Monday, July 18, 2011

Do you leave tips for the housekeepers?

If you do, thank you. That is very generous and the staff really appreciates it.

The housekeepers work very hard and have a dirty job. Leaving tips for housekeepers has not been fully recognized as a standard like tipping a bellman, but it is fairly common. People will leave a request on a note with a tip, a thank you tip at the end of a stay or a few dollars each day for the service.

However, if you are going to leave a tip for a housekeeper, please don't make it a counterfeit bill!

Yes...Maria was left a nice tip of $10.00. Well, actually, it was a nice picture of $10.00. It was a $10.00 counterfeit bill!

It is actually a pretty good one compared to the ones I have seen in the past. It is missing some of the basic security features, but the way people handle money quickly, and as a small note, I can see how the guest left it (mistakenly, I hope).

Poor Maria was very surprised when she went to Starbucks to buy a coffee and the very alert barista caught it. It goes without saying how embarrassed and surprised Maria was. That was when she told all of us at the hotel what had happened. We're just glad we weren't bailing her out of Federal Prison.


It used to be the notes that were counterfeits were only $100 bills and the like. Now, the high quality home printing and computers make it much easier and cheaper to counterfeit and they are even doing small denominations.

Be on the lookout!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Powell Street Promenade is NOW Open!

The Mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee, Board of Supervisor's President, David Chiu, Executive Director of the Union Square Business Improvement District, Linda Mjellem, Designer, Walter Hood, an Audi Executive and others gathered for the Grand Opening of the Powell Street Promenade today just off Union Square.After the ribbon cutting ceremony, designer Water Hood took us around one block of the Promenade to explain the features and design elements that people will enjoy. Above, he is demonstrating the new FREE WiFi that will be available on the two blocks of the Promenade.


The Promenade features stand up tables as well as some bench seating. It is made of a galvanized metal with some wood inlays.


Powell Street has over 100,000 pedestrians each day walk up and down the corridor connecting BART and Market Street with Union Square.
The plants mixed in through out the Promenade are a great touch.


Thursday, July 7, 2011

Our Lobby Renovation is Compete!

As planned, we completed our lobby renovation on July 6th with the installation of the new rug and furnishings. It really looks nice and we are very pleased. We hope our guests like it.