micebook CEO Chetan Shah joined a four-day press trip hosted by SF Travel, taking in a Fleet Week air show, a Moscone Center briefing and dinners across the city. Here’s what he found…
I last visited San Francisco some 30 years ago, in the era of The Rock and Mrs Doubtfire. More recently, the city seemed to have lost some of its glamour and allure. Four days there showed me a city on its way back, and I believe it is set to become a major aspirational destination for events.
1. Cleanliness: a sense of calm
The streets are super clean everywhere we went, from the Financial District to the waterfront and the Design District. That gives the city a sense of calm, and for planners it matters, because the journey between hotel, venue and dinner is part of the delegate experience. San Francisco has struggled with homelessness, but the initiatives of local government and the community seem to be working.
2. Big and small: a metropolis you can walk
San Francisco is a big city in every sense: an impressive skyline, landmarks, history and a strong hotel offering, from grand dames to sleek new-generation properties. We experienced both ends of that spectrum.
The Fairmont San Francisco: the grand dame of Nob Hill
Before the official programme and as part of our US C-Suite community, we were joined by event agency leaders from Opus, Kenes, Unriddled and local San Francisco agencies Bline and Kennedy Events for a viewing of the Presidential Suite at the Fairmont, before heading to dinner. The hotel sits atop Nob Hill at the city’s only cable car intersection and has hosted the city’s most important meetings and events since 1907. The Presidential Suite is on the 23rd floor of the Tower building and has 270-degree wraparound views of the city and bay, and they were breathtaking. I can see a fantastic evening reception taking place in the suite, taking over multiple rooms and spaces.
The numbers are also impressive. The Fairmont offers 72,000 square feet of event space, with a largest-event capacity of 2,300. There is also a 6,000 sq ft Penthouse Suite spanning the eighth floor of the Main Building, which suits private entertaining.
The St. Regis San Francisco: our base
We stayed at The St. Regis, a contemporary counterpoint to the Fairmont’s history. It is at 125 3rd Street, between Union Square and SFMOMA, and the Moscone Center is a short walk away. That made it a convenient base for a programme that took us to the Westin St. Francis, Moscone and SFMOMA.
The hotel has 260 rooms, an indoor pool, a garden and the Astra restaurant and bar. A redesign of the guest rooms, meeting spaces, lobby and bar was unveiled in 2022, and the public spaces feature contemporary pieces by local artists, fitting with SFMOMA next door. On Sunday morning, Director of Sales & Marketing Lilian Wagner hosted us for breakfast and a tour.
For events, its offering is compact and flexible:
- Gallery Ballroom: 4,640 sq ft, seating up to 400 theatre-style, or 350 for a reception.
- Yerba Buena Terrace: an outdoor space of 3,600 sq ft, hosting up to 250 for a reception.
- The Conservatory: 2,080 sq ft, adjoining the terrace and holding up to 150 for a reception.
- Beyond these: 10 event rooms in total, including the Muse Boardroom.
Small enough to walk
It is also a very navigable city. We walked from the hotel to Union Square for our Saturday briefing at the Westin St. Francis, where SF Travel and representatives of the InterContinental, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Beacon Grand and Nikko hotels joined us. A single day then took us from the Embarcadero to the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Haight-Ashbury and the Painted Ladies, without hours lost in transit.
3. Friendly: small-city warmth
For a “big city”, the friendliness stands out. Perhaps it is because San Francisco is such a melting pot of cultures from all walks of life, but there is a real openness and positivity, in hotels, restaurants and on the street.
4. Investment: confidence is back
Our Saturday tour of the central waterfront, taking in Dogpatch and Mission Bay, is where we saw it most clearly. This is a stretch of former shipyards that now holds science labs and AI headquarters, and it is becoming one of the city’s most dynamic meetings and events corridors.
- Mission Rock has a waterfront park and event-ready spaces now open along the bay.
- Chase Center already hosts major events, including the Pokémon World Championship finals.
- Pier 70 is where Elevation Sky Park is due to rise next year, with three domes that can host events for up to 700 guests.
Locals told us they are back in their droves, eating, drinking and spending time in the city. The AI boom is felt everywhere, and live events are an instrumental way for these companies to tell their story. Our briefing with Moscone Center General Manager Leonie Patrick on the city’s premier convention facility reinforced that confidence.
5. Access: creativity without the red tape
Creativity here is not being curtailed by red tape, and the inventive use of unusual spaces is something I haven’t seen in many big American cities. It is actively encouraged. Our itinerary showed the range:
- Fleet Week: United’s private VIP chalet on Marina Green put us between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz for the Blue Angels, in an air show that features a fully choreographed United 777.
- Dining: EPIC Steak’s private bay room and terrace on the Embarcadero hosted our welcome reception, with views of the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island. Maria Isabel, named one of 2026’s best new US restaurants by Bon Appétit, offers two distinct group dining spaces. JouJou’s private solarium in the Design District hosted our final dinner.
- Culture: SFMOMA, with 45,000 sq ft of free public space, hosted lunch, and we saw the RM x SFMOMA exhibition, its only US presentation.
- Further options: from cool car parks that can house thousands to open park spaces, there is a venue for the personality of almost any brief.
The verdict
San Francisco is no longer a city to write off. It is clean, compact, friendly, investing heavily in its future, and open to ambitious ideas, which is a strong combination for event organisers looking for somewhere new to impress their audience