The Great Highway Inn

I don’t even want to give this place 1 star. I’m ok with the old «beach motel» type of look this place has. It’s an Inn on a highway so I don’t expect an elegant room. But this place is filthy. It’s so dirty I feel like the owners should be fined for it. They are putting the publics health at risk. Lice, bed bugs, mold… That’s not even considering the bathroom. The bathroom is just sickening. At the very least, the room should be sanitized. We had to keep the window open all day and all night because of the horrible mildew/​mold smell. They didn’t even vacuum. We showered with sandals on and had to clean the toilet ourselves upon arriving. This is just unethical and negligent. Not only will I not stay here ever again, I plan on reporting this place to the health department.

I like this place everything is really nice and lovely something simple nothing fancy why fancy everything is the same! If I come again I would like to come back again and check in here again!

Simple even though a tad dated/​tacky.
Clean and crisp bedding.
New bathroom.
Fresh room smell.
Good cross breeze.
Little mini fridge and microwave.
Near beach and during our stay, peaceful.
The rooms could use some updating but it’s an INN not a five star snob hotel.
For our one day escape from home and the in laws, pleasant.
The doll of a guy at the desk was great over the phone and also pleasant in person.
I appreciate this experience.

Terrible terrible terrible.
Don’t go to this place!!!
We arrived By midnight, when we got the room we were too tired to look around us, the room
They gave us is on the third floor, really far from the reception, with no elevator of course.
and when we woke up in the morning we saw that’s the bathroom was full of fungus all over the walls of the toilet and the tub.
We called Expedia (who we made the reservation throught) to take care of something else, and then we complained about the room, and the nice great from Expedia asked us to make a complain on the reservation after she called the hotel. When we went there, the manager was so upset that we called Expedia so he was punishing us and said he’s not willing to talk or help us cause we talked with Expedia first, then he just walked away.
What a terrible service! Don’t go there, if you can’t find an hotel, sleep in the car, it’s much better !

We spent one mortifying night in room 217. For the price, you can stay in a HOTEL pretty much anywhere in the city. Based on our room, I would call this less than a motel. While the gentleman who checked us in was very polite and the parking is free, nothing can make up for the rooms. See photos for evidence of the atrocity that is this motel. I don’t care where you stay, it will be better than this.
Just trust me on this one.

Ok I wish I could rate this based on individual points. I’ll break it down by pros and cons.
First off there is nowhere to stay in the sunset that is amazing. Beach hotels aren’t the same in San Fran as they are down south in Orange County.
The outside of the hotel is super interesting. ½ of it has been updated and is painted bright modern colors
and ½ has not been painted. The side that has been painted has «remodeled» rooms.
When we called to book the room and learn about the different room options Joann at the front was amazing. She was so detailed with all of the rooms and helped us find the perfect one for our family. We were able to get a suite with a separate room in the back with a door to put our twin girls in to sleep. They slept amazing thru the night having their own space!
They didn’t have a bath tub In the room only showers but it worked out fine for our girls.
It’s walking distance to the beach. You can see the beach from the room. The room over all was clean except for the laminate floors were very dirty and the window sills had tons of black dirt. Beds were not that comfortable. If you’re not planning on spending tons of time in the room it should be fine. If they kicked it up a notch it could be the perfect place to stay in the sunset.

Do not stay here unless you have no where else to go. I was having surgery at UCSF and we found this motel on their accommodation list and the description on the website and the price was good so a room was booked. We were really excited about being across the street from the ocean. Needless to say, we were shocked when we got into the vacinity of the motel and saw it was on a seedier side of town but the first red flag was the big glass partition in the office. You expect that at a low cost motel but not when you are paying hundreds of dollars. We started up to our «suite» and the stairs and walk way was filthy and it only got worse. We opened the door and was over come by a stench that was unbearable, it smelled like there was a decomposing body under the bed. The carpet was dirty and stained. The room was very small and not what one expects for a suite. The bathroom appeared clean so I will give them that. We knew we could not stay in those conditions. We talked with the clerk and though she was rude, she obviously was used to this response and did not charge us and we left and was able to find a lovely hotel on Union st called the Pacific Heights for only 21.00 more and was given a real suite that was modern with beautiful décor and the clerk was friendly and accomadating and was still close to the hospital and 5 blocks from Umami burger, a place I had been wanting to try for a couple of years. Do not waste your time or money on this «ocean view» motel.

I was really excited to stay here. My band is on tour and are currently in Santa Cruz. Thursday night we were supposed to play in mount Shasta before heading to Caspar but mount Shasta fell through so we decided to spend a day in San Fran.
This hotel was reasonably priced and had a big enough room for 6 people. I used
and somehow the dates that were put in said Tuesday the 19 with an arrival at 2pm (which is dumb because I was making the reservation at 8pm on the 19^th) when it should have been the 21^st-​22^nd. I’ll take the blame for that. I guess I should have double checked the dates.
Anyway
I got an email from
saying my reservation was missed and they were going to charge the full amount (which wouldn’t work because I used my credit card to make the reservation as I was the only one with my card when we were making it and my band leader was going to use the band account to pay when we got there) anyway I called and spoke to a gentleman and told him that the dates were wrong and I wanted to correct the date that it was just a misunderstanding. That gentleman put me on hold and another man I assume can only be the manager named Michael came on and told me that it’s my fault the dates were on there incorrectly. I was like «ok so can we correct the dates?» And he told me know and to take my business elsewhere because there are some concerns about the details I made from my reservation including not enough address information and validity of my card. I was like «can you clarify» and he said no and said good luck finding a different place.
Now I get it, 6 people Coming to stay, the reservation was «missed» and the card couldn’t be charged for the missed reservation because it wasn’t the card that was going to pay in the first place it was just a reservation holder because I was the only person with their card on them when I was making the reservation, I get it, I do, but not giving me a chance to explain that? I had my band leader with me when I was among the call and it all could have been updated right then with the actual payment card if he was so worried about it. Michael was extremely rude and unprofessional.
Super disappointing. Anyway, we found a hotel for cheaper at the top of Lombard street that has free parking breakfast wifi etc so all for the best.
I’m not discouraging anyone from going there, I just hope that’s not how they normally interact with customers.

This is a great place, clean, comfortable and reasonable price. I am here because my wife is very ill at UCSF Medical Center. The price is great, the people were really nice. They had one room left when I arrived and it was on the corner virtually all pass to get to registration and parking. I mentioned this and they moved me the following day. Had a quiet night and finally sleep. On the negative reviews not sure what people were expecting this is a beach motel and kid friendly. It’s not the Ritz and it doesn’t cost 500.00 a night. I often travel for work, this place is great, definitely recommend. (The middle photo of the room with a table and two beds is precisely what they look like. No wide angle shots or other trickery)

A very basic place to stay in a great location. Clean and plain with thin walls. Great customer service in the front office by Mike! Close to streets and ocean. Walking distance to food.

For the money this place is a good deal. Staff was helpful, breakfast was fresh and generous. They shuttle guests to and from UCSF twice a day (9AM & 4;30PM). I stayed there because I had business at UCSF for a few days. MUNI bus was close by. Room had amenities such as fridge and microwave. The heater worked well which was very nice because it can get cold when the winter wind blows in from the ocean They only noticeably bad things were the room smelled of stale cigarette smoke (I was asked to sign a release for cleaning fees if I smoked in my room, even though it stank of smoke already) and the carpet was dirty (stained) Parking was adequate and FREE which is an added bonus since most places charge for parking.
I would and do plan on staying again.

The hotel is nice and clean with amenities in room like a microwave and small fridge. The TV is newer with lots of channels. The staff are kind, friendly and helpful.

For $ 200 a night in SF this is what you get? Old painted chipped front door. People arguing outside your window at 2 am? DO NOT stay at this place until they fix up the neighborhood and this motel. Even places out «in the country» like Sonora are better than this mess. The inside of the room was just ok but it was everything else that was not. There are plexiglass
plates in front of the customer service people in the lobby. What does that tell you?

Staff here is very unfriendly, bordering on rude. At first, they seem quite happy to take your money, but if there is EVER any small issue to arise, the staff instantly becomes angry, rude and frankly could care less about finding a solution. When making a reservation via phone nearly 3 months in advance of a visit, I was misinformed by staff about cancellation/​booking policies. Called back to clarify, got a different employee and was advised of a completely different policy. Unfortunately, what I was told over the phone (twice) was not correct and when I called to inquire about a new charge on my card, staff explained that «somehow» there were no notes in my reservation to document those previous conversations… «unusual, because we keep detailed notes in the system» she explained. I then asked to speak with the manager, Michael. As I began to explain the booking mix-​up, his tone quickly changed and it became very clear that he was not interested in hearing what the customer had to say… and he instantly transformed to rude and aggressive. I then got a condescending lecture about policy & procedure, even though I tried to explain there was clearly a mix up made by staff and I was trying to work things out with him. The call quickly turned south and he repeatedly told me to just take the problem up with my credit card dispute dept, and that he was «done». He then hung up the phone on me mid-​sentence. So nice.
There are hundreds of other hotels in SF and this rude, lecturing, unprofessional group of people will no longer get my business.

This used to be my parent’s go-​to when they’d come to SF. Rooms were comfortable, fridge, tea maker in room. I guess something major happened in the last couple years. We were all here last week for my grandmother’s funeral. My mom was coping with the loss of her mom and my dad who has COPD (the result of a severe respiratory illness which devastated his lungs, making him very susceptible to the smell of smoke/​other pollutants) was and is still battling another severe respiratory illness. They check into their «non-​smoking» room to find it reek of smoke. My mom immediately goes over to ask for another room explaining the situation, and they proceed to accuse her of «just not liking the room» and denying that anyone has smoked in there. Then one of them went to smell it and said she didn’t smell anything (Mom saw them all smoking outside the next morning, go figure). They gave them another room which was not as bad (none of the above mentioned appliances) but told them they would have to move again to the third floor the next night (dad also has bad knees). When Mom expressed her fears about that room being smoky too and why couldn’t they keep the room they were now in, she was told that it had «been promised to someone else.» Mom pointed out she’d been promised a non-​smoking room, with no such sympathy. So crashing from having eaten once all day, 8 hours of travel, making arrangements earlier at the mortuary and church, I then had to get on the phone and search for 2 hours for another hotel that had vacancy for the next two nights. The best I could find was in Daly City. Thanks GHI, for making this already hard time for us, a little more nightmareish.

Well you get what you pay for. Although the price may be inexpensive you will wish you found a better place to stay. The room we have clearly had someone who smoked in it even though there is a no smoking sign. Find a different place that’s worth your money.

Location, location, location! And it was only $ 99 for winter rate with free parking! Right across from Ocean Beach and next to Golden Gate Park. Those are the pros. Cons are it is old, run-​down, and in need of a remodel. But we didn’t t care about that. Just wanted a place to crash for the night. This place will be awesome for Outside Lands and Hardly-​Strictly! But I am sure the rates jump up then. Still… Location!

Did not like the smell of this place. Like old sweaty socks n smoke. The people are confused every time I checked in. Also the pastries were old and gross. I seen gross used bloody panties by my room and people having there fights all night. I won’t go back for sure.

had a check in time of 4pm but I had stated i would be in town at 3pm when I booked. I got to the hotel at 3;30 and my room was ready. Not knowing what to expect due to some of these reviews, I was blown away with the room I was provided! It was literally across the street from the ocean, and my room was huge. I had a couch, love seat and a king size bed. I had a flat screen tv and all the cable channels! I was in town for a concert but I didnt want to leave my room. I would stay again.

We checked in & then promptly checked out within half an hour.
The room seemed a bit moldy on the outside and very stale inside, albeit otherwise clean. After 10 minutes with the door closed I was having difficulty breathing with my athsma & my non athsmatic husband’s throat closed up a bit. Maybe it’s something they spray in the room? The office guy was nice and offered us a new room, but it was more stale than the first & smelled like old cigarettes. We chose to leave. Too bad, it would have been nice to be near the beach.