As a first timer in San Fran, The Barlett is the perfect place to reside in. The location is great! There're retail stores, walgreens, starbucks, bars and restaurants around the corner or at a decent walking distance. The hotel staffs were nice and pretty helpful as needed. Our room wasn't quite ready at 3pm(check-in), but it wasn't a problem as we checked-in our bags and walked around union square; did a little shopping for about 30 minutes. The one thing I will complain about is that our room was on the 5th floor and the elevators were not working... fortunately one of the staff members (Yessica) offered to have someone take our luggages up, which was GREAT, but not so great for the guy who had to go up and down the tiny, narrow stairway, twice. The Barlett does have a bar/restaurant downstairs and there is an Irish bar across the street, so if you are looking for somewhere quiet to stay in, this wouldn't be the place for you. But if you're looking for a place to sleep, shower and leave your luggages as you go out and explore, this would be a perfect place. I'm assuming the cleaning staff doesn't go into your room to clean unless you give them an okay at the front desk or face-to-face because out of the 4 days that we were there, we've only had one encounter with the cleaning staff and that was because we went back to the hotel for a nap around 2-3pm. We ended up declining her service that day and didn't hear from them after that or had anyone clean our room. All in all, I would def. stay at this hotel again; great low price for a great location.