When we finally made the decision to make the trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco I immediately got online to the Wyndham site and checked availability. Even when I find availability online I usually call and make my arrangements with a human because they have knowledge and more capability then I feel I do working online. Of course, there was nothing open. I played around with various dates and tried different scenarios, but nothing opened up. So I called. I got a great guy, told him what I wanted, gave him the timeline we had picked out, and he hooked me up! I ended up with two days in a three bedroom presidential and two days in a two bedroom presidential. Unfortunately, I own with my brother, and my mother is still on the deed, and despite getting my name at the start of the call, the guy put the reservation in my mother's name. When I called to change it the only way to do it, without cancelling the reservation, was to put it in my name as a guest. I was fine with that, but knew it would open up some complications.
Prior to arriving, I called Canterbury and explained that we would be coming in for the parade and asked if we could drop off our luggage and our car. They assured me that would be no problem and so we drove straight to the Wyndham when we got to the city. The front desk employee, Jacqueline, was awesome. When she found out I was an owner she changed the reservation to reflect that, and checked me in for both reservations so that when I checked out after our first two days I would be ready to check back in again for my next two days. She arranged for our luggage to be unloaded and stored and had our car valeted. She took my number and told me she would call when the room was ready.
From Jacqueline, I moved over to the Wyndham Resorts desk to Kim and her cohort. They too were awesome! Kim gave me a map and marked all of the tourist destinations. She was the one who told me I was out of luck for Alcatraz, but she also offered to look into it just in case. We discussed the breakfast meeting with the Wyndham sales people, and I agreed to meet with them as I had some questions. Kim gave us the best route to the parade and we headed out.
Our room was ready by 10:30 am, but I didn't get to it until after 2:00 pm. The hotel is centrally located and within walking distance of so many of the tourist attractions. Catching a cable car or a bus is also very easy and not far from the hotel. The ability to valet park our car (for a $31+ fee) was nice and we could get it in and out whenever we needed it.
When I entered the Canterbury, Jacqueline called me by name, handed me my keys, and had a bellman, Dino, bring my luggage to the room. The Presidential Reserve area is separate from the rest of the hotel, to the right upon entering. We were on the fourth floor directly off the elevator. The three bedroom presidential was amazing, as was Dino who unloaded and carried in the mass amount of luggage we had for five people.
It was the best unit I've been in with such great attention to detail. The decor was very modern in black, silver and glass with a touch of gold thrown in via the entertainment center, living room rug, and couch pillows. It was large as are all the Wyndham Presidential units, but the view of the city was incredible. The living room and master bedroom had many large windows overlooking the front of the building that brought in a great amount of natural light. The door opened into the kitchen/living room with one bedroom to the right and two bedrooms to the left. Each room had a bathroom and the unit had a washer and dryer.
The master bedroom and bath were spacious. The shower was huge. It had two heads which I found a tad odd since California is under a drought warning, but I will admit I used them both. The toilet had its own separate room that I could have lived in. It was narrow and long with two giant windows, a ledge that ran the length of the room under the windows, and the toilet. I loved it. It was beautiful at night, and I spent a lot of time standing in the room looking out at the city (and waving to the people in the building across the street).
The bedroom across from the master was the smallest of the three. It had a dresser, night table, and a bed so close to the window the sleeper could touch it. The bathroom was not attached, but stood at the end of the hallway between the two bedrooms. The second bedroom outside the living room was very large and had a large bathroom adjoining it. There was plenty of space for everyone, and we enjoyed breakfast and a late dinner in the spacious kitchen.
The only downsides that I found were the dryer and the pillows. The knob on the dryer didn't turn properly and the machine would only run for ten minutes at a time so that we had to keep turning it back on. The four pillows on the beds were of various sizes and plush, but all were too over the top in either hardness or softness so I took a lot of ibuprofen for the neck pain.
Moving out of our "penthouse" was easy. The bellman appeared and loaded us up, storing our luggage once again while we waited for our next unit to be ready. The hotel also stored our refrigerated items in a refrigerator they have for that very purpose, and everything was brought to our next room when we checked back in later in the day.
This unit was on the first floor and Ivan, who delivered our luggage, gave us a bit of history about the hotel. It was once an apartment building and the owner lived in that very unit so it was quiet, large, and out of the way. The view was sad. Our living room and bedrooms looked out at a wall and a sliver of a grassy area that is currently being worked on, but we let that slide as the unit was spacious, despite downsizing a bedroom. We did have three full baths which we thought odd, but we didn't complain.
The decor was the same. The master bedroom and second bedroom had attached full bathrooms with the double shower heads and benches. Both were plenty roomy and comfortable, although the pillows were the same. The kitchen had a bar that I enjoyed sitting at while blogging. The living room was smaller, but fit all five of us, and the pull out sofa bed was quite comfy according to my girls.
The downside to this unit was much the same. The dryer in this unit had a faulty knob that had to be removed to even set it and then it too only worked for ten minute increments. Somehow in the transfer of rooms the "owner" status didn't get moved with us and I didn't get my morning paper, but a quick trip to the desk took care of that. Other than that we had no complaints.
The sales pitch was another decent experience. Kim had given me a paper to fill out on what I was interested in discussing with my sales person so I brought that with me to the meeting. Breakfast was a nice spread, sort of an upscale version of a free hotel breakfast, but I find that eating in front of my sales person is off putting. It certainly can't be pleasant for the sales person to watch people scarfing down eggs and bacon. We would have liked to have eaten more food, but we felt self conscious eating in front of her. Our person was knowledgeable and apparently award winning within Wyndham. She had our information and offered up helpful suggestions regarding our property and maintenance, but when I declined to make major decisions without my brother's input she stood up, shook our hands, and ended things right then and there. She gave me her card, promised to write up a proposal for me, and she took me to get my reimbursement. Total time with her: 20 minutes. Whoa. Never had that happen.
Frankly, while I understand the sales portion of the whole timeshare owning, I truly don't get it. By that, I mean who wants to spend three or more hours writing up and viewing contracts while on vacation? I hate the hour or more I have to spend with them. There are times I have questions like I did on this trip, but she couldn't answer the two questions I had. She explained to me why she didn't know the answers so I was okay with that, sort of, and while she offered up helpful information I did not want to sit there and write up a new contract. I had four days in San Francisco period. Spending half of a day indoors dealing with money and contracts was not what I wanted to do.
So far I have not heard from her despite her telling me I would. I very much would like to do business with her, but I'm not reaching out to her. I live too close to Orlando and could spend a weekend over there just taking care of this business face to face if she truly isn't interested in reaching out to me. I count that a downside. I've had several sales people offer to contact me to continue discussions and have never had one follow up.
All in all, I highly recommend this Wyndham. The unit was large, comfortable, and great. The location was awesome. The staff was exceptional. Best Wyndham I've been in so far!
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