Pet Relations…how fitting!) and encourages guests to support a local pet rescue, the Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue (labrescue.org).

Check in:   Hotel Palomar, 12 Fourth Street, San Francisco. 415-348-1111, hotelpalomar-sf.com

Check Out:   The wine list at the Fifth Floor Restaurant & Lounge. It’s extremely comprehensive, if not just a little intimidating, featuring more than 800 wines hand-selected by Master Sommelier Emily Wines. Also, their menu…Chef David Bazirgan creates a daily New American menu to showcase the day’s best ingredients. It’s sublime!

Don’t Miss:  The In-Room Spa Services. Truly, if all the delights of San Francisco weren’t calling, it would be easy to just  baracade yourself inside your room at the Palomar. But perhaps we can suggest in between your arts adventures and your shopping treks, to enjoy a little R&R courtesy of the In-Room Spa Services offered at the Palomar.

From facials to body treatments to massages, they’ll pamper you to the point of wanting to curl up in your comfy bed and nap the afteroon away. So be sure to do it on a day where you’ve got time built into your agenda for a nap!

And, last, but not least, we have to mention the staff. The staff at every Kimpton property is always warm and welcoming, but we have a special affection for the folks at the Palomar. It doesn’t matter if a guest has stayed once or returns again and again — each guest is greated as if they were an old friend. The staff goes out of their way to make sure that you’re treated personally, that you’re comfortable and that your stay is as enjoyable as it possibly can be. And truly, after you’ve stayed at the Palomar, you’ll want to return again and again.

Want more honeymoon ideas? Check out our other Mini-Moon and Honeymoon Blog Posts!

Blog Post by Editor/Publisher Wendy Sipple.

Photos courtesy of Hotel Palomar.

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