I just wanted to echo a recommendation that H. E. Baber made in the comments below.

bq. I’d say just do it: if you’re committed to staying at a fancy hotel close by the Sir Francis Drake is very close by, commended by the hotel workers’ union for signing their “me too” agreement. It isn’t a big hassle to switch, you lose no money canceling out on the Westin, the Drake is cheaper, and changing your reservations is virtually free virtue.

The Drake rooms also, I believe, have complementary wi-fi. (At least it says this on their booking page.) For an added bonus, the Drake has “doormen in beefeater uniforms”:http://www.sirfrancisdrake.com/sfdconc/index.html. On the downside, I can’t believe there is anything the union is protesting more heavily than making the staff wear beefeater uniforms. So maybe it isn’t entirely free virtue. But it is where all the Kewl Kids will be this APA – or at least all the Kewl Kids who like staying at fancy hotels.

For anyone who wants to change, “here is the hotels.com link”:http://www.hotels.com/processSearch.do?inout=&CIYear=2005&COYear=2005&searchID=AC102643-89D2-E910-28F2-7DE52B90677F&paging=1&stateCode=CA&countryCode=USA&state=&numrooms=1&numadults=2&numchildren=0&usertypedcity=&userdropdownselection=&myrecentsearchdestination=&destination=8d4456fb-4038-4a55-bcbe-aa544ab549ad%7Ccc2ece3c-1604-43af-9386-12d602b423e3%7CSan+Francisco%2C+CA%2C+USA%7C1&sortBy=PROXIMITY&origdest=8d4456fb-4038-4a55-bcbe-aa544ab549ad%7Ccc2ece3c-1604-43af-9386-12d602b423e3%7CSan+Francisco%2C+CA%2C+USA%7C1&CIMonth=3&CIDay=23&COMonth=3&CODay=27&hotelName=&newLandmarkDestID=a1186333-7726-179e-d992-11c5f7907fe0&z_property=ALL&amenity_0=on&refineSearchButton.x=11&refineSearchButton.y=8. The evil Westin is at the top, but “the Drake”:http://www.hotels.com/property.do?mtnHotelID=6961&page=info&numadults=2&numchildren=0&numrooms=1&CIDay=23&CIMonth=3&CIYear=2005&CODay=27&COMonth=3&COYear=2005&z_property=ALL&gds=3&thisPageNumber=1&qKey=SA308631502612&roomTypeCode=002 is only a few doors down. Further down the page is the King George, where I stayed last time. It is a little cheaper and rather, er, cozy. But from memory they were selling tickets to ball games from the front desk which I think counts for a lot.