We stayed at this hotel in Sept 2011, and had a great experience. Rooms were lovely, people were nice and the location was great. Only issue was the horrendous car parking, but this is an issue everywhere in San Francisco! We had a hire car the first night as it was the end of our trip, and it took over an hour to get it from the parking garage once we requested it. It was a busy time, and we were probably a bit naive, but they should probably warn people that it will take a while. I assume an hour was way longer than normal as when they realised how long it actually took they waived the parking fee. I think the moral is to ditch the car in San Francisco! Would not hesitate to stay again or recommend it to friends though. And no street noise which seems a common problem!

We enjoyed the Orchard Garden very much; very good location for turists, walking distance from about everywhere, shoppings, cable car, buses and more. The rooms are fine, but I would choose the double instead the king room. Staff was very pleasant and helpfull, giving us an early check-in after a looooong trip, wich was great. The streets near Union Square are a little scary by night, but not the hotel street, a few steps from Chinatown gate. I also recomend Cafe de la Presse, right across the street.

We stayed here for 3 nights between Christmas and New Year. The hotel is well located - walking distance of just about everywhere we wanted to go and very convenient for China town.

The room was fine, but I think that maybe we got the disabled room - we had 2 spyholes in the door - at waist and head height (the room next door only had one spyhole) and the hanging rail in the wardrobe was about about 3 feet off the ground - on the other hand, apart from the wide sliding door into the bathroom there didn't seem to be any adaptations to suit a disabled person - no grab rails and just a normal shower over the bath - so I don't know what it was meant to be - it was just a bit odd. But apart from that the room was fine, the bed was very comfy and we have no complaints.

Just one thing to be aware of - especially if you have just got off a long transatlantic flight - we had stayed at the Orchard Hotel in the past which is a couple of blocks up the road. For this holiday, I booked the hotel and my husband booked the transport from the airport and he assumed we were going to the Orchard Hotel and we ended up at the wrong place. Luckily, we discovered our mistake before the car left - we stuffed our cases back into the boot and were taken to the correct hotel.

The orhcard is great. I had a double standard room and it was very spacious. I was there for 9 nights, and for 3 of them there was a couple in the next room that argued pretty loudly in the mornings. I guess this could happen in any hotel.
The cable car has a stop right on Bush street and Powell, just steps away from the hotel entrance.
There is a Starbucks store one block down the hill that might come handy if you just want a quick breakfast.
Union Square is just two blocks down the hill, and if you pass it by and keep walking you get to the end of Powell street where the cable cars turn. All major stores are in this area, across the avenue, ther is a big mall, with movie theatres inside, in case you want to catch a movie as I did.