Spaulding Hotel

I stayed in Spaulding Hotel through Paramount Student Housing for about 5 months, in a single room with the shared hallway bathroom option. My room was clean and seemed recently renovated, and came with a mini fridge, sink and mirror, desk, nightstand, closet, small wall-​mounted flat screen TV, full-​size bed, and dresser (albeit one of those cheap ones that falls through if you put too much stuff in one of the shelves).
There is weekly cleaning and sheet-​changing service, but as I didn’t trust the occasionally yellowed pillows and sheets, I bought my own from Macy’s nearby so I could sleep soundly at night. Other than that I could come back Friday evening after my internship to see my room vacuumed and the trash emptied.
The view from my room was nothing to write home about, but place itself is in a very central location, next to Chipotle and a 24-​hour Starbucks and Walgreen’s, and only a few minutes away from a Bay Area Bike Share station and public transportation. Regarding going with the hallway bathroom option instead of the private bathroom one to save nearly $ 500/​mo in rent: it was totally worth it! I’d say 95% of the time I’d never have to wait to use the shower or toilet on my floor.
I needed a furnished apartment, so one of the reasons I went with PSH was that the rent was very reasonable (for the area — everyone else outside SF thinks its exorbitant), especially with the tight housing market in SF. The place was almost exclusively student housing, although most students there were foreign kids studying English nearby — I was one of only a few Americans.
That being said, one of the most redeeming parts of living here was the staff, who’d always quickly address any issues I had, like installing a towel hook in my room and replacing the hinge in the hallway door that would cause it to slam loudly. Shout-​out to Dmitry, Janine, and Jak!

Stayed here through an AirBNB reservation. In terms of value you really can’t get much better than this — it was less than $ 100 /​night in a prime location (very near Union Square and Powell Street Station), which is sadly pretty nuts for San Francisco.
That said, it’s important to know what to expect, which is a 1-​star hotel. It does appear to be renovated (my room had new wood laminate floors) and was quite clean. Amenities are as minimal as you can get though — the room has toilet paper and towels (no washcloth). You need to provide all toiletries, though there’s a Walgreens around the corner so I just grabbed a bunch of travel-​sized bottles of soap and shampoo. There is free wifi though (which I’m using now), so it’s a step above many 4-​star hotels in that regard.
The big thing I missed was no way to hang up clothes — there’s a dresser, but no closet or hangers. The location is just off of Powell so it feels relatively safe (I’ve stayed much scarier places in SF), but the neighborhood does get a little rougher if you wander too far west from there. Paid laundry facilities on the second floor (again, buy detergent at Walgreens) were useful and worked fine.

This is one strange place. I booked a room online & when we arrived (late at night), we couldn’t even find the door to the place. There was no sign. The room we stayed in was remodeled & clean however the halls were a mess & stinky too! There was a lot of construction (very loud in the morning). It appears as though they are trying to make some improvements but they really should cut their prices in half until they do.

So the reason that this place hasnt been reviewed in many years is because it is only for student housing however, mostly international students, in SF here to learn English (of course they wouldnt go on Unilocal and review, they probably dont even know what Unilocal is)
Anyhow, I’m an American student that was interning in SF and needed a place safe to live since I had not clue what SF had to offer. Spaudling is a great location, a block from Union Square, safe if you stay in Union Square but just 1 – 2 blocks from the tenderloin. Its a bit sketchy on that side of town but just use your judgement but the place is mostly safe and full of tourist and only two blocks from Bart station.
I had a private room and bath so it was great! It had a TV and a mini fridge. They came once a week and would change your sheets, towels and clean floors and tub. Spaudling is a great place to meet people your age, however are mostly international students that dont know much English and only a few Americans actually interning in the city and most Americans since they are the minority in the bldg just go in and out of their rooms and keep it moving. The kitchen is probably my worst complaint. Spaudling keeps the bldg pretty clean however, students are suppose to clean up after themselves but they dont and Spaudling doesnt really enforce this rule, leaving the kitchen a disgust, especially if you go in the evenings.
Another complaint is the very unstable and slow internet. Somedays it was faster than other days but mostly slow, along with the limited TV channels. Also, the kitchen closes at 10:30pm and opens at 7am. They offer the cheapest bread/​bagels with jars of nutella, jelly and peanut butter as breakfast. I gave the place 3 stars even with all my complaints because the place is decent but I wouldnt suggested it for a long stay. I lived here for 4months and at first I was cool with these things but after 2 months into my stay, I was tired of the messy kitchen, walk down 4 floors to reheat my food, kitchen closes too early and open too late and no microwave available for use. There was only one place to go that had a microwave and that was the lobby and that would close at a certain time of night as well so if you got the midnght munchies better eat something that isnt reheatable.
Another complaint was that I had to request for my comforter to be changed. I had 6weeks with the same comforter and I would request and request and come to my room with the same comforter. Also, requested for 5weeks for an iron, they never had any in stock.
Overall the place is decent, clean, location is great and if your open to meeting people and learning about different cultures, this place is great but bring your own iron, and keep non pershisable items or sandwich meats etc to fix up a sandwich in your room if you get late night munchies.

I’ve been staying in this hotel for one year. now they only acept students and residents. The service is pretty bad and the manager is the worst! I went back to my country for a month, and before that I ask her if I’ll get the same rate for my room after I come back. she said Yes! however after I came back, she said she never promised me about that. and she ask me to move to a worse room and I can pay for the same price as before, or I have to pay a price which is 200 higher than before. I think it’s kind of cheating. another story was happened on my friend. first he told front desk he will move out after the first month, but he changed his mind and he told them he wanna stay longer. At the pay day he went to front desk and wanna pay for his room. the manager showed up, and told him he had to move out, cuz she didn’t know he wanna stay longer. and she already give the room to another student. I don’t know what wa that. it’s unbelievable. that’s the way they run their business!

This hotel was worse than what I had expected even though I read most of the reviews on
. I have stayed at budget hotels before and did not have high expectations. One of the reviewers suggested that you request a renovated room, and I did that. The manager emailed me back and said «We have booked you in a renovated room.» Upon arrival, the room did not seem not renovated at all (dirty carpet, dirty walls, worn out bed linens). We were on the third floor facing the bar across the street, and it was really noisy throughout the night. The next morning we requested another room not facing the bar, and we got one on the 7^th floor. It was a nicer room with clean wood floors and more up-​to-​date furniture. Our room was never cleaned during our stay because they had lost the duplicate key (yes, old-​fashioned keys not card keys).
I chose this hotel because of the very cheap rates and great location (was in town to run the Nike Women’s Marathon, so I had to be near Union Square). I’m really not fussy about hotels – I don’t need a lot of amenities and don’t mind if the room is tiny, but one absolute must is cleanliness. The staff at the front desk was friendly and efficient, but next time I’ll pay more for a more comfortable stay. My husband recently stayed at the Stratford Hotel around the corner and said it’s a much nicer budget hotel.

i booked this hotel last minute before a convention (back in the days when conventions actually sold out hotels in entire cities).
1 star for being in the Union Square area.
Although the staff was friendly, no extra stars here because hotel staff should always be friendly!
took the tiny (and slow) elevator up to my floor. not a problem. it’s sort of charming. i walk towards my room, and i smell something musty. not good. open my room door, and walk in. the room smelled like a grandma with emphysema had been smoking through her neck hole. it’s a bad sign when you feel dirty in a hotel the minute you arrive.
such a wonderful location, and so much potential… but there are so many other hotels in the city that i will probably never stay here again.

Everyone has their little spot in the gutter, let Spaulding be yours!
Ok, not SOOO bad, but definitely not so good. I don’t like to put my head on the sheets and feel icky about walking around barefoot, but this place has got 3 things:
location
location
location.
It’s cheap, it’s downtown and you could do worse. Just don’t expect mints on your pillows.

The night I had a room at The Spaulding Hotel someone sent me this text: I just walked past the Spauling and saw a seagull eating a pigeon. It made me think of you.
That pretty much sums up the place.

Whatever, this hotel is awesome. If you get the «double», you pay $ 75/​night for a room with its own sink and a bathroom down the hall. Ask for a room at the front of the hotel, and you can get another hotel’s wireless connection — the last time I stayed there, it was $ 8 per 24 hour period.
I’ve stayed here a number of times, including on business trips, and I’ve never had problems with dirt. Yeah, this is a run down hotel — you’re paying less than $ 100 for being a block off Union Square, for God’s sake — but with the wireless access, you really have all the amenities you could possibly need, short of a pool. Most of the other people staying in the hotel with you will be kickass international travelers, who are interesting, well-​read, and know the value of a good deal.