My family of 5 (my mother, my husband, my 4 year old, and my infant) all stayed at Hao's apartment in early October. It was fantastic. I'll get the minor inconveniences out of the way first: we had to pick up the keys from his aunt in an entirely different neighborhood (thankfully, we used to live here, so the driving was painful only because of traffic, not because we didn't know how to go). Also, our AT&T cell phones had almost no reception in the apartment.

The location is spectacular: we walked to our favorite grocery store in the world (Rainbow) so we could cook in the kitchen (which was not spectacularly but adequately stocked with cooking equipment), a fantastic bakery (Tartine), a fantastic playground (Dolores Park), more restaurants than you could shake a stick at, and abundant mass transit lines.

The apartment was clean, tidy, attractive, had great natural light, and allowed us to sleep comfortably (baby in the closet, 4 year old on the futon at the foot of our bed) and entertain our friends when they came to visit us. I feared the neighbors might get annoyed by the sound of occasionally rambunctious children, but no one ever approached us. The humongous TV with every video-streaming service known to man was of particular use with the kids. Wifi was easy access. Elevator has handy with luggage and stroller. And it even had a back patio which we all loved. Some basic foods (ground coffee, cold cereal, OJ, milk) were already stocked, which made the first day easier. As for the price, not only was it cheaper than the 2 hotel rooms we otherwise would have had to rent, all the conveniences of home made the hotel-vs-apt. question no-brainer!