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Reviews of The Herbert Hotel

2.5 out of 5
The Herbert Hotel
161 Powell Street, San Francisco, CA

Reviews

7.2

Good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 235 out of 1000 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 383 out of 1000 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 192 out of 1000 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 91 out of 1000 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 99 out of 1000 reviews" "

7.8/10

Cleanliness

7.6/10

Staff & service

6.6/10

Amenities

7.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

7.2/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Alexandru

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nice little hotel, basic conditions .great location
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Peter

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The front desk staff EXCELLENT easy fast ✔️ in everything in the room and hotel is brand new fully refurbished with NEW EVERYTHING CLEAN SMELL GREAT BED DOWN PILLOWS AND COMFORTDOR GREAT MAID SERVICE I ABSOLUTELY LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PLACE
Stayed 12 nights in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Cristian

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Every is fine , just need privacy.

2/10 Terrible

Jake

Business traveler
Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Could only stomach staying 1 night. Went for a conference and didnt know it also had permanent residents. When I went to sleep I was awoken every 10-15 min to the sound of a man screaming the floor below. When I called the front desk they said that resident had been a problem for years. The hotel was able to re-book me at a sister hotel but DO NOT STAY HERE.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Mossy

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was exceedingly good value for money, and really, really clean. A good central location a block down from Union Square. Unfortunately another guest spent all night roaring and shouting so sleep was difficult. I would go back again, it was a good base to tour from
Stayed 7 nights in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Vincent

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Small space, but fine for business oriented trips.
Stayed 7 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

GREGORY

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Clean remodeled interior of hotel, good price, cable TV lacking channels. Close to shopping and cable cars. Staff very helpful
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Claire

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Jorge

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
A truly iconic hotel to stay at. The property is well maintained and clean. While there is no concierge at the lobby, check in is at a hotel a block away. Located a block from Union Square, it makes it a very centric location. My only negative was the night commotions of the locals. Lots of shouting and noise. I had to close my window. Aside from that, I enjoyed my stay at Herbert Hotel.

8/10 Good

Gordon

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Certainly it is very bare bones basic, as you must expect for a budget hotel and unless you pay more you need to use the shower and toilet down the hall, something which seems to have been lost on a lot of people reviewing the Herbert. It's also required to check in at the Stratford, which is half a block up Powell Street, which some find off-putting but it didn't bother me at all. I was on the 7th floor, it was very quiet, the bed was comfortable and I slept well. The location is about as central as you can get, the BART, F-Line and cable cars. I would not only stay here again but would recommend it to anyone who doesn't expect a chocolate on the pillow when staying at a hotel...
Stayed 5 nights in Jan 2024

2/10 Terrible

Mai

I didn’t like this hotel because this hotel is very hard to find a parking to park I was looking for a parking for 1 hours I almost get car crash. I don’t like this hotel that they doesn’t have bathrooms inside the room also the one near my room are so loud we can’t sleep for the whole night
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

John

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 6 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Timothy

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 7 nights in Dec 2023

2/10 Terrible

Jun Young

Business traveler
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
They didnt change the towel and clean my room even I told cleaner to clean my room. Service SUCKS
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2023

6/10 Okay

Alex

Business traveler
Liked: Staff & service, room comfort
Good basic accommodations
The hotel was updated about 10 years ago with nice decor. My room was very basic and in need of maintenance. There was a faint Chinese food odor but I couldn't identify the source. Main advantage was being close to downtown and the Moscone Center.
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Ian

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Easy location to lots of transport options.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2023

8/10 Good

Maria

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities

6/10 Okay

Martha

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Meh
The location was excellent! The room was clean and comfortable and quiet. I was not clear about what it meant that the bathroom was not in the room but down the hall. The in room coffee setup was incomplete. The antique heater was not working properly and no instructions were provided to operate it. We had to call to have the trash taken away.
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2023

4/10 Poor

Claudia

Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Things to keep in mind: No staffed lobby on property site. To check in or even be able to talk to anyone about your reservation, you have to walk up a block to a different hotel to do all of that. Had to call the hotel to figure this out after half an hour of not seeing any staff at all. I stayed in a standard room, which thankfully did come with a personal bathroom (rather than shared). But it was a very small, old room. Very stuffy. Window had no safety, you could open it and fall out - very dangerous. TV is old. Only about 5 channels available, very grainy image. My towels had blonde hair all over them. The mattress.. so bouncy with no support, you sink into it. I left with a bad back ache. Walls are thin and I could hear the people next door watching TikTok all night. I only stayed for two nights, just a quick trip which was a good thing. For a longer stay, I don’t recommend. Only thing I can say is the hotel is in a very convenient location - Walgreens and Starbucks right next door, with Union Square right up the street and Muni station a street down.

6/10 Okay

Fernando

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

6/10 Okay

c

Liked: Room comfort
Disliked: Staff & service
Not a real hotel - a dormitory
I’m not sure this counts as a real Hotel: the check-in desk in the photo is just a prop - you have to check-in and pick up a key from the Stratford Hotel nearby. They also don’t make up the room every day, or allow baggage storage after check-out. Other than that it’s fine - the location is great.
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Luc

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Location, location, location... Wonderful stay at the Herbert !
Stayed 7 nights in Nov 2023

4/10 Poor

Marcus

Traveled with partner
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
No staff in building, no security at all. Had to go across the street to check in.
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2023

2/10 Terrible

Juyong

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
I don't want to share bathroom.
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

8/10 Good

Udoka

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Just needed a place to sleep. It was more than enough. Can't complain
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

John

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very clean, nice, and basic hotel. It does the job, and is a good value for the price
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Geoffrey

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
It’s the Union Square’s best kept secret.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Amanda

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
many reviews say that the herbert hotel is dirty or give the area a bad rep but i do not agree! the area is not bad at all. i picked this place because it’s very cheap for the area! we got the standard room and the bed was comfy, the sheets and room were spotless and we felt safe. i will say that the remote didn’t work for the tv but maybe it was a battery issue. there are buttons on the tv. don’t be alarmed if the bathroom is connected to another room, they cannot access it in the other side. the stratford hotel is where you check in and it’s literally across the street, you’ll be fine. 9 minute walk from SFMOMA! walgreens and cvs are around the corner. the fashion district, coffee shops and bars/good eats are all walking distance! i highly recommend this stay.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

8/10 Good

NOEL

Liked: Cleanliness
Accessible to public transportation and to convenience stores...
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Rebecca

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
A great location for the price and surprisingly quiet (we were on the 7th floor). It is exactly what it says - a no frills but comfortable stay, staff at the other hotel you check in at were amazingly helpful and there is a convenient shop across the road to store your bags for the day on check out if you aren’t ready to leave the city yet. Would highly recommend as a base for sight seeing and would stay again
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Aseaya

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Check in was a bit weird having to go to another hotel to checkin. But the other hotel is the sister hotel it's very close, opposite side of the street. A third of the block up. We were on the 7th floor with is the top floor so that was a plus. Some of these rooms share a bathroom with the room next door so make sure you know which option you are getting. The only complaint I had was the bed sheet were not the cleanest, there were stains on them. Other then that everything was perfect, the location was the best we walked to pier 39, Russian Hill, China town little Italy the walks took between 29 and 40 mins. Hills are steep and Trolly runs right in front of hotel on Powell Street.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2023

2/10 Terrible

Megan

Stayed 5 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Joy

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I liked the apparent history of the property. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the city.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

4/10 Poor

Zaid, Buffalo

Business traveler
Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It’s a hostel not a hotel
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Julie

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great location to explore the city - would stay here again!
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Martin

Stayed 5 nights in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Loreen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Tout était au top! Je suis restée deux nuits et je n’ai aucuns problèmes. Très propre, très bien placé, le personnel est très accueillant et à l’écoute.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Gerald

Business traveler
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Good Service
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Katy

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Overall, easy barebones hotel. We only interacted with one staff member on check in. No amenities but great location. We had no safety issues and could get anywhere around town. Would stay there again.

6/10 Okay

Maria

Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

6/10 Okay

J

Liked: Staff & service
Check-in process was fast with friendly staff at nearby hotel sister (same street and 2 minutes walk). We choose a standard room with restroom/shower share facilities.There is a sink in the room with a kettle and 2 coffee/tea sachets.Also has a fan which kind of helps to cool down a bit as the room was on the 7th floor and very warm/hot. Toilets and showers were cleaned and never had to queue. There is also a TV with no many channels.You can not connect to YouTube/Netflix/Amazon. The corridor seems like it was not hoovered every day and the smell was a put off. There is a lift and when coming/leaving the building please make sure the door is locked to avoid homeless entering.
Stayed 6 nights in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

David

Liked: Staff & service, room comfort
Good place to stay
Location is great, lots of near store Quiet and warm room Toilet was not adjusted properly and water was leaking.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

4/10 Poor

Justin

Traveled with partner
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
You have to check-in at another hotel a block away, took 5 hours to get clean towels and the hotel rooms do not have air conditioning. You have to leave your window open so air circulates and enjoy the homeless screaming on the streets all night.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2023

4/10 Poor

Breanna

Traveled with partner
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I had low expectations going in as it is an affordable hotel in the area, but the only good thing about this place was that it was decently clean. Negatives include: no face/wash clothes, no hand soap (we ended up using the shower gel), very uncomfortable beds, very small and uncomfortable pillows, no ac and no screens on the windows that only open a few inches for minimal air flow and no housekeeping to ask for more towels as the two small ones left at check in were all we had during our stay. There are also no staff on the premise. You check in 1/2 a block away at a different hotel. They also do not have bag storage but for $8/bag there is a gift shop a block away that you can apparently store your luggage at if needed. One night our toilet in our room stopped flushing luckily a sister hotel to the Herbert had 24hr staff and sent a maintenance man over who was able to fix it.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

2/10 Terrible

Kar

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Building so shady, smells, and dark. I don’t feel safe at all when being shown the room
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

6/10 Okay

Matias

Traveled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

Maria

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Excellent location, close to restaurants, transportation and shopping
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

6/10 Okay

Richard

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities
Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very plain and sparsely furnished. No maid service unless requested.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Alberto Antonio

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023