Travel perfectly illustrates the subjectiveness of "best."
Someone who’s accustomed to staying at the Travelodge might check into
a Hyatt and think "this is a great hotel." Someone accustomed to
staying at the Four Seasons might do the same and think "what a dump."
And most travel writing is done by poor writers on sponsored press
junkets, for media reliant on advertising dollars, which explains why
so much of it is effusive fluff. As a professional travel writer and
editor for more than ten years, I learned that the best travel writing
provides the "decision empowering" details that lets readers figure out
whether a hotel, destination or experience is right for them. 

I met Lilian Wagner when she was the Director of Sales & Marketing for the Park Hyatt San Francisco, now Le Meridian.  The hotel was my top recommendation at the time, and Lilian became a good friend. 
She’s now the DoS&M at the St. Regis San Francisco,
and issued a standing invitation for me to visit.  Lilian knows that a
comped stay would not deter me from writing honestly about the property
(a lesson hard learned by the DoS of the former Regent Hotel in
Sydney). I knew her confidence level was as high as my expectation of
perfection.

The hotel wasn’t perfect. Upon arrival, there were three things wrong
with my room. The phone handset on the "integrated room control," the
electronic "do not disturb" button, and the  DVD player remote  were
not working.  Now, no hotel can keep its electronics 100% functional.
What sets a hotel like the St. Regis apart is that they were all fixed,
with one call to guest services, in the hour that I went down to the
spa for a swim.  Other imperfections: the Sony Dream Machine stereo/DVD
player and its speakers are behind a closet door that must
remain open in order to fast forward or hear sound through the system
instead of the inferior flat panel TV speakers.  And there was only one
accessible power outlet in the room. With my computer plugged in it at
the desk, my phone had to charge in the bathroom.  Now, I know my
butler would have shown up with a power strip in five minutes, had I
paged him, but really, these are inexcusable design flaws for a
year-old, new build hotel. Matt Ouimet, are you reading this? Let me know when you’ve fixed them. 

I wouldn’t ordinarily start a hotel review by listing flaws. But in
this case it lends credibility to my proclamation of the St. Regis as
undoubtedly the best hotel in San Francisco.  The design is stunning,
from lobby to rooms, with a stylish aesthetic that’s modern and
surprising, yet still inviting and comfortable. The service is
efficient, gracious and pervasive without being stuffy or overbearing.
The Remède spa
is great, including separate male and female saunas, steamrooms and hot
tubs with the strongest therapeutic jets I’ve ever encountered at a
spa. Remède also supplies the in-room bath amenities, which are among
the best this product snob has ever found at a hotel. (When I packed
these away on my
first night so I could take them home, the housekeeper left a double
set the next day… That’s great service!) Add two great restaurants, a
happening bar/lounge scene, impressive views and a perfect SoMa
location, and it’s easy to understand my enthusiastic recommendation,
despite the few flaws.

Now, it’s also easy to recommend hotels with room rates that start
at $400/night.  But recognizing that price figures into most everyone’s
determination of "best," tomorrow I’ll post two other recommendations
that cover a broad spectrum of affordability.