Nice but noisy

This is a very charming hotel in a great location. Our room was very large and accommodated us and our two teenage daughters very well. The bathroom however was tiny and the extractor fan did not work.

The happy hour is a great idea, we met interesting fellow guests and shared some good Napa Valley wine over a chat on several evenings.

This hotel would have rated an excellent review had it not been for the pantomime of trying to sleep. On one occasion the antiquated AC system made such a racket that we had to call the desk to complain. This resulted in someone coming to our room at 3am to open our window and place sponges on top of the unit outside - apparently the unit from upstairs was leaking on to ours and this was the method of fixing the problem, When it occurred the next night we were able to "fix" it ourselves! There was no appology for the inconvenience.

Beware also that fellow guests who get up early are clearly heard using the facilities and their footsteps overhead are very disturbing

Montecello, peaceful, friendly, out of the way helpful

We booked the Montecello Inn through an airline package. After we got the package and looked at room accomadations in print I knew we would need bigger beds. Called the hotel, found none available. On check in, we talked with the reservationist and she agreed that indeed we would need bigger beds to accommodate my bigger guys. I have a son who is 6'6'' and the first night he kept turning over and activating the touch lamps on either side of the bed. The hotel personell found us a larger room-----fabulous at no charge to us. The evening wind tasting was really fun, the staff turned us on to some great local restaurants, they were friendly and even had one of their employees chase down a cab for us. A gem of a staff and a great location for a hotel. We would do it again.

Lovely stay

We stayed here for 3 nights in June 2004. It was quite nice. The room was cute and had a good sitting area. The bathroom was small but functional. The decor was nice and the lobby was beautiful. The location is awesome; lots within walking distance and near cable cars, subway, etc. Would definitely stay here again.

Decent pretty much sums it up

First, the plusses: 1) Very good rate can be found on one of the various hotel sites; 2) convenient location near BART/Muni, Union Square and shopping; 3) complimentary wine happy hour between 5 and 6pm (and they do mean hour - bottles are removed at the stroke of 6).

Negatives: 1) Overpowering wallpaper and bedspread; 2) "environmental-friendly bathroom" meaning skimping on shampoos, soaps, etc.; 3) limited selection of TV channels (admit it, we all spend some time in our room watching TV regardless of the city).

Worst of all, there's construction taking place across the street with work crews starting around 7am, including Saturday. Not good if you want to sleep in.

Problems when booking online

We were two friends, male and female (not partners) travelling together. Upon arrival at the hotel we were told that there was not a room available with two beds, although this is what we had booked. An offer was made to provide a camping bed, but four nights on a camping bed would have made our holiday memorable for all the wrong reasons. We ended up paying for a second room. The receptionist told us that whilst efforts were made to provide what was booked, the hotel were under no obligation to honour the reservation made through a reservation service. My advice would be to book with the hotel direct if you can. The hotel really did not come up to expectations. There was no complimentary continental breakfast, although this is advertised. The best that can be said is that the rooms were clean and the location was excellent.

Would definately stay again

Overall a whacky place to stay! The book readings on wednesdays are brilliant. Apparrantly the first wednesday of the month has "Wild women writers" group which is apparrantly mad. We saw a lovely 70 year old lady who has started a standup comediens course at college and was a self published writer. She was great. Free wine too - agreat start!

Pucciniand Pinetti's was great. The most child friendly restaurant with good adult food we went to in San Francisco.(Recommend Crab stuffed Homemade ravioli with sun dried tomato cream sauce-mmmmmm)

There was a huge mess up with our room reservation, family with 2 small kids offered 2 rooms"in the same corridoor" instead of the family room we had booked. However, there had been some sprinkler damage to some rooms during renovation (which is still ongoing) so this is probably just unlucky on our part. We got the right room the next day and a small discount on one night of our stay. Rooms are huge, most now newly decorated. The location is just brilliant. There is a superb record store in the same block, 5 floors of new and 2nd hand records/tapes/cd's in all genres. We found a couple of quite rare CD's we'd been looking for for ages.

Not only would we stay here again, we have already recommended it to friends who often go to san francisco. Its quirky, it has personality, great location and a fab restaurant-need I say more!!

Outstanding Location and Hotel

Spent Easter weekend 2004 at the Monticello and had a great stay. Very caring staff. Great location. Who needs a car when you are a minute away from BART/Muni lines and a short walk from Union Square and Chinatown. Very spacious room. Highly recommend the Monticello Inn.

An overall pleasant stay at this hotel.

I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful interior decor at this cozy hotel. My room was huge and more than satisfactory in terms of cleanliness. Service was prompt and most pleasant. They proved themselves responding to my cry for help with a blocked toilet and the cleanup afterward. Other than for the unlucky plumbing problem it was well worth the price.

Good, solid place, great location

We spent 4 nights at the Monticello in a family room that contained 2 king sized beds. There was plenty of room for our family of 2 adults and 2 teens. The furniture was a little old but quite serviceable. Our room was surprisingly quiet, although we were in a very central location. Generally, the staff was very friendly and helpful.

Our only peeve was that despite emphasizing multiple times that we wanted to stay on a "pet-free floor" and receiving assurances that we were, we heard a dog barking just down the hall from us. Luckily the dog left the next day, because the staff was unable to move us to a different floor.

Overall, we were pleased with the value of the Family Package.

A nice place with great location

I spent a week at the Montecello Inn in July 2002 and found it a very nice 3 star to stay at with a great staff. The rooms were clean and quite, (I had an inside room that faced the inner courtyard, an outside street room may have more noise). I had a comfortable king bed and for one or two the room size was fine, TV had more stations then most places but no HBO. The literary theme and library was a nice touch and the wine receptions with a Wednesday book reading were nice. The best part is the location and price, the Inn is 1/2 block from Powell Street Cable car line (Direct to fisherman's wharf) and 1 block from BART. It is truly in Union Square with tons of places to eat and shop and since I like to eat late I was not hassled by the hordes of homeless in San Francisco, even though you will never avoid them all. The price was under $80 and couldn't be beat. The only thing the hotel did not have was ice machines, drove me nuts! This place is great for business and couples, but I doubt I would bring children since there is nothing for them to do in the hotel.