Previous reviewers don't seem to understand San Francisco or it's hotel / housing market very well. I just stayed 3 nights at Fiona for under $300 out the door and I'd say it's the best deal I've ever had on a hotel, given that you are more likely sharing a restroom in a dump in SF for that.
Fiona does sit on the edge of a dodgy neighborhood though much worse a few blocks away. If you are going to stay close to Civic Center / Tenderloin you should definitely plan to Uber everywhere anyway. It's just safer and more convenient. It's true you don't want to walk around the neighborhood here, or even necessarily park your car and walk a couple blocks late at night. I can see how unfamiliar tourists could be surprised by the neighborhood but that's true of many many hotels in this area. Best bet, Uber!
Anyway, what's so good about Hotel Fiona? First of all, it is very newly renovated and real pretty to look at. All the little touches on point, very cute room. Each room is named for a local SF celebrity and it was fun looking a few of these up.
You do have to request a mini fridge if you want one here. I did, and not only did I get the fridge but also a room upgrade. So you might want to put in for fridge in case you get similarly lucky. My thought was, maybe they gave me this executive room because the fridge was already and it was easier.
There is no microwave in the room, which I respect but is a mild inconvenience in a hotel. I basically never use my microwave at home but as a frequent traveler on a budget it's pretty essential for me to reheat easy meal options. and save me from blowing hundreds on restaurants. Anyway, I would have preferred a microwave in the room but they let me use the one downstairs and that worked ok. It's a small price to pay for a room more than double the size of the little closet that Best Western provided me for considerably more $ the last time I paid for a hotel in SF. Had a real bathroom with a bathtub too.
There is a free breakfast every morning, It's not a huge spread but what there is comes from a quality local bakery, not Costco. So that was a win for me.
As far as staff, there were lots of different people working the desk over our 3 night stay and we were frequently through with requests like the microwave, coffee, use of the pool across the street etc. So we were pretty interactive and everyone was at least passably friendly and some were very friendly.
Another little feature I liked was there was a nice water fillup machine in the 3rd floor rather than a vending machine. I'll take good free water over pay pepsi water (dasani) and soda any day.
Last really cool feature was that the hotel is under same management as the Soma House across the street. So when we checked out Veteran's Day Monday at noon and had an 8pm flight, we left our bags at the desk and headed on over.
The Soma House rooftop pool deck was wet and seemed an unlikely refuge but the rain had just stopped so we put some towels down over chairs and waited it out. We lucked into a sunny afternoon and had the pool terrace pretty much to ourelves for hours. Okay we were lucky, but still. The pool is heated and it's not impossible to get sun in SF, just unlikely. And it's cute up there, with views.
So yeah, know what you are getting into in thus neighborhood but if you are okay with the area and plan for it, you won't find a better hotel than Fiona, even for double the price. read more