March 15, 2004 -- If you're one of those people who can afford to stay in a hotel for a week or more (through luck, hard work, inheritance or whatever), you already know, of course, that you should negotiate lower nightly rates on that basis alone. This is not always possible, but when it is, be prepared for significant savings. (We won't even think of monthly rates in these stressed-out times!)
San Francisco's summer is a busy one, starting already, according to one hotelier, but a year-round rate of $590 a week applies for a double room at the Halcyon Hotel, just three blocks from Union Square. Built in 1912, the refurbished hotel is in the theater district at the square and close to Chinatown, North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, the Financial District and the Castro, in a safe and comfortable neighborhood, they say. Each of the 25 efficiency-studio rooms is fully furnished and includes private bath with shower, digital phone, voice mail and data ports, unlimited free local calls, color cable TV, wet bar with fridge, coffee maker and toaster, microwave, dinnerware, safe, on-site laundry and more. You get a private doorbell and address if you want to make your stay into a real temporary residence, and there is coded door entry in the evenings. The quoted price works out to just over $84 a night. Call them at 800/627-2396 or visit www.halcyonsf.com.
Also in San Francisco are two sister hotels, the Alisa and Olympic, on opposite neighborhood sides of Union Square, with weekly rates that vary summer and winter. At either hotel a deluxe room with a queen-sized bed and private bath rounds out to about $280 to $450 per week in summer and fall, about $280-$350 in winter and spring. Even cheaper would be a standard double, with shared bathroom, costing about $210 to $300 per week in summer and fall, $180 to $240 per week in winter and spring. The quoted prices for the deluxe queen work out to around $40 to $64 per night in summer or fall, less in winter or spring. The Alisa (once a German bakery) is one block east of the square, and has daily rates of $79 to $89 for the deluxe queen rooms, $69 to $89 for the standard doubles. Contact the Alisa at 800/956-4322 or at www.alisahotel.com. The Olympic opened in 1917 but was refurbished in 1995. The daily rates at the Olympic run from $49 to $99 for shared baths, $69 to $159 for private baths, depending on season. Contact them at www.olympichotelsf.com or by phoning 800/643-5333.
Low-Tariff Tinsel Town
"Cheap and clean" is how one local outfit describes the Little Tokyo Hotel in Los Angeles. Just across from Japan Village Plaza in the Little Tokyo area of the city, the eponymous hotel has rates that are just $40 a day, $240 a week, saving $40 right away. (If you stay a month at $450, you'll save around $750!) It's so popular, locals say, that you need advance reservations, and they are already sold out for the next two weeks. Contact them at 213/617-0128 (the front desk says "only the owner knows" if they have a website, and he was not available when we phoned).
Condos on Maui
Weekly and monthly rates are available for condos almost anywhere in the USA, but here's just one example to get you thinking: in Kihei, Maui, a condo hotel room consisting of one bedroom and one bathroom, sleeping two, with 24-hour kitchen accessibility, costs just $385 per week, which works out to around $55 per night. The site is just across the street from a beach, with golf and windsurfing nearby. Contact them at www.a1vacations.com (note that's a number one, not an "l" in the address).
