Encore Express Hotel

I stayed recently with my husband for 6 nights. Overall, not bad. Not great, but not bad. We had a double with the shared bathrooms. It is a good place to rest your head at night after exploring the city.
Pros: Budget friendly. Its cheap. You get what you pay for. Its within walking distance is of nearly anything you’d want to do in San Francisco – We did it all, and had no car – we did use the MUNI a lot though. Just be careful not to wander into the Tenderloin at night. The staff were friendly. And overall, the rooms and bathrooms are clean.
The shared bathroom thing wasn’t too bad. The bathrooms were clean. Not clean enough to were I would shower without flip flops on, but still clean. Also, with 4 bathrooms on my floor, I never had a problem finding an open bathroom to shower or take care of any other business in.
Cons: The rooms can get a bit warm as they do not provide fans, and there is no AC. At least we didn’t feel it. Good thing this city doesn’t get too hot most of the time.
It is also incredibly LOUD most nights. The bands downstairs do stop playing promptly at 11, so thats not a problem. But you can literally hear everything anyone is doing in the rooms around you. Especially if the window is open, which you need to have open due to the room getting too warm. I was not able to sleep the first night, but after getting ear plugs I slept just fine the rest of the nights.

Wow. What a gem. Shared bathrooms were totally ok if you’ve never used one before it’s not bad at all. The location is awesome! And it makes the price seem super reasonable. Walk all over this great part of sf! Walk to the ferry building and be touristy. Walk to the Masonic, a great nearby venue. Walk to any of a million coffee shops! The blonde rocker guy who helped us book the room had helpful hints about parking and the neighborhood. He was really friendly and had good suggestions for food etc.
This place pretty much made our sf trip awesome

Price and location are great the hostel is nothing more then A Hostel instead of paying $ 45 for men and $ 40 for women. My girlfriend and i got the private room for $ 100. The room came with a closet, 24″ tv, super small fridge, microwave and a queen zise super hard ass bed. Still for the price and location u cant really beat it. They offer loundry but washer was broken (cheap prices) no amenities and no breakfast. Tv had cable but just a few boring channels. I came here to sleep anyways for one night SF has too many things to do to be in the room.

If you are in San Francisco on a budget, this is a great place to stay. I’m usually in San Fran on business so the company books hotels for me, but this past week, I extended my stay an extra day and booked at Encore Express in looking for a budget friendly option. What I really do love about the booking process is that there are a lot of options depending on how tight of a budget you’re on and what your personal preferences are. I booked a king room with a private bathroom, which I was very pleased with for the price. If I wanted to save more money, I could have easily opted for a private room with a shared bathroom, or a shared room. The room served it’s purpose and came with a fridge and microwave, which a lot of hotels in SF don’t offer. The room and bathroom were clean enough. The staff was very helpful, friendly and knowledgable about the area. I was able to ask them to hold my luggage and my room was available for an early check-​in. It’s in a semi-​sketchy location, but if you walk toward the right direction, you’ll find yourself on the very cute Polk street with great dining options.
A few things to keep in mind that might make your stay less comfortable, (although, if you’re willing to sacrifice for the price, I find it was fine for me).
It’s band rehearsal space so you will hear bands rehearsing throughout the day.
The TV service didint’ work when I was there, but I rarely watch TV anyway.
The wifi was fine for me.
The room doesn’t have individual temperature control, so I was cold.
Upon arrival, you have to get buzzed in through the front, then go up a flight of stairs to check in, and I don’t think there is an elevator. so good luck lugging heavy luggage upstairs.
I was told that it’s card only to pay for the room, so I’m not sure they accept cash.
All in all, I would definitely stay here again if visiting on a budget.

Good: Great location and price. The bathrooms and showers are pretty clean and odor-​free. The whole place is, for the most part, clean.
Bad: The rooms are a tad too small and can get hot. The beds in my room were also incredibly squeaky. Parking can be tricky. If you need a place to park M-​Sat the garage right next to the hotel is great. You can park overnight and leave before 9am for only $ 6. If you need a place Saturday night though, then don’t waste your time looking for open garages. Instead, drive around the hotel’s streets and look for an open meter spot (meters don’t operate on Sundays — and yes the meter instructions saying otherwise are wrong. Parking laws changed very recently in SF)
Some other things to note:
— This is NOT the right place to stay if you’re looking for luxury or if you’re with your family.
— They provide soap, shampoo, and towels.
— Bring a lock since there are small lockers in the rooms.

How is this a hotel? Its a dirty, old, smelly backpackers. I didnt expect much for $ 100 a night for a room but this experience was terrible. On arrival, the staff member who checked us in (Donald) was very unfriendly and extremely unhelpful. (The other 2 staff members were way better to deal with) We didnt realised that there is a music studio underneath the building where bands practice everday and night till past 11 pm. We stayed on second floor so it was not too bad. Friends stayed on first floor and it kept them awake. Shower on second floor didnt have a light and it never got fixed while we were there for 5 nights. So at night there was one shower for about 20 people on our floor. Asked if it could be fixed but didnt happened. Room down the hall from us had a dog in it which kept on barking early in the mornings. The window in my friends room didnt have a lock on it. His room was on the road side and there was scaffolding right by his window, anyone off the street could just climb in. No safes in the room. No shared kitchen. All the floors creek. Probably sounds like im nit picking but all these little things added up to a below average experience. Would not recommend!

If you’re looking for an affordable spot to stay in San Fran, this place is great! Centrally located, only minutes walk to all bus lines and Chinatown, with a bunch of bars, coffee shops and most importantly, Bob’s late night doughnut shop right around the corner!:) Staff is wonderful, rooms are clean and comfortable. Can’t go wrong!

I would not recommend this hotel to a family looking for a cheap place, or even someone who has the slightest taste for high class. But for me, it was fantastic! I had to wait 20 minutes for the manager to come back from lunch to check in. Not bad. The room is really for someone who is just looking for a bed to sleep in. I was out and about exploring the city, and it was a nice place to come back to sleep and shower. Another caveat is that there is a band rehearsal space in the basement where bands practice until 11 pm. The noise was very audible in my room. However, being a musician myself, the hotel manager let me go into one of the rooms and play on a rather nice drum set for as long as I wanted. They also had amps and a mixer in the room. So if you are traveling with an instrument, this place is totally for you. I stayed two nights in a single bedroom, and it ran me $ 140. The location is pretty convenient. It took me about 20 minutes to walk to the wharf. I would stay here again, but only if I was with another friend or by myself.

really smelly and overcrowded — rude staff, ultra f*ing rude — people live there for years i think… super nasty

Excellent for the price. It felt very secure and safe because of the locked front door and the video cameras monitoring the halls. The other guests were very quiet and we had no trouble sleeping. The building is old and musty, the key cards do not work well and require patience, and there was mold on the walls and ceiling of the bathroom. However, it was safe place to sleep… which is what a hostel is all about.
ONE WARNING: Seems like common sense, but… if you park in the garage next door be sure to take note of when the garage is open, otherwise you will have to pay an additional $ 50 to get your car out!

Eeeek… the one bathroom that is shared by 20 rooms. Not only is there a horrible smell that won’t go away, but there is wet slime oozing out of the ceiling fan and down the walls. Don’t touch the walls in there! Even the cleaning ladies won’t clean it.
The building is a dump and the neighborhood is sketchy. That’s why it’s so cheap.

My husband and I stayed in room 201 on New Year’s Eve for $ 129 (which is VERY good considering the fact that most places were going at +$ 600 that night). Private bath. Little did we know until we got there that it also came with a full kitchen! (refrigerator, stove, microwave, sink, kitchen tools, dining table, etc.) The charming secretary’s desk was a nice bonus. The décor was quite elegant too. As for the private bathroom, it was very spacious with LOTS of shelving. We only stayed a night but our guess was this place is designed for people who need a place to stay temporarily until they find a permanent place to live in the city. It was very conveniently located next to a parking garage that doesn’t charge over night and the music venue we attended that night (the regency ballroom).

On the one hand, Encore Express came through for us by having a clean same day vacancy available for $ 91.00 after tax. That’s enough reason for three stars. There’s also convenient parking at Polk and Bush for $ 20.00.
But on the other hand, this wouldn’t be our first choice.
The room is small, but that was not the issue for us. Nor was the strong garlic smell. It’s the little things that disappoint. We had some trouble at first with the keys not working for our door or the bathrooms. I have no problem with shared bathrooms, in fact, my hotel of choice in SF is the San Remo. But the one shared bathmat here moved from in front of the toilet to in front of the shower, so when it was wet it seemed too gross for me to use.
As far as the neighborhood… it is a cheap hotel, so it’s not the best or the worst. I will say that when I entered the bathroom at the Walgreen’s across the street there was burnt tinfoil in the trash and a strong chemical smell in the air. I then saw the woman who had been in there ahead of me standing in front of the parking garage adjusting her black miniskirt.
The staff was nice and the price was right. But I’ll only come here again if there’s no other option.

It was really old building very nice though the neighborhood isn’t so nice at night it’s scary lots of hookers and homeless but nice location during the day I would stay here again

Still awesome great and cheap. This is now my official go to place in SF. 2 nights for $ 140 and that included tax. Had enough $ left for a third night in another hotel with private bath etc.
I just am not quite sure how I made it back there after the Giants game and about 8 bourbons on the rocks but I’ve always been like that. Drunken compass brain.

We stayed here a couple of nights wile visiting San Fran and I have to say I was a little nervous about coming here. The biggest concern of mine was the shared bathrooms. I have never stayed in a place like this but it was only for two nights so I figured that i’d suck it up.
The staff is very friendly and accommodating. Originally we were only staying for one night but decided to stay an additional night and they had no problem with any changes to our schedule. And even though we decided pretty late at night they didnt mind at all and were happy to help.
The shared bathrooms were not as big of a deal as I thought. Everyone on our floor seemed to treat the bathrooms the same. leaving them in the same condition they found them in. It was really only a pain in the neck in the morning because you had to like. make yourself look presentable to be seen in society to like go pee, but whatever. If I had been staying for longer I would not have liked staying here. I think everyone should wear flip flops in the shower no matter where they are staying but especially in a place like this. You never know.
The office is located on the second floor, only accessible by stairs. I was glad we were only on the 3^rd floor because after walking uphill half the day it became a chore to climb three flights of stairs just to get to our room. I can imagine if we had a higher floor, eep. There is coffee available in the office from 9 — 11 everyday. If you need an iron the office/​maids will lend you one. There is a fridge and a sink in the rooms. Free wifi. The TV only has a few channels (ours had three) but its not a big deal because we were hardly in our room anyway.
Street parking is free after 6pm. The trick is that one side of the street gets cleaned on certain days, and the other side on different days. So just park on the side which does not have a cleaner going through in the morning and you will be good to go.

This is a $ 50/​night hotel in the center of downtown San Francisco near Nob Hill, just a couple of blocks away from a streetcar line and several bus lines. People, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Keep in mind, this is a hotel for people on a tight budget, not for businesspersons, families, or couples on a romantic getaway. There is no elevator, there is no 24-​hour front desk service, and you’re going to be sharing a bathroom with other patrons. But the bed is comfortable, you get four pillows, you get a sink in your room, a desk, lamps, TV, dresser, soap, shampoo, daily maidservice, free wifi — everything for which you’d pay hundreds of dollars per night just a few blocks down the road! The hotel also has a serious vintage feel to it. Some of you might really dig that.
To top it all off, my room was really clean. No stains, no dirt, no grime!
If you’re going to be checking in after 8pm, just give them a call. They will have your key in a lockbox outside the front door, and they will give you the combination to the lock.
And I don’t know what people are talking about regarding a Wifi filter. It’s possible they’re connecting to the wrong network. Connect to HotelWireless. I’ve been using Facebook, Google Drive, etc. with no problems at all.
Edit: I forgot to comment on whether the area is «sketchy.» The street itself is not sketchy, unless you consider a homeless person or two to be sketchy, which happens to be a fixture throughout San Francisco. But some of the surrounding areas are a little sketchy at night, so just use the same caution that you would use in any large city.
Edit 2: I forgot an item in my room, and I had to call the hotel’s customer service phone number since the front desk was closed when I needed to check out. They were so kind as to offer me the master key which was located in a special lockbox to get back into my room and retrieve my item. How many hotels would do this? Seriously, if you are looking for a budget hotel in the middle of downtown San Francisco but you don’t want to sacrifice good service, this is the place!

Encore Express, where our stay is not express enough, and there will be no encore.
I’ve received free pillow mints, but Encore Express marks my first hotel stay that provided me with a free, used dildo hidden behind the tv in my room upon check-​in. Also, the front desk staff were wholly nonplussed when I brought said dildo to their attention. I can only assume they’ll attempt to find the rightful owner of this sad, lost toy.
Also, two working bathrooms for 20 rooms (each with 2 – 3 occupants therein) and one shower? Oh, and the bathrooms all come with a sign that reads, and I quote: «For your privacy» Please lock the door while using the restroom.
Is that ironic privacy? Perhaps, because the lock on the door to our room fails to work.

I’m a student from Ireland who spent last summer living a block away on Bush street from this hotel. So this summer when I decided to come back I really wanted to stick with the same neighbourhood. This year my friend and I hadn’t found an apartment before we arrived like we had last year so I was looking for somewhere to stay a few nights while we searched. I found the Encore Express through a separate website and got a private double room with a shared bathroom for $ 49 a night (for everyone else from Europe, that turns out at around $ 55 including tax).
I had been a bit apprehensive about the shared bathroom — who knew how often they were cleaned or if there was always a long wait for them — and the price told me not to expect much.
I was pleasantly surprised! The beds are nice and big, with firm mattresses, the rooms are cleaned each day. If you’re not in your room your bed will be made but nothing else in the room was touched except our pajamas which were left folded on top of the made bed. The bathrooms are cleaned at least twice a day if not more often and we never had to wait longer than 2 or 3 minutes to use them. Soap, shampoo and soft towels are left in your room and replaced daily if used. There is an under the counter fridge with a small ice box next to the sink in each room and a microwave in the hall if you need to keep things cheap for a few days. The guests are quiet, although there is a recording suite downstairs (I met a few of the musicians on their way in and out) so if you’re a light sleeper you might need to change rooms (only some of the rooms directly above it are affected).
The location, being a block and a half from Polk St. and above Sutter St. is not the Tenderloin (although it is nearby), it’s more the Polk Gulch, Lower Nob Hill area. It’s close to the Van Ness Corridor which is great for public transport, a few blocks from Geary where the 38 will take you right out through the sunset district, a few blocks from Civic Center and a 15 min (max.) walk from Powell station which connects you to Muni, BARt and can take you to Caltrain. The neighbourhood is full of all kinds of restaurants, cheap and easy or fine dining at a higher price, there is a CalaFoods supermarket a few blocks away and a Walgreens on the corner.
The décor is old style (it’s an old building) but nice, withbig chests of drawers, walk in closets, extra pillows, TVs (no cable but the free wifi is great). There are gauze curtains and thick proper curtains which block out all the light on those early sunny mornings.
At one time, under different management, this was a residential hotel, but please NOTE: They do not do this anymore, the maximum stay as I understand is four weeks, and the longest rate they do is weekly, there is no monthly rate anymore — this is not the place for long term residents or people without another place to go.
Pro’s:
The price. At $ 49/​night, it doesn’t get much better in San Francisco. SF is notorious for it’s high rent and expensive accommodation.
The location. The proximity to downtown, Van Ness, the Marina and the accessibility of the whole of San Francisco from this location is hard to beat. Especially if your itinerary takes you to different parts of the city.
The beds. Large and long enough for tall people, firm mattresses and comfy sheets and duvets. Extra pillows in the closet and the pillows are not too firm, not too soft and mushy — they hold their own.
The really nice, friendly and trustworthy (in my opinion) housekeeping staff. They were always smiling at us, did their job without disturbing our things and kept the hallways and common areas nice and clean.
The security. There is not a 24 hour front desk, but everything, including the bathrooms and laundry can only be accessed by key card, deterring any stragglers who might miraculously get passed the key card entry front door (though most people who held the door for us gave a quick glance to see that our key cards were in our hands).
All the rooms are non smoking so there is not smell of smoke anywhere in the hotel. But if you are a smoker, there is a large awning outside the front door to keep you dry and in the shade.
The laundry. On site, cheap enough prices (though no change machine for quarters). One on each floor so if one’s in use, go up/​downstairs.
Con’s:
The stairs. This hotel is not accessible to those with disabilities or who might have trouble with stairs. For what it matters the stairs do have handrails though. Lugging the suitcases up and down can be a pain if you’re only staying one night.
Odd front desk hours, though there is a phone number to ring to check in if the front desk is not open when you arrive. No trekking up to the Nob Hill Hotel anymore.
We actually stayed a second time a week later in a different room and can confirm that it wasn’t just that we were in a particularly good room — the above description is accurate for the hotel.

Solo female traveler here. I’m in my room at the Encore Express as I write this. Today is my last day in San Francisco.
If you’re looking for:
room service
turn-​down service
en-​suite bathroom
chocolates on your pillow
a romantic getaway
.this isn’t the place for you. If you take nothing else away from my review, take this: THIS IS A NO-​FRILLS, BARE BONES HOTEL. Keep your expectations low! The reception desk is up a flight of stairs. Bathrooms are shared (except for those few rooms with ensuite bathrooms) and I’ve never had to wait for one.
Pros:
— convenient to several MUNI (bus) lines
— within walking distance (less than a mile) from Japantown
— cafes, restaurants, and bars abound
— lots of thrift stores in the area (if you’re a thrift store shopper)
— room has a sink
— closet is pretty big (but I’m from NYC and anything bigger than a coffee table book is spacious to me)
— refrigerator in the room
— six-​drawer dresser and desk
— Walgreens is on the corner
— Turtle Tower Vietnamese restaurant is about six blocks away. So is Saigon Sandwich ($ 3.25−3.75 for banh mi!)
Cons:
— not handicap-​accessible
— the building is very old and run-​down
— the whole building smells old and musty
— the bathrooms on the first floor between room 116 and 117 are a little mildewy, so if you have respiratory problems, find some other place to stay. I started coughing on my second day in SF but I’m not sure if it’s because of the hotel
— the neighborhood is sort of sketchy on one side (the hotel is adjacent to the Tenderloin)
— there’s no cable tv, but if you’re here for vacation, you’re probably not going to spend much time watching tv in your room anyway
— as other reviewers mentioned, there’s a music studio next door and it is definitely audible from my room
— it’s 5AM and someone just swiped their key card in my door, presumably trying to see if they can get into the room later, so now I’m too freaked out to leave my stuff unattended while I go take a shower.
If the new management chooses to update the building and fix the mildew problem in the bathroom, it would be really good value for the money. The location doesn’t bother me at all. But as it stands now, and especially after someone tried my door, I don’t think I would stay here again. I’m just too skeeved out.