Hilton Ontario Airport

This property is conveniently located near the Ontario, California aiport. There is a free hotel shuttle available by either calling the hotel directly or using the phone in the baggage claim area.

The Hilton considers this a business property and strives to help guests get a good nights rest and remain productive. This was evident during my stay as they received a large number of prom goers late Saturday night and promptly evicted them when they became too noisy.

My room was one of the most spacious I have encountered recently an for the price ($95). On the oher hand the bathroom was very small. I could barely stand in front of the sink since the toilet was crammed in so tightly. I would have gladly taken less room space for more bathroom space.

I ate in the hotel restaurant and the foo was actually quite good. There is a breakfast and lunch buffet available which provides a decent value for those that have good appetite. If you want some variety, there are several restaurants within a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel.

For those seeking wi-fi service their is a daily charge of $10.99 a day which I think it a bit stiff and my experience with the service was bad enough to seek a refund. I was told there had recently been some adjustments t the service so maybe it was just a temporary network issue.

Overall my experience was a very pleasant one and I wlll definitely consider this property again ifthe price is right.

 

San Francisco Dining

I tried a variety of food on my latest trip to San Francisco starting out with the Dojima-Ann a quaint Japanese restaurant on O’Farrell St. which is about a block and a half away from the Parc 55 hotel. I chose the chicken teriyaki bento box and it was a very tasty and satisfying meal for $17.50 plus tax. The food is authentic and the staff friendly. I highly recommend this restaurant for a reasonably priced Japanese meal.

Also in the area one block away is the Tian Sing Chinese restaurant where in addition to the normal menu of Chinese food is the ever popular dim sum. I sampled several varieties of dim sum and except for the chicken and mushroom shumai it was all very good though a bit on the pricey side for dim sum. My six dishes came to $29.50 plus tax which was more than I intended to spend, but they didn’t provide a price list either. Worth a visit though if you are looking for Chinese food.

For Italian I tried the Puccini and Pinetta restaurant at the corner of Ellis and Cyril Magnin. A family friendly environment with a wide variety of food on the menu all reasonably priced. I had the chicken marsala and it was delicious. One of the best dishes I can recall having in recent memory. For dessert I tried the chocolate mousse torte and it too was chunk full of taste and calories. An excellent choice if you are looking for Italian food.

If you are in the mood for Indian food consider the New Delhi restaurant on Ellis and Cyril Magnin. I had the chicken masala curry and it was excellent. The chicken was tender and the curry was prepared just right. My only complaint about the food is that the dishes don’t come with rice or bread. That has to be ordered separately at a cost of $3.95 for the rice. I didn’t order the bread. For me to not serve a curry dish with rice is close to criminal. Also the portions were a little on the small side. Nevertheless you won’t be disappointed with the food quality.

Parc 55 Hotel San Francisco

This property until January 19th was known as the Renaissance Parc 55 hotel and operated under the Marriott flag. Unfortunately there was no notification to inform me of this change from a well known brand to independently operated hotel. Not that this bothers me too much, but since I reserved the hotel with the expectation of earning Marriott rewards points it was a disappointment to learn of the change at check in.

Having stayed here just a few months ago there are not too many noticeable changes that I could detect. The check in process while friendly was slow due to the fact that the front desk clerks started their breaks even with a line of guests waiting to be served. This would not have happened under the Marriott banner. Otherwise my experience was more positive than my previous stay as the hotel supplies each guest room with a complimentary bottle of water each day and standard turn down service in the evening. The bathroom amenities are of higher grade than under Marriott as well.

The room rate at this time was $192 per night plus 14% occupancy tax which came to a total of about $875 for my four nights. Compared to other hotels of the same quality this was a very good deal.

One more added note of convenience. The last time I took an airport shuttle for $16 and this time I took the subway otherwise known as BART and it was a fairly quick 30 minute ride for just $5.15 and brought me within a block of the hotel. As long as you don’t have too much luggage and the weather is decent this is the way to go in my opinion.

Even though the hotel is now independent and there isn’t a frequent guest program it is still worth the money to stay here versus higher priced properties nearby.

Taxation Without Representation

The New York Times today addressed one of my biggest travel gripes over the years. High rental car taxes and fees that have little or nothing to do with travel. I have experienced this first hand seeing fees and taxes in the 40% range too often for my taste. As the base cost of rentals has risen these additional taxes and fees can be quite substantial. Enough so that on my limited corporate budget that I have often decided to take a shared van to and from an airport and use local transportation or my own two feet rather than pay these outrageous fees. Consider how much a car rental can cost you. Start with a $20 (sub-compact) rental rate that can occasionally be found. Add 40% in taxes and fees and now you are up to $28. If you are staying at a downtown hotel then it is likely the hotel will charge at least $15 a day for parking. Now you are up to $43 plus gas for stinking small car. Compare that to $15-$20 shared van rates and the cost of local transportation and the old reliable car renta becomes far less appealing.

Even though there is a revolt brewing like the Boston Tea Party of days gone by, this one will have very little impact unless they get a large number of travellers to stop renting cars to protest these taxes and fees. But we are very much addicted to renting a car despite the price and so I don't hold out much hope for any change.

For me I have gone from an automatic car rental on every business trip to calculating whether or not I can find a cheaper hotel than the convention hotel and add a car into the mix and still save money. This has resulted in my car rentals dropping about 75% compared to the past and that's not chump change being saved.