The Hotel Tropicana San Francisco

San Francisco (The Mission)

4 of 29

Category	Hotel
Address	663 Valencia Street, San Francisco (The Mission), California, USA Map
Price	30 Check Current Prices by Date Here

Location/Contact

Details

Description

Features

Bar
Lounge / Common space
Food/Restaurant
Travel information provided
24 Hour Free Hot Showers
Phones (public or in room)
Air Conditioning

Ratings & Comments

3 Average from 15 Ratings

This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments.
We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.

Comment by Cath Hammack, USA

December 2007

No Service, No Heat, Rude People, Stinky
Do not stay here. Looks clean and friendly, but this is the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. The rooms were cold and there is no heat (winter time) -- they have heat registers but they do not work. Cockroaches were climbing the walls, and they never cleaned the room whole time while we were there (nine days). When I walked to the office to asked for towels which I had to every time, I was told no I could not have towels that day, they did not have enough for us to change out every day. The women owner said she would let me get towels every other day. They never made a bed or changed the sheets in the nine days. I was yelled at by the man owner for not having my key when the front door was locked in the middle of the day (they only day locked), he threw the key out a window to me. There is no way to get to the rooms without climbing two staircases and they stink and made me gag -- it smells like wet gym socks mixed with curry stink! They never collected the garbage and I was told to set it outside the door, it would set their for a day or two before collected. I paid 499 for a week and 120 a day, I was told because I paid a weekly fee that I would get service once a week, but when I went to a daily charge at the end of my stay I still did not get service. Do not stay here.

Comment by Jeff

November 2005

The hotel is run by an Indian family. Make sure you deal with the son. He is honest and even-keeled. I responded to a Craigslist ad with a room rate of $275 per week. I called and spoke with the son, and reserved the room at the $275 rate. When I arrived at the hotel to check in, the mother said the price was $350 per week. Luckily, the son arrived shortly and confirmed the $275 price (after a spirited exchange between the son and mother). Things got off to a sour start. That being said, I'd rather do business with a family-owned outfit and put up with some unprofessionalism than deal with a big MNC like Hilton!! After the initial fiasco, I found the hotel to be very acceptable. The rooms were clean with new furniture, the WiFi works well, and every room has free cable TV with HBO. You need to ask them to change towels and bedding.

Comment by Anonymous

June 2005

Trust me, don't ever try this terrible hotel! I stayed there for ten days for the 2005 June SF Pride. At first I thought it's a clean, neat and cheap accommodation option. It turned out the service was horrifying. In the ten days I stayed, no one ever cleaned the room. Not even once! I even had to beg for new towels myself. The hotel is owned and run by an Indian family. The father and mother were just mean and rude people. The old mother is called Fatima, and she's always at the counter handling hotel matters, including bookings and registration. Their Web site says they only accept cash, traveler's checks or payment via PayPal. But when I proposed to pay via PayPal for my added stay at the hotel, she refused BECAUSE only her son knows about their hotel's PayPal account! I had to convince her to call her son on the cell phone before I could settle the payment by PayPal. So never trust what they say on their Web site. They don't even have a proper payment system! And something even more unbelievable happened on the day I checked out. My return flight was at 9 at night. I checked out at 1 p.m., thinking I could leave one of my luggage pieces at their place or counter so I could do some final shopping or running around before heading to the airport. BUT Fatima refused to keep my luggage, claiming that they don't have room for luggage! She even went so far as to say that no hotel would provide luggage storage! She added that even though my room was vacant for the day, they couldn't leave my luggage there BECAUSE they had to clean the room! (Wow, they finally realized they had to clean the room!!) Knowing that I couldn't reason with her, I proposed to pay a few hours rental for my luggage. And you know how much she said she would charge me? 35 dollars!!! God, their weekly room rate per night is only 50 dollars! I was so angry, and I dragged my luggage out of their premises, claiming that I will never go back and make sure that everyone knows about how bad their service is. And I think I'm not the only victim to their horrendous service. I recall one night some police officers had to come over and intervene in a money dispute between Fatima and some bewildered customers in backpacks sitting in the hotel lobby. I wasn't sure about the details of the dispute. I only overheard the police officer telling Fatima calm down and be more flexible and suggested the hotel should return the down payment to the two waiting customers so that they could leave and find another hotel. I have reason to believe that things like this may happen a lot there. So, if you want some quality time visiting San Francisco, stay away from this damn hotel. Trust me, Hotel Tropicana will ruin your vacation in no time.

Comment by Bob

April 2005

I stayed here in October 2004 and was very pleased with the room, the use of wireless computer in the lobby and the staff. It is very affordable for people on a budget. The hotel was bright, cheerful CLEAN and I found the surrounding area was safe. I stayed for seven nights and this was by far the best hotel at an affordable price. I had no problems with the owners and felt the management was first class. I plan on staying here again.

Comment by Anonymous

February 2005

Looks cool, but there's a 7 night minimum! Rude, rude people!!!

Comment by Shoel

January 2005

Man, this hotel is elegant. It has free Wi-Fi and you can smell the great smell of pizza downstairs. Their service is first-class. The mayor of San Francisco has stayed here himself.

Comment by Anonymous

December 2004

The location is awesome. This location is in the prettiest and most fun neighborhood in the city. Don't worry about watching your back, it's cool.

Comment by Joe

November 2004

I don't care how new this place is — the owners are LIARS. They quoted us one price when we booked and then wanted to charge way more when we actually showed up. I don't know whom they are paying to post good reviews, but unless you like getting cheated, STAY AWAY.

Comment by Anonymous

September 2004

The hotel is good, but its location is horrible. You need to be on a constant look-out for yourself.

Comment by Anonymous

August 2004

Clean hotel, courteous staff, excellent room service, good location, and reasonable rates. I suggest this hostel for an enjoyable short or long stay. Try it, you will like it.

Comment by Anonymous

July 2004

I came on a student budget, and this place was very nice. It's in a very nice neighborhood, and it has great rooms.

Comment by Salty

July 2004

After making reservations and calling to confirm, my wife wound up at the front door here with all her bags for a nine-day stay. She was told to come back later in the evening, at least a few hours later because the person who checks people in wouldn't be around "for a while." They wouldn't even let her in to drop off her bags. The area is fun, but not the kind of area you want to be wandering around alone at night, in a jet-lagged state, dragging your luggage.

Comment by Michael

July 2004

I reserved a room at the Hotel Tropicana a few weeks in advance of my trip, and when I called the night before to confirm, they wanted to charge me DOUBLE the price they guaranteed me in the first phone call. They only accept cash, so there is no paper trail and no record, so they feel entitled to lie about the prices when you call. Fortunately I called the day before, and was able to book at another hotel, but BEWARE!!!

Comment by Patrick

May 2004

The staff were very nice. Clean rooms, clean beds. Good location, easy access to BART and MUNI, bus lines 14 and 49 run 24/7 a block away on Mission St. The room doesn't have much leg room, and they make up for that with the cable TV and fridge! The private bathrooms were very clean and like new. The wireless internet network would go in and out, though there is a free use computer for internet in the lobby. I did not use their kitchen, as it seems the staff use it for their office. Ask to see the sample room. My friend came to stay in SF, and this was the last place we looked. Wish we had checked here first!

Comment by Anonymous

May 2004

Extremely clean, nice neighborhood, and the room was nice and clean.

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