Trip Report – The Comfy Run: Aloft San Francisco Airport

Introduction
Seattle to San Francisco
Aloft San Francisco Airport
San Francisco to Atlanta
Atlanta to Newark
Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark
Newark to Minneapolis
Minneapolis to San Francisco
San Francisco to Seattle
Conclusion

After making my way out of T1 and out onto the departures deck I remembered from the last time that all the hotel shuttles were on a middle island and they had phones around little shelters.  The signage confirmed this and that is where I was headed.  I was heading to the Aloft San Francisco Airport or the Aloft Millbrae, depending upon which sign you were reading.  It only opened in October and is a small underling brand of the W Hotel Chain.  Kinda like the little brother to full W Hotels, these were the lower service hotel chain but with W beds, W feel, W amenities but just not the full service.

The shuttle ran every 20 minutes and I had been told one was due to into the hotel any minute now so either I just missed it or would be along in about 5-10 more minutes.  The later was the case but I barely waited 5 minutes before it showed up.  The shuttle was shared with the adjacent Westin and once onboard we picked up at all the other terminals and headed off to the hotel a quick 5 minute drive away (though we dropped off at the Westin first).

I checked in and although again more language barriers (Is my accent that bad?) I had a room within minutes and was checked in.  I checked the shuttle time for the next morning and then headed up to the room, barely realising i was going to get about 4 hours sleep.  But something is better than nothing right?

First impressions of the hotel and lobby is it is definately a hipster hangout.  Bright, colourful, my kind of music going and I would normally have enjoyed this if I wasn’t utterly shattered.  Even the lifts were mood lit in blue with better than usual music and the corridors had nice bright colors every now and then.  The rooms were layed out pretty well and I was on the 2nd floor so no real view, not that it would matter.

From Comfy Run

Unlocked my room using the RFID key card and I checked out the room quickly and got myself settled.  As you enter the room the bathroom was seperated nicely off to the left with a seperate shower and toilet with the basin and closet area in like a “dressing room” area.  Small bar fridge (empty) and 2 free bottles of water with the coffee machine and safe.

As you continue down the “hall” you come to the bed area where there is a small desk and “window” seat looking thing that would double as a luggage rack.  My view looked out to the air conditioning ducts, thrilling view.  The bed was a queen and looked nice and contemporary, even the clock was funky though the lighting was annoying since it wasn’t much light around at all.  The bed was nice, comfy yet not soft, firm yet not hard.  I kinda wish I didn’t have a Fairmont bed at home as now I am torn.

I got stuff ready for the morning, put the phone and laptop on to charge and settled in for the night.  In the morning after a good few hours of sleep on the W bed and I made good use of the bathroom.  The shower though was a bit dissapointing.  The pressure though good was not hard enough for my liking and the body wash/shampoo etc was the full size wall dispensers.  Now this is good as it doesn’t restrict how much you use and is better for the evironment.  But bad in the fact that if it was good (and it is the same ones that W use, Bliss) I couldn’t take what was left with me for use later.  I guess that isn’t the worse thing right?  I snapped up the body lotion though as it was nice and small and wished I could of taken the soap with me as it was great and the little bars were the right size for around the house for secondary usage.

From Comfy Run

I checked out with ease and snapped a few pics of the lobby area which at that time of the morning was absolutely deserted and within 5 minutes of being in the shuttle I was standing at the entrance to Terminal 1.

I like the Aloft Brand.  I haven’t stayed at a W before but if that is the kind of atmosphere I can expect, well I don’t really mind.  The rooms though, although nice and funky.  I like the Element design and it’s a tough choice with the Heavenly bed over the W bed.  The Fairmont bed is still my winner but I think the W is a close 2nd.  I do like the styling of the Element hotels (what Aloft is to W, Element is to Westin) as it feels a little bit more beneficial as the rooms usually are a bit more spacious.  So take the Aloft feel, add in the Element room size, a Fairmont bed and you would have a hotel I would be totally happy with.

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