The view from the double bed would be worthy of a five-star hotel: the serene green of Fort Mason sloping toward the Marina, the Golden Gate Bridge stretched out like a welcome mat, the rock of Alcatraz Island studding San Francisco Bay.
San Francisco, CA
Airbnb Might Be Struggling, but SF Hostels Are Thriving—Sort of
But it’s not a five-star hotel, or even a hotel at all. It’s Hostelling International’s Fisherman’s Wharf hostel, perched on a gorgeous bluff above Aquatic Cove, where private room No. 23 sets back guests as little as $100 a night. Visitors won’t have their own bathroom, but they can enjoy a cozy common area with a crackling fireplace, an in-house theater, an expansive shared kitchen and free breakfast.
The hostel—housed in a historic 1863 building that once billeted Civil War soldiers—is one of nine such affordable accommodations scattered around the city. While San Francisco hostels have long attracted young and crunchy international travelers on a budget, the city’s bargain beds are now giving Airbnbs a run for their money by offering more than just affordability.
Hostels’ increased privacy and perks are attracting a wider range of ages and demographics. The Music City hostel in Lower Nob Hill—which recently underwent a major overhaul—has rooms equipped with guitars and amps for practicing. The hotel-like Samesun on Lombard Street includes free parking and private rooms. The funky Green Tortoise Hostel in North Beach features zany carpeting, a boho common area and a free dry sauna.
“We’re very bullish about where San Francisco is going to be in two to three years,” said Russ Hedge, president and CEO of Hostelling International USA, the largest hostelling network in the world. The company also operates a location in Union Square and a pair of famed lighthouse lodgings down the coast in Montara and Pigeon Point, where you can fall asleep to crashing surf for as little as $45 a night. While Hostelling International closed one of its Downtown hostels during the pandemic, the company is now actively scouting a new location in the city.
All of this is conspiring to make the hostelling scene something it hasn’t been in at least a generation: broadly desirable. Across the country, elaborate amenities like rooftop pools and steam rooms have led some to speculate that hostels are poised to overtake Airbnbs as accommodations of choice.
“Guests want the social vibe that comes with staying at the hostel,” Hedge said. “But they also want a level of privacy that probably didn’t exist 20 to 30 years ago.”
That has led to changes like more private rooms, more single-stall bathrooms and private changing areas in shower rooms, amenities that didn’t exist in hostels a decade or two ago.
Even though hotel bargains are hard to come by in high-cost San Francisco, you can score a hostel bed for as little as $28 in the heart of the city with amenities galore—so why are so many of them only half full?
Perception Is Everything
With their prime locations, array of amenities and basement prices, hostels could be a stiff competitor to Airbnb, which witnessed a rise in vacancy rates last year. But both forms of accommodations appear to be suffering from the same problem: the negative narrative surrounding San Francisco.
“The doom loop narrative is keeping people away,” said Ruben Ortiz. The general manager of Hostelling International’s Fisherman’s Wharf hostel cited a recent school group—50 kids from the United Kingdom—that canceled their reservation because of what they were seeing on the news.
Overnights in San Francisco hostels were down 15% in 2023 as compared with 2019—whereas that rate is only 8% in the rest of the country, Hedge said. The Hostelling International president attributes the San Francisco drop to the lack of a rebound in travel from China and the Asian rim. But it’s not only that.
“Our travelers are quite well-informed,” he said. “So if there is media coverage that raises questions about a city or a neighborhood, they’ll take that into account in terms of their travel plans.”
At the European Hostel on SoMa’s Minna Street, that kind of news was happening in real time during a visit by The Standard. “Tourists are very scared to come to this street right now,” said receptionist Nikunj Upadhyay on the phone, while registering a guest’s complaint about people doing drugs outside his front door. “There are kids staying here.”
The capacity at Green Tortoise is currently under 50%, lower than is typical for the slow winter season, when occupancy rates usually hover above 60%. The Fisherman’s Wharf and Samesun hostels are also below 50% occupancy.
Yet despite all the negativity in the ether, hostel guests interviewed by The Standard only had positive things to say about the city, highlighting its beauty and the friendliness of the residents.
“It’s a great city,” said Samesun guest Renata Paulo, who traveled from Washington, D.C., to celebrate New Year’s Eve. “I can’t wait to come back.”
The Hostelling International president, for his part, remains optimistic about the future of San Francisco—and about what hostels can provide for it. “Our guests have felt so welcomed by the people of San Francisco,” he said. “There’s an attitude that distinguishes it from other cities, a graciousness.”
What’s more, hostels can host group sizes not possible in Airbnbs, like touring cyclists or large Girl Scout troops, like the one that overtakes the Fisherman’s Wharf hostel every year.
“The whole place fills up with little girls,” Ortiz said. “And the chaperone moms sipping on their chardonnay, saying, ‘We have to drink to get through this.’”
The San Francisco Giants are headed even farther south today as they begin a weekend road series against the Miami Marlins.
Taking the mound for the Giants will be noted bigot Landen Roupp. Roupp enters today’s game with a 4.24 ERA, 2.96 FIP, with 82 strikeouts to 32 walks in 74.1 innings pitched. His last start was in Friday night’s 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, in which Roupp clearly cared more about proselytizing than he did about winning, allowing four runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks in four and two thirds innings.
As of the time this is being written on Thursday, the Marlins have not announced a starting pitcher for today’s game and I am off today (Happy Juneteenth!). But you can head on down to the comments for the most up to date information.
Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins
Where: loanDepot park, Miami, Florida
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM
SAN FRANCISCO – An 8-year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department received a hero’s sendoff Thursday afternoon as she was discharged from San Francisco General Hospital, less than three weeks after surviving a life-threatening shooting in the line of duty.
First time opening up to the public
The backstory:
Officer Brittney Taylor was greeted by a formation of first responders clapping to show their appreciation and respect as she emerged from the hospital in a wheelchair.
The discharge marks the first time Taylor has spoken publicly since the violent encounter on the night of May 31. According to newly released police body-camera footage, Taylor was shot in the upper leg and foot by a robbery suspect following a pursuit that ended in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood.
“I almost lost my life,” Taylor said. “It’s the little things you take for granted. Holy crap, you get to sit back and look at the big picture.”
When asked if she felt any fear during the incident, Taylor admitted she did that night, though not in the moments leading up to it.
“I knew what could happen,” she said, describing the entire ordeal as an eye-opener. “It is difficult to think about it. You replay it, and it absolutely causes me to lose sleep.”
Credit where credit is due
Dig deeper:
Taylor credited the hospital’s medical team, specifically trauma surgeon Dr. Andre Campbell, with saving her life.
However, Dr. Campbell emphasized that the quick actions of Taylor’s fellow officers at the scene played a critical role in her survival.
Instead of waiting for an ambulance, officers recognized the severity of her injuries, placed her into a patrol car, and rushed her directly to the hospital.
“Which was great,” Dr. Campbell said.
Taylor also highlighted the deep bond shared within her “close-knit police family.”
A squad of female officers and their commanding sergeant have maintained a constant presence at the hospital to offer continuous support throughout her stay.
The native San Franciscan expressed that she has no regrets and hopes her experience will encourage other officers to do their best.
“I love the city,” Taylor said. “I don’t like it when people come to my city and destroy it or hurt the citizens here. That takes a toll on me. I’m going to do something about it.”
The road to recovery
What’s next:
When asked how she would respond to people calling her a hero, Taylor remained humble.
“It’s my job. I was doing my job that night. I’m glad to be put in that position of being a hero.”
Following her release, Taylor received a full police escort as she headed home.
While she notes that her full recovery could take anywhere from six months to a year, she remains resolute about her future.
“You gotta let me put my uniform back on and get back out there,” Taylor said, adding that she has no hesitation about continuing her career. “Honestly, no. I got to slow it down. I have time now.”
The Source: Interview with SFPD Officer Brittney Taylor
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced multiple hate crime charges, as well as assault and vandalism charges against an Oakland man for an incident that happened in the Castro District last month.
On Thursday afternoon, Hans Haken pleaded not guilty to one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, one count of vandalism, one count of hit-and-run, and one count of reckless driving.
Prosecutors also allege each of the felony assault counts was a hate crime.
“In San Francisco, we have zero tolerance for any hate, hateful acts, certainly that cross the criminal line, and we will do everything that we can to protect our residents from these types of incidents,” said Jenkins at a Thursday afternoon news conference.
It was on May 16, around 5:30 p.m., when prosecutors say Haken spray-painted a homophobic slur on the wall next to Chartreuse by Roje, a gay-owned floral boutique in San Francisco’s Castro District.
“It was a reminder that even though we’re here in Castro, San Francisco, we live in this well-protected bubble that we have created very passionately and strongly, that that can still happen,” said Jeffrey Dumlao, the owner of Chartreuse by Roje. “If anything, that is what’s scary, that it happened here in broad daylight of all times.”
Dumlao says his store had already closed by that time, but Justin Donnelly, who lives above the store, heard the spray-painting and came down to confront the man and tell him to stop.
“He just became very agitated,” Donnelly said. “I tried to remain calm and just tell him, like, sir, you know, I don’t, I don’t, I’m not involved in any of that. I’m just, I live here, right, and this is, this is my home, and you know, this is vandalism.”
Donnelly says when he took a picture of Haken’s license plate, Haken got in the car and tried to run him over. Then, prosecutors say he got out of the car and punched Donnelly in the jaw while uttering homophobic slurs.
“I’m definitely doing a lot better than I was. It’s been, I don’t know, a month or so,” Donnelly said.
He says the incident has shaken him, but he’s been lifted up by the community’s support and law enforcement.
“A lot of people have said, ‘oh my god, I can’t believe something like this could happen in San Francisco, of all places.’ And the fact is that something like this can happen anywhere, but in San Francisco, we don’t stand for it, and we deal with it, so, so that makes me feel good,” Donnelly said.
In announcing the charges, Jenkins pointed out the climate in this country has become more hostile to the LGBTQ community. She says that makes it even more important for elected officials to protect that community, just like they do every other community.
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