Background: Came as a couple from SoCal with a car since we were camping all week. We were looking for a basic room that came with a garage, which we understand is hard to find in SF, but the garage was a necessity since we had a lot of camping gear.
TL;DR: It's a good place if you absolutely need a garage for your car. But do try to get the units that do not face the street since the street facing units are extremely loud. They have all the amenities you expect and their description of the unit was accurate. It was a pleasant surprise to have in unit heat running all day during our winter stay.
Pros:
- Location: close to Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts, Ghirardelli Square. The Ubers were very quick to come to our location (<5 min wait). Near many restaurants as well.
- Garage: Garage was locked and just big enough for our small SUV. We had to fold our mirrors in order to park, and only could get out of one side of the vehicle. As the description says, oversized vehicles cannot fit here. The motel staff gave us a very sturdy lock in order to lock the garage.
- Thorough Amenities & Reliable Heat
- Very pretty courtyard and put care into the units facing the courtyard.
Cons:
- Location: We were in a Lombard Street facing unit. It was extremely loud, morning and night, which disrupted our sleep. The sounds funneled up the stairwell 24/7. There are homeless people that screamed profanities in the middle of the night next to our unit. We could also hear our neighbors.
FYI, this is not the Marina Motel's fault. This is just something to keep in mind when reserving any of the street facing units. The interior units looked much more peaceful, so I recommend trying to get a unit that is not street facing.
- Size of Garage: The garage barely fit our Toyota Rav4 SUV, which is on the smaller side for SUVs. We had to fold our mirrors, and have one person step out of the vehicle to help direct into the garage, even with backup cameras. There were many marks on the wall, probably because people hit the walls. Just have an experienced driver both back in and pull out of the garages.
- Street Facing Garage: Since our garage faced the street, we had to be careful when backing in and pulling out of the garage. You should try timing going in and out of the garage with the traffic lights to avoid rush of cars.