Springer’s studio apartment is stunningly gorgeous. It is lavishly furnished with quality rugs, antiques, and objets d’arts. Despite the vibrant city at your doorstep, it is serenely quiet. We loved the location, a beautiful neighborhood with quality shops and restaurants, a short walk from reliable bus lines that easily got us to the four corners of SF.
Springer is an attentive host, and promptly addressed the (very minor) housekeeping issues we brought to her attention. She also accommodated our request for an early check-in, allowing us access to the unit 90 minutes before regular check-in time.
We would wish to give an unreserved endorsement of the visit, but regrettably, there was an incident between us and our host that colored our feelings about our stay.
This requires some background. The apartment is advertised as having a kitchenette—not a full kitchen. A combination convection oven/microwave, coffeemaker, and electric griddle are provided. Our host requested that we avoid cooking “anything with strong smells like popcorn, fish, garlic, Indian foods,” and explained that the unit “does not have a fan and the smell wafts through our thin Victorian walls.” Though we expected to do some cooking, we were fine with these constraints.
On the first morning of our week, we cooked bacon and eggs on the griddle; this soon set off the apartment’s smoke alarm. We managed to vacate the cooking fumes from the apartment and silence the alarm somewhat quickly. All seemed well, until we received a message from our host informing us that “bacon is too strong of a smell,” and “if you need a kitchen for that kind of cooking, I understand and if you want to find a place that will accommodate you…I will refund your unused portion of your reservation.”
We were taken aback by what we took to be a [albeit very polite] invitation to leave. Knowing that our chances of finding affordable replacement lodging in SF that allowed cooking, with no advance reservation, would be slim, we decided to stay and make the best of it, although we were uneasy for the remainder of our stay each time we used the kitchen. Perhaps this will be of no consequence to renters who wouldn’t mind eating all their meals out for 7 days in SF, but for us, that option was financially prohibitive.
I would advise anyone coming to SF who expects to cook any of their meals to find other accommodations without these limitations…
...BUT if your idea of a vacation is letting someone else do the cooking, I would put Springer’s place on your short list for a great SF experience!