We were in Fairmont in February 2012 and had a room in the tower with a beautiful view on Alcatraz. We had paid 360 $ just for the room without breakfast. The location was not the best, it is not very central, it is on top of the hill, blocks away from union square. The Lobby is beautiful and was at one moment years back a 5 star hotel, but for the room rate the hotel was a bit old and needed some renovation. The breakfast for 30$ per person was not of a high quality. There is a cafe cintra in the hotel, where you can have better coffees and plain good bagels.

Great hotel with brilliant location. Nice spacious rooms with big bath area and a walk-in wardrobe!
The staff was friendly and the reception is warm. Opt for the tower rooms if booking in advance and register for the Presidents club for complimentary internet access. I would recommend this hotel for business / leisure travellers to San Francisco

Great location and accomodations with beautiful view. If your thinking about staying somewhere else because it's cheaper, don't. I'll only stay here in San Fran.

I stayed at the Fairmont when I travelled to SF for a conference. As noted the hotel is beautiful with a grand lobby and sits atop the famously steep SF hills in Nob Hill. The staff was warm and friedly. I did not have a Tower room due to the cost though I was very tempted as mentioned to the person who made my reservation. You can imagine my delight to learn on check in, that I had been upgraded from an interior room to a room overlooking the garden! This gave me a very lovely, serene view what a pleasure to gaze upon this view as a preared my presentations or relaxeed at the end of the day. The room itself was spacious and comfortable, unfortunately there was no coffee maker in the room and the coffee shop didn't open that early (perhaps 6:30 or so) and was packed as soon as it opened as there wasn't much in the area. On vaction this would not have even been an issue. The small and nicely qpuipped gym did open early. I was thrilled to be able to work out prior to beginning my work day, bewteen that and the hills I felt able to eat all the seafood the fine SF restaurants had to offer!!
All of the conference rooms were comfortable and many had great views the views from the Towers were spectacular.
The restuarnt and bars were a bit expensive but the high quality service, overall ambience and elegance made it worth a splurge.
The hotel was well situated, it is a brisk 15 minute walk from Fisherman's Wharf in one direction and a steeper but shorter walk to downtown in the other. Don't underestimate the hills, by the evening they seem to get steeper. There is a cable car line that runs right by the hotel, which is a plus, if not used to them (like myself) do be careful I am much more used to dodging NYC taxi's and buses !
Overall I had a wonderful stay and highly recommned staying here as long as you are a walker as there is very little within the immeadite hotel area .