The Chancellor Hotel on Union Square in San Francisco Celebrates Earth Hour for the 3rd Year

Saturday, March 28th was Earth Hour. That is when 2,140 cities, towns and municipalities symbolically chose to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the world's first global election between Earth and Global Warming. We all turned our lights out for one hour as a symbolic reminder to save energy and help the planet.

Here are some pictures from the Chancellor Hotel's symbolic participation:
Here are pictures of the hotel normally and During Earth Hour

The front desk did just fine in the dark

Even when two young ladies came to check in

The bar was quiet and when the lights went out, it filled up. I was thinking we should have Earth Hour in the bar more often!

Here is the hotel before and during Earth Hour from across the street

The Chancellor Hotel hosts HFTP Dinner and gets a preview of the Eccentrics of San Francisco Show

We hosted the monthly meeting of the Hospitality Financial & Technical Professionals (HFTP) of Northern California last night. Tony Llanos, our new controller, is the vice-president of the chapter.
The night started with cocktails and socializing. Chef Lacy prepared fillet Mignon which was preceded by a delicious mixed green salad with candied walnuts blue cheese and sliced pears. The group ate in the Clipper Ship Room and moved downstairs to the "theater."

The theater group does a great job converting the restaurant space into an intimate room for some fun story telling about the eccentrics of San Francisco mixed with some illusions.

It was an abbreviated show and the first run with an audience so we are all looking forward to the opening in April.

However, the HFTP Group really enjoyed the show and everyone left wanting more.

Welcome some new faces!

Welcome Tony Llanos our new Controller.











Welcome Kristel who will be working at the front desk.

Welcome Ingrid Segarra from Barcelona Spain. Ingrid will be spending a year with us doing her manangement training.

New Floor in the Bar

We finally got rid of the carpet in the bar and put down a nice new floor. We have a lot more to do and hopefully will get it done as we move through the year.

The Magical Escapade is Getting Closer

We just hung the new sign indicating the Chancellor Hotel as the home to the "Eccentrics of San Francisco's Barbary Coast."



Audiences will gather for a ninety-minute show abounding with local anecdotes and lore presented by captivating and consummate conjurers and tale-tellers. We’re partnering with the terrific folks to re-establish the San Francisco Magic Parlor in a perfect location accessible to both residents and visitors! We truly hope our long-term venture will send folks back home from the Bay Area with very magical memories of their California visit! Reservations are highly recommended due to the intimacy of our theatre, and tickets are available from: http://www.brownpapertickets/.com or 1–800–838–3006.

Further details at http://www.sanfranciscomagicparlor/.com.

PCI Standard Compliance

The Chancellor Hotel just took the next step toward guest data security and it takes a little getting used to. We upgraded our computer system to be Payment Card Industry (PCI) Standard Compliant which protects guest credit card information through encryption and limited access. From now on, when a desk agent enters a credit card number, once they enter the number, it can no longer be seen by anyone. There is only one person at the hotel that has the password to view credit card numbers. In the past, anyone that had access to the hotel system, could view an account and see the credit card number. Now, no credit card information can be viewed in the system at all. We also, no longer take a physical imprint of the card so we do not keep paper copies of the information anywhere. While this new system will provide much greater data security, if we need to re-enter a credit card number or something, we must call the guest to get it because we have no back up. Every once and a while, there is a glitch when entering credit card information and we would have to re-enter it from the imprint or from what was in the computer...no more!
If we have to ask for a number again for some reason, please bear with us, it is because we are protecting your information to the best of our ability.
Thanks for your understanding.

Ready, Set, Crack! The 7th Annual Union Square Celebrity Crab Festival.

Unbelievable! What a great day! The Rain Gods were on our side. We have had day after day of rain and the clouds parted for a beautiful day in Union Square for the 7th Annual Celebrity Crab Festival last Saturday. We have participated every year and it gets better every year.

We are proud to announce that our Chef, Darren Lacy, won the Celebrity Crab Cracking Contest. We are very proud and look forward to him defending his title next year.

Here are some of the Celebrity participants:

They include three 49er players, CBS 5, Miss Chinatown, The Fire Chief, Gold Rush Dancers, and 107.7 the Bone radio personalities.
Here is the set up waiting to get going


Here is the contest in full swing with Chef Lacy and his 49er partner

Chef Lacy Wins! Here he is with his sour dough crab crown and then back at our wine booth

A big crowd was on hand to witness the Chef's Crab Cracking Mastery

We were pouring some great Kenwood Wines and serving one of the Chef's signature items, crab cakes. People told us all day, they were the best!

Sour Dough Sam, the 49er mascot came by to congratulate us and check out the wine.
The crab items being served were great! Here are a couple samples...

What a great time! We are looking forward to next year.