A Dazzling Hotel in San Francisco

September 5, 2018

Proper Hotel San Francisco

Until last year, San Francisco had been in a new-hotel drought, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. If you cared at all about luxury, your options were limited to the old-world glam of Nob Hill (I do love the Mark Hopkins!) or The Palace, and though there’s nothing wrong with those, you would be hard pressed to find an affordable cool boutique property with a sophisticated food and cocktail program. Times have changed, and I made this last trip to San Francisco specifically for one reason: to stay at the new Proper Hotel. Dripping in details, designer Kelly Wearstler has once again created a show-stopping backdrop, with a wink to the Victorian era in her use of vintage pieces, plush fabrics, and ornate wallpaper.

It’s smart, it’s dazzling, it’s where the cool kids are. This is the San Francisco Proper—and it’s my next Stylish Stay.

What I Love: The glamorous Kelly Wearstler interiors that are a master class in layering colors, pattern, and texture. It’s also affordable, and one of the coolest hotels in San Francisco, giving this hotel a run for its money.

Something to Know: The Proper is located in the Mid-Market district, right on the edge of the Tenderloin, so it can be a bit shocking to walk outside the hotel after a $16 cocktail and be surrounded by more homeless people than you’ve likely ever seen outside of Los Angeles’ skid row.

Suite Dreams: The hotel had a pay-in-advance special, so we splurged on a suite, which I highly recommend. I hear the regular rooms are quite small.

Stylish Sips: Upon arrival, we went for cocktails at the gorgeous rooftop bar Charmaine’s, located 120 feet above Market Street. It is an extremely popular bar for good reason—people are often lined up outside to get in—but hotel guests don’t have to wait at all. Just note that they do not serve any kind of snacks until 5:00p.m. Their lobby-level restaurant, Villon, was amazing for breakfast—we ate there twice. Get the Huevos Rancheros!

Cool Factor: Aside from the stylish interiors, everything is at your service via the Proper app. Want housekeeping? Simply press a button. Want your car brought around from valet? You can schedule that, too. And in theory, it works, but somehow valet forgot we had scheduled ours; we had timed our drive to the French Laundry by the minute, and were afraid we would miss it! The hotel graciously comped us one night of parking for the inconvenience, which was amazing. It’s always interesting to see how hotels respond when they make a mistake. The Proper gets major props for how they handled this minor one.

Hero Shot: In the main living room off the lobby in front of the gallery wall—athough it’s hard to take a bad photo anywhere here!