Meet Randy | The Family Travel Guy

Travel Blog + Travel Agency

The Club Lounge at the Ritz Carlton San Francisco

The Club Lounge at the Ritz Carlton San Francisco is the city’s largest full-service Club Level Lounge featuring a presentation of extraordinary food and drink selections throughout the day and and special tastings with award-winning local wineries on Friday and Saturday.

Is it worth the cost of reserving a club level room or upgrading to get club level access?

What is the Club Lounge?
The Club Lounge is exclusively for the comfort and convenience of Club Level guests, accessible by private key access only, and welcomes guests with its city views and courtyard views, refined and relaxed ambiance with comfortable lounge seating, personalized club concierge service and complimentary food and beverage presentations throughout the day.  It is often referred to as a hotel within a hotel, in a well-appointed, relaxed lounge environment.


Club level rooms are the top floors of the hotel with the Club Lounge located on the eighth floor of the nine story hotel.



Food and Beverage Presentations
The Club Lounge exclusive amenities include continuous culinary offerings throughout the day (breakfast, light lunch, evening hors d' oeuvres, desserts and sweets), accompanied by a full-service Club Concierge to see to every need including access to extraordinary travel experiences.


There is self-serve wine, alcohol and beer offered in the afternoon and evening as well.

What makes the Club Lounge at San Francisco so unique are the additional offerings including evening hors d’oeuvres inspired by the cuisine of San Francisco’s extraordinary neighborhoods, a caviar tasting on Saturdays, plus a Vintner Wine Series on weekends.

Taste the neighborhoods of San Francisco 
Each evening in the Club Lounge, Executive Chef Luis Lujan presents hors d’oeuvres inspired by the diverse neighborhoods of San Francisco and the rich culinary regions of the Bay Area.
  • Sunday – North Beach/Little Italy
  • Monday – Union Square
  • Tuesday – The Mission
  • Wednesday – Chinatown
  • Thursday – Japantown
  • Friday – Napa Valley
  • Saturday – Fisherman’s Wharf

Vintner Wine Series on the Weekends 
On Friday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m., The Club Lounge offers guests an exclusive tasting of wines from acclaimed boutique wineries in Northern California. Winemakers or winery representatives will be on hand to pour and educate guests on their wines. On Saturday evenings from 6 to 7 p.m., enjoy a limited edition sparkling wine from the JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset Collection whom also features a tasting lounge in the lobby of the hotel.


Caviar on Saturdays 
The Club Lounge features a caviar presentation on Saturday evenings from 6 to 7 p.m. including accompaniments like crème fraîche, egg whites and yolks, chives and capers served with warm blinis and/or toast points. Enjoy with a rare sparkling wine from the JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset Collection.




Is it Worth the Cost?
Club level rooms are priced above standard rooms and typically offer better views on the higher floors of the hotel.

In most cases, the cost of having Club Lounge access is approximately valued at $100 per person per day, or at least what the Ritz Carlton typically values it at.  I would say Ritz Carlton club lounges are head and shoulders above other hotel offerings (Grand Hyatt locations for example), so you're paying for a premium experience, as well as better quality food and drinks.

For $100 per person per day, you get all day access to food and drinks, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and complimentary wine and alcohol.  You can do the math on what you'd typically spend on all day dining and drinks to see if it makes sense for you, but in most cases you would likely break-even or even come out ahead when comparing it to the hotel dining choices and pricing.  If you have the Ritz Carlton credit card, the three Club Level upgrade certificates you receive are a huge benefit and can be worth a lot in value when using it for upgrading onto the Club Floor.  

The Ritz Carlton San Francisco offers wonderful dining choices and having Club Lounge access compliments these selections very nicely.  In this case having club lounge access would help save you money, although you may miss out on some of the dining experience offered at the hotel if you strictly relied on the Club Lounge for food.

Lastly, the convenience of having club lounge access cannot be overstated, especially with younger children.  When traveling as a family with younger children, having club lounge access is huge and in most cases there is no extra charge for kids under twelve.  Being able to grab food and drinks at your convenience, scheduling meals around kids nap times and not having to worry about dining reservations can be a good benefit to have.


Be sure to read more about the Ritz Carlton Stars Program and how you can gain a lot of extra value for your next stay at a Ritz Carton hotel!

Related posts:
Review: Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay
The Club Lounge at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay
Review: Ritz Carlton San Francisco
Review: Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe  <Coming Soon>
The Club Lounge at the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe  <Coming Soon>
The Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe Lake Club  <Coming Soon>