The Opal - San Francisco, USA 

First off, the hotel said it wouldn't be charging our card at all when they ran it upon our arrival. Yet, immediately a $394 hold showed up on it. The second night of our stay, a $208 hold showed up on our card. Around $600 of pending debits that threw our debit card into an unexpected tizzy. We later found out that some of the charges were a $250 fee for smoking in a non-smoking room. We don't smoke!!!!! When we spoke to the manager we found out that housekeeping had "busted" us. Oddly enough, we had the Do Not Disturb sign on our door for the duration of our stay and housekeeping had never even been in our room. We finally got the manager to reverse the $250 fee but it was quite an ordeal. We left a bag full of souveneirs (spelling?) at the hotel. When we called to see if they found it and could send it to us, they said it was nowhere to be found. Being that we checked everywhere else, we wonder if housekeeping or the staff is now enjoying our expensive sweatshirts and trinkets. Also, the $28 a night parking fee is outrageous. They charge $25 and then a $3 tax. We didn't have time to do research on hotels since we booked it in a hurry BUT we have done research since then and other hotels do not have such outrageous parking fees. All in all, we will NEVER stay at this hotel again and we will warn everyone who listens to avoid it as well.

We loved the Opal! It was clean. VERY close to public transportation. Extremely helpful and pleasant desk staff. Tea and Coffee in lobby 24/7. Free internet! A perfectly adequate Continental Breakfast. Plenty of places nearby to eat. We were given an upgrade to a king bed, which was great. Our room had plenty of storage. Fellow travelers had a junior Suite that was really nice. There were homeless people in the area, but hey, it's a big city. I grew up in Philadelphia and this did not bother us in the least. We booked at the Opal website and obtained an AAA rate of $96 a night. Well worth it. We found the Opal to be a really nice experience and would stay there again in a heartbeat!