The Marker San Francisco

A 1910 Beaux-Arts house off Union Square

The Marker occupies a 1910 Beaux-Arts building on Geary Street, in the dense block between Union Square and the theatre district where San Francisco built its hotels when the city was rebuilding after 1906. The exterior keeps that period architecture; the 208 rooms behind it are contemporary, running across eight categories from 220 to 625 square feet, with floor-to-ceiling windows and workspace in each. Tratto, the ground-floor Italian restaurant, opens at 7am and carries the property through breakfast, dinner and its bar. This is a boutique city hotel rather than a resort — there is no pool and no spa, and the shared facilities are a 24-hour fitness centre and the lobby. What it offers instead is position: Union Square, the theatres and the cable car lines are all within a few blocks on foot.