I checked out a new old hotel in San Francisco the other day called Hotel Frank. Just plain Frank. The city where Bill Kimpton began Kimpton Hotels—small, idiosyncratic hotels—in 1981 is home to a number of older hotels that have been given a face-lift and turned into ostensibly hip hostelries, and Hotel Frank is one of the latest entrants.

It’s a block off Union Square at 386 Geary St. and is part of the collection of boutique hotels run by Personality Hotels—you may know the company’s Hotel Diva in San Francisco. 

The Frank certainly has personality. It’s kicky and fun with turquoise leather headboards on the bed and crazy black and white carpeting throughout. But let’s be frank: I didn’t love the incredibly tiny bathroom sinks and lack of horizontal space to set anything down in the bathroom. I did like the big showerhead and good towels. Oh, and having marble in the shower stall all the way to the ceiling is a very nice touch. I would have appreciated a luggage rack. And a towel rack in the bathroom—there was room for that. Memo to housekeeping: Check to make sure the alarm is off when you turn a room. My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., and when you’re dead asleep next to an unfamiliar clock radio, it can take a lot of focusing to figure out how to quiet the beast.

Turquoise leather headboards on the bed add to the fun of Hotel Frank.

On the plus side, the hotel’s location is hard to beat. There’s a restaurant downstairs, but room service offered no cereal in the morning, and when I saw the 18 percent addition to the price and a $5 service charge, I decided to pass on breakfast in bed. My decision was made easier because, when I asked about fruit, I was told it was “mostly melons, and not very good.” I appreciated the honesty, which certainly reflects the opening line—or shall I say frankness?—of the hotel’s website that reads, “Let’s face it, subtlety is so last season.” My suggestion for breakfast: Cross the street to the Daily Grill.

If you’re willing to prepay, rates can begin as low as $150 (on a random night I selected to check in June). Rooms vary in size—the photo here is of one of the larger rooms, so do your homework on the hotel’s website. And if management does some work on the interior of the elevators and adds some shower gel to the bathroom amenities, I think Hotel Frank would be a tad more fun.

There’s also a new InterContinental in town called the InterContinental Hotel San Francisco. It’s in the hot Soma (“South of Market”) neighborhood, by the Moscone West Convention Center. It’s not to be confused with the other InterContinental, the venerable Mark Hopkins on Nob Hill. This one is a sleek high rise with 550 rooms, an award-winning chef and one more star than its slightly faded sister hotel perched on the hill. I didn’t stay there, but the hotel PR woman was kind enough to show me around when I turned up without an appointment.

The InterContinental Hotel San Francisco

OK, this is a convention hotel. The immediate neighborhood is sort of plain, unless a Buca de Beppo gets your heart beating. But take a left, and you’re at the Sony Metreon, a shopping and entertainment complex. There’s a lovely carousel for kids nearby, and you’re only a two-minute walk behind the hotel to Market Street. Union Square is just a few short blocks further.

Here’s the trick: Book a room when there’s not a convention in town. Room rates are almost entirely dependent on conventions; you can pay as little as you’d pay at Hotel Frank if you hit it right. And in this case, we’re talking five-star rooms with all the fixins’.

For very luxe, Taj Hotels’ Campton Place is giving the Four Season and Ritz-Carlton a run for the money. An intimate lobby with fresh flowers everywhere greets you, while a few steps below the lobby, a bar said to have the best hamburger in San Francisco beckons. A more formal dining room adjacent to the bar turns out gourmet fare.

For a luxurious experience, stay at Campton Place.

Rooms are posh and understated, exactly what Americans are beginning to expect as the Taj company increases its North American footprint. (The Pierre in New York City and the former Ritz-Carlton in Boston—now called the Taj Boston—are its other two US properties.) Check in to spoil yourself.

Finally, for a budget lunch that’s filling and terrific, head to the Mission District to La Taqueria (2889 Mission St.) and order yourself a “chicken tacos crisp” with cheese and avocado. Have a mango juice on the side. It’s not a new place. But that’s OK.

For good eats, head over to La Taqueria.