Dinogo Readers’ Top 5 Hotel Picks in San Francisco for 2024

San Francisco is continually evolving, currently experiencing one of its most significant urban revitalizations. The Presidio Tunnel Tops, which opened two years ago, has rapidly become a key access point to the Presidio National Park Site and offers stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Additionally, Yerba Buena Island has recently unveiled new parks and hiking trails that had been inaccessible for many years. Despite being a bustling urban center spanning 46.7 square miles, nearly 20% of the City by the Bay is comprised of green spaces, ensuring that every resident can reach a park within a 10-minute walk.

How the Voting Process Works

For our annual World's Best Awards survey, T+L invites readers to share their insights on travel experiences worldwide — including their favorites among hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. In 2024, over 186,000 T+L readers participated in the survey, casting a total of more than 700,000 votes across 8,700+ properties (including hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).

Hotels were categorized as resort hotels, city hotels, inns, or safari lodges based on their location and amenities, and were evaluated according to the following criteria:

Room and facilities
Location
Customer service
Dining
Overall value

For each attribute, participants could rate it as excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The overall scores are calculated as averages of these ratings.

Highlights from Readers

Readers selected Hotel Zephyr as their favorite hotel in San Francisco, finding it a delightful surprise located in Fisherman’s Wharf. Unlike the other hotels on the list, which were primarily around the Union Square and Embarcadero areas, this hotel has built a strong reputation over nearly nine years as an "amazing and unique hotel," according to guests, offering a "wonderful ambiance" as a “family-friendly option” right next to Pier 39 and close to Alcatraz Island.

Two Four Seasons hotels made the top ranks: Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero (No. 2) and Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco (No. 5). The former occupies the top 11 floors of a 48-story building, while the latter is centrally located on Market Street. Readers praised the Beacon Grand, a Union Square Hotel — which opened in 1928 as the Sir Francis Drake Hotel and was refurbished in 2022 — for being "beautifully remodeled" and in an "excellent" location, with one guest stating it “captures the essence of San Francisco.”

The Champion

Hotel Zephyr

Image courtesy of Hotel Zephyr

This Fisherman’s Wharf hotel has a vibrant charm that has quietly earned its place at the top of San Francisco's rankings since its opening in 2015. The hotel features 361 rooms, and while its design showcases a shipyard-chic aesthetic, it’s the upcycled elements, like cargo containers and maritime relics, that truly stand out. Guests rave about the courtyard, which includes four fire pits where they can relax and enjoy a complimentary s’mores kit while mingling with others. Activities like shuffleboard, Connect Four, foosball, and a maze in the courtyard, along with a game room equipped with a pool table, ping pong, and a photobooth, add to the fun. Visitors appreciate the “fun and vibrant atmosphere” and have called it the “coolest hotel experience” they’ve had, complete with “great views of the Bay and exciting activities,” making it an “awesome destination.”