Balmoral Hotel North No 2

It's a long story, and I'll tell you about it sometime. But this is really the place where I got my artist/writer/poet cred... Or the place that really pushed me past the point of sanity. It's been more than three months since I lived there, and it's becoming something of a repressed memory by now.

I spent a year and a half living in a tiny, squalid hotel room with yellow cracked-paint walls, foul smells of smoke, loud noises of crazies who banged on my walls, slammed toilet seats, and oh... The sirens and their maddening wails! By the time I had gotten out of that place I was convinced firetrucks were part of some kind of psychological warfare agenda. But the worst was when the bedbugs came. Pure psychological terror.

But please, I don't mean to speak ill of this place. It is managed by some really good and caring folks who do their best to make it as comfortable as possible, despite all it's flaws. And for $600 a month for all expenses, it's probably the cheapest option for solitary living in downtown San Francisco.

I love living here! the managers George and Grace are so kind and helpful. I have been living here for about ten years now and I don't have anything to complain about.
The place is clean and well lit, close to downtown. This place is great for students and workers! I highly recommend this place to anyone who wants a peaceful place to live!

I booked my husband a room here for the WWDC conference through Airbnb. When he arrived to check in last Saturday at 6:30pm, he was turned away for his reservation because it was "too late". The check-in time was not specified whatsoever in the listing (and, in fact, is buried on the Balmoral website), and WTF?? What kind of hotel doesn't let people check in after 5:30?!

He contacted me to let me know, and I was furious. I attempted to call John, the manager, and he was unreachable by phone, even though Airbnb rules state that you MUST be reachable at the number you provide. Luckily, Airbnb were superstars and put him up in a (much better) hotel overnight, bought his dinner the next day and gave us a heavy discount on (much better) alternative accommodation for the remainder of the trip.

John replied to my frantic messages (which I sent on Saturday night) on Monday. I told him what had happened and told him that he let us down. He replied by saying, "We didn't let you down. It's our policy." Um, yes, you DID let us down, and you are a sorry excuse for a manager.

All aspects of the Balmoral Hotel North No. 2 aside from shoddy customer service remain a mystery. However, said customer service (or lack thereof) will do a good job of serving as repellant in the future.

Thanks for nothing, John.

Hazel is a great manager Careing helpful goes out of her way . She can do only what she can .so Check out the Balmoral 2 .

The place is great for a cheap $600/month: very friendly managers, clean showers and washrooms, and adequate rooms.

The only complaint I have are the high number of bugs. In the first 3 days of my stay I killed 14 bugs (yes, I have a tally sheet) ten of those being bed bugs. I have never brought food into my room, or even the hotel. These conditions are liveable, of course, but the inconvenience of checking every dark corner before I go to sleep (not the mention the eww factor) have affected my stay so much that I had to write a review about it to warn others. It's been a couple weeks now, and I've only been bitten a few times despite the now-over-thirty bed bugs that I've slain.

Like others, I don't mean to speak ill of this place; bed bugs are a hard problem to solve, and George and Grace are very caring people. I recommend this hotel to anyone who wants a cheap place to live and doesn't have a hard time sleeping knowing that bed bugs are lurking nearby.

Amendment: The managers moved me to a different, nicer smelling room and have fumigated the room I was previously in. They were very polite about the whole ordeal and I am now bug-free!

Stayed here for 4weeks. Cool place to stay on a budget.
Clean, safe. Fair customer service, could be better.
Each room has a small Flat screen with basic TV.
Rooms are very small though and there is no lift.

This place is super affordable considering it's in San Francisco. And it's clean! You don't get that combo too often. The rooms aren't the biggest but are certainly worth what you pay. On top of that, the manager, George, is so nice and accommodating. He runs a tight ship at this hotel and is really on top of things. It's also a great location-- close to public transit, banks, foodstores, Broadway.. what else could you ask for?

I stayed here for about 3 weeks when I first moved to the city. It's a residential hotel so don't expect it to be glamorous but do expect it to be clean and decent. The managers live on site and they are very kind. They sat and talked with me for a bit before saying I could stay. I feel like they really care about the safety of the place. I've heard tons of nightmare stories of SRO residential hotels so I know my experience could've been terrible--but it wasn't. I'd recommend this place to people looking for something quick. Only 4 stars because the Internet never worked.

Sorta clean, quiet and cheap. $150/wk, bathrooms and showers in the hall, sink in the room. Great location, near-ish to BART.

a good sro, well run clean neat quiet not in the tenderloin, or 6th street. well run, in chinatown meets downtown san francisico.