The Marker San Francisco

San Francisco is a booming tech capital, a perennial tourist destination, and regularly fills up with convention-goers — all of which combine to make it one of the busiest hotel markets in the country. You’d think, then, that this city would be chock full of hotels like the Marker: fun, funky, colorful, comfortable, and set within walking distance of most of what’s worth seeing in downtown San Francisco.

We’ll focus on the positive, which is that the Marker does in fact exist, and it’s all of these things. It’s set on Geary Street, just two blocks from Union Square, and not much farther from the Financial District and the convention center. And while from the outside it’s an attractive enough, if relatively unassuming, Victorian-style building, what’s inside is pure fantasy, like a particularly colorful dream of Belle Époque Paris assembled with the keen eye of a contemporary designer.

The rooms are just as colorful, as well as comfortable, and even if they stop short of luxury-hotel territory they’ve got high-end linens, up-to-date electronics, and luxe modern bathrooms. And while this part of the city is particularly well served with excellent restaurants, you’ll want to make time for Tratto, the hotel’s Italian trattoria, serving rustic Italian fare alongside creative modern cocktails.