Touchstone Hotel - San Francisco, USA 

I'd give this property a zero, but they don't offer that option. We booked 2 rooms in for 3 days at the Touchstone because there were no other rooms available in the city at that time (some big convention was going on) and becuase the pictures on the website looked convincing enough to think it was pretty decent. Boy were we wrong. We checked out promptly the next day and by the grace of God (and my Boss chewing our travel agent a new one) we got into a much cleaner, much nicer Holiday Inn The staff was rude, the elevator was barely big enough for 2 people and 2 small bags (we thought we were going to get stuck), the rooms are dirty, dingy and stinky. Part of the ceiling in my room was falling, I had hair and stains on the bedding, hair in the bathroom, red stains which truly appeared to be blood on the curtains, the window to the fire escape did not lock shut, the TV was 11" (but that didn't matter because most of the channels didn't come in). I'm a pretty simply guy, I will stay just about anywhere as long as it's clean and fairly safe, but this place was like staying at the bates motel.

My husband and I have stayed at the Touchstone four or five times, for 2-4 days at a time, and love it. It's simple lodging (the Ritz it is not) but it is many things: very clean, friendly, affordable, reliable, comfortable. The beds are platform beds, but we find them to be fine and have always slept well at this hotel. David's Deli is our favorite breakfast & lunch place. That's actually how we found the hotel!