As San Francisco expects meeting business hotel bookings to rebound to 670,000 nights in 2025 (up 70% from 2024), many convention-goers will be touching down in the City by the Bay in the near future.
Thus, it seemed an opportune time to visit the Bay Area to join a group of journalists at the invitation of Visit California, to explore what awaits travelers looking to spend some leisure before or after their meetings or perhaps as part of meeting program offsite options.
The first thing I learned was that, thanks to the area’s enormous tech industry, new meeting and event spaces can be found throughout San Francisco, San Jose and the Peninsula. Not only do tech companies power and people these spaces, but tech moguls also invest their extra time and money in launching restaurants and sponsoring venues. Take techie Shaum Coleman and his business partner Chris Maune, for example, who grow their own grapes and make award-winning vintages at Alamitos Vineyards—and can host up to 300 people to enjoy it all with them.
San Francisco
At the 1,200-room-plus Westin St. Francis, a lobby renovation is underway. In the meantime, we explored new rooftop venues that overlook Union Square and the skyline, most of which were built before the Great Depression and after WWII, establishing downtown’s Gilded Age-cum-Mid-Century-Modern silhouette. At night, the buildings around Union Square light up with LED billboards, mostly heralding ascendent technology companies and sports equipment. At ground level, a vividly lit-up-at all-hours Nintendo Store served as a beacon for those trying to find their way back to the hotel.
Our group was, in fact, awed by the lines waiting to enter the Nintendo Store, located next to the hotel’s entrance. These formed early in the morning till closing (Mario and Legend of Zelda aren’t going to play themselves!) and served as an indicator that retail and its clientele are returning to the area between Union Square and the Moscone Center.
Not only that, new mixed-use developments in and around Oracle Park, the very-event-friendly home of the San Francisco Giants, and the 1,070-foot-tall Salesforce Tower, are also freshening the look and feel of the city.
It’s easy to walk from the St. Francis to the new location of Tyler Florence’s expanded Wayfare Tavern. After sampling Florence’s cuisine (including popovers, deviled eggs and elevated fried food), the man himself welcomed us and pointed upstairs to a mezzanine where several private rooms are located, the largest of which seats 50 and another is ADA accessible. There’s also a cellar dining space (30 seated; ADA accessible).
For a raucously fun night, consider China Live Restaurant & Marketplace. Located in Chinatown, it features a large ground-floor dining hall filled with excited, hungry diners (like ourselves). Lori Lincoln, VP of Global PR and Media Relations for San Francisco Travel, ordered for the table; we shared soup dumplings, tofu pork noodles and more.
One colleague pointed out a robot delivering take-out food from the kitchen to the door, while another writer investigated some of the private rooms above, decorated in modern and vintage Chinese motifs. The most intimate seats 10, but a buyout will allow up to 650 to crawl all over the venue’s three floors, complete with dumpling demonstrations, fortune-tellers and other engaging activation options.
Fogcutter Tours, which picked us up at the Ferry Building and delivered us to Pier 36 a few hours later, supplied each seat with a blanket, which was greatly appreciated since I had only donned two wool sweaters on top of my regular clothes. (Note: Summer temps begin in September and last through October.) The tour company, which is run by Eric Schaefer, operates from a 12-passenger vehicle tricked out like a Woodie station wagon. Schaefer took us to the Mission District, Haight-Ashbury, the Presidio and other iconic neighborhoods, but was also kind enough to drive by the That’s So Raven Victorian, the former Disney television series, by request.
[Related: San Francisco Mayor Tells Marriott Association Audience to ‘Believe in San Francisco’]
The San Francisco Peninsula
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is located on the San Francisco Peninsula a little more than 15 miles south of downtown San Francisco. Besides being the primary airport for the region, SFO is also home to a variety of meetings-friendly hotels, such as the 688-room SFO Marriott Waterfront (with over 27,000 square feet of meeting space). Groups can even tee off at the nearby three-story Topgolf Burlingame (facing the Bay), which opened last December.
While everyone knows plenty about tier-one destination San Francisco proper, many people outside of the Bay Area may not be up to speed on the San Mateo County destinations just south of San Francisco, known locally as “The Peninsula.”
Here are some highlights of this relatively unheralded destination option that should really be on planner radars:
- In Belmont, the Mediterranean-style Amara restaurant features a floor-through restaurant beside a multilevel garden that can accommodate up to 70. It was so easy for us to chill in the sunken garden while watching people along the busy street above.
- In Burlingame, the incredibly popular Stella has settled into its new, larger location, once an English-style pub. Now there’s room for all the cravers of its special truffled gnocchi as well as private parties for up to 200. Also in Burlingame, twelvemonth, started by techie-now-vegan-gourmand Bob Trahan, serves elevated vegan fare. There are many private, but mostly intimate, rooms, with the largest seating 30.
- In South San Francisco, the Hangar is the first—but undoubtedly not the last—place I’ve seen a toast bar. A former warehouse, the venue has been converted into an event space with a side gig as a lunch hall for the neighboring tech professionals who populate the area.
But The Peninsula’s jewel in the venue crown, as it were, is Filoli Gardens, a Gilded Age country estate surrounded by 16 acres of English gardens. Tech companies like a day out as much as anybody, so when we arrived, the property, encompassing the rose gardens, reflecting pools and more, was being set up for a buyout event. On the mansion tour, you could feel the wealth of the original occupants not so much in the dazzling decor but in the owners’ portraits, casually sketched in charcoal by John Singer Sargent.
[Related: Taking Off: The San Francisco Peninsula Is One of California's Best-Kept Secrets]
San Jose
I could say San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House is a startling contrast to Filoli, but that doesn’t begin to describe its singularity. It’s a slightly older Gilded Age mansion, built by a woman—the widow of the Massachusetts gun heir who, haunted by “demons,” tried to confuse them by building doors and stairways to nowhere, including a door opening onto an eight-foot drop. Our tour guide explained these complexities as we toured 110 of the house’s original 160 rooms, and warned about the drop. The house’s atmospheric courtyard is a popular place for weddings and receptions.
Next to the Mystery House is the manufactured, mixed-use Santana Row neighborhood. Here, we stayed in the Spanish Colonial-style Hotel Valencia. It seemed smaller than its 215 rooms, but it features a very chichi bar, a 2,000-square-foot ballroom, a gorgeous courtyard and more. My friend, Gary Singh, a frequent Meetings Today contributor who lives in San Jose and has written two books about its soccer team (the Earthquakes), said the visiting teams stay at the Hotel Valencia.
Breakfasting at Augustine (practically adjacent to the hotel, with space for private dining), I might have thought I was going to eat like a queen at every full stop and eschewed the croque madame, croissants, crab donuts and crullers with creme Anglaise. Then again, who am I kidding?
Things to Know About Traveling to the San Francisco Bay
- I noted a 13-degree temperature difference between San Francisco and San Jose, and a 10-degree difference between The Peninsula and San Jose. Act/dress accordingly. As the locals will remind you, “dress in layers!”
- The area’s famous meteorological phenomenon has been called Karl the Fog since 2010, when someone opened a Twitter account in its name.
- The Clipper is the payment card for all mass transit, including cable cars and bikeshare. And, yes, there’s an app for that.
Plus: Q&A With Jessica Campbell, Director of Purchasing, San Jose McEnery Convention Center
Opening night, Team San Jose escorted us to the McEnery Convention Center’s VIP room, where executive chef Michael Riddell’s seven-course tasting dinner awaited.
From traditional “fancy” ingredients (caviar, truffles and such) to local seasonal produce, Riddell interpreted the “flavors” of the Bay, from Vietnamese black cod and al pastor pork to haute meat and potatoes. I asked Jessica Campbell, McEnery’s director of purchasing (also a certified sommelier who paired each course with an area wine), to fill me in on the planning.
Jessica Campbell: The idea was Team San Jose VP of Marketing & Communications Laura Chmielewski’s. She wanted to showcase the city of San Jose and demonstrate that it's not just a typical convention center. I cannot tell you how much fun the chef and his team had doing this menu.
Terri Hardin: It’s good to have access to local produce.
Jessica Campbell: California is just a great place for produce. You find an amazing amount within a 100-mile radius—maybe even 50 miles. All our menus are seasonal. We also have a vendor that supplies fresh pasta!
Terri Hardin: In this area, you’re also spoiled for wine choices.
Jessica Campbell: [Before coming to San Jose,] I was working for a winery in Napa. So, finding the wines—getting to check out vineyards, seeing what they're doing and when the new vintages are showing—I cannot tell you how much fun I had.
Terri Hardin: How does being a somme help your job at McEnery?
Jessica Campbell: It allows me to use my knowledge when talking to the client. We can hold wine tastings for clients (by request) to help them broaden their perspectives. Maybe they're thinking, “I just want a chardonnay.” That's great, I’d say, “but I also know that your clientele might actually enjoy this varietal.” Just to give them a few more options.
Terri Hardin: As the convention center’s purchaser, what’s your advice to meeting planners?
Jessica Campbell: The cost of goods has just skyrocketed. [Even containers;] the cost of steel, aluminum and glass have gone up. It’s the new norm for the foreseeable future. The answer is: compromise. Work with people, figure out a solution.
For example, I worked out a deal with the vintner who supplies the 187ml bottles we serve in the concessions of our four theaters. He agreed to produce 187ml for us and sell at an agreed-upon price, which helped us go to zero waste and keep our costs in line. Now, we can showcase a cabernet from Sonoma and a chardonnay from Mendocino!
