World's Best

Travel + Leisure Readers' 5 Favorite Hotels in San Francisco of 2023

Market Street and Union Square proved to be particularly popular spots in our annual "World’s Best Awards" survey for 2023.

By

Chelsee Lowe

Published on July 11, 2023

Rich in history, culture, and style, San Francisco attracts travelers of all kinds from around the world – in fact, more than 21 million people visited the city last year. If they were looking for art, they likely visited SFMOMA and the de Young Museum. For architecture buffs, Coit Tower, the Painted Ladies, and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge are among must-sees. Snacking and shopping in Chinatown, the oldest such community in the U.S., is a treat for the senses. But no matter what your itinerary includes, you will need a place to lay your head at night, and ideally that place is as captivating as the city itself.

How Voting Works

Every year for our World's Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Nearly 165,000 T+L readers completed the 2023 survey, an increase of nearly 25 percent over pre-pandemic voting levels. A total of more than 685,000 votes were cast across over 8,500 unique properties (hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).

Hotels were classified as either resort hotel, city hotel, or safari lodge based on their location and amenities, and they were specifically rated on the criteria below:

Rooms/facilities
Location
Service
Food
Value

For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses.

Rooftop lounge at the San Francisco Proper Hotel — Manolo Yllera

What Readers Loved

If we use this year’s reader-voted winners to better understand San Francisco today, all signs point to a resurgence of energy around Market Street and Union Square, or “the epicenter of the city,” as one reader described it and home to some of the city's most splurge-worthy hotels. Indeed, all five top hotels are located here, placing guests within walking distance of the Ferry Building, cable car stops, Chinatown, historic theaters like the Orpheum, and more.

Property No. 3, Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco, offers “intuitive service,” not to mention easy access to Market Street and Yerba Buena Gardens. The same goes for The St. Regis San Francisco (No. 2), which one reader calls “wonderful” enough to return for years. For a real peek into the city's past, try Palace Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel (No. 5), a landmark structure standing since 1909. Without further ado, here are the hotel's readers picked as the best in San Francisco.

The Winner

San Francisco Proper Hotel

Colorful common area in the Proper Hotel — Manolo Yllera

Opened in 2017, San Francisco Proper is the epitome of style — many details inside the 131-room refurbished flatiron building were overseen by designer extraordinaire Kelly Wearstler, and no matter where you turn, her unbelievable skill at overlapping textures, patterns, colors, and shapes makes for a visual feast. Guests love the double-height lobby lounge, where mismatched, bohemian-ish furnishings and eclectic art make it feel more like your hip auntie’s sprawling living room. Rooms are just as stunning, with Wearstler-designed wallpapers that pop, and there are swoon-worthy dining venues on site, too. We’re partial to rooftop bar and restaurant Charmaine, where you can order a spritz and a burger to go with your views of the Golden City. Should you need help, one reader expects you’ll get exactly what you need from the “phenomenal” staff.