Clift Hotel

INDEPENDENT REVIEW BY ULTIMATEHOTELS.COM STAFF

International hotel magnate Ian Schrager and acclaimed French designer Philippe Starck have stunningly renovated the venerable Clift Hotel.

The lobby’s towering concrete columns, hand-finished Italian plaster walls, limestone flooring, Gerard Garouste’s 18-foot bronze fireplace mantle and Salvador Dali’s coffee table symbolizes the hotel’s hip elegance.

Off the lobby is the original Redwood Room, San Francisco’s famous Art Deco bar and a hot spot with the city’s most fashionable crowd. Still retaining its rich wood paneling, it has been lavishly recreated through whimsical furnishings and avant-garde digital artwork.

The 363 elegant and spacious guest rooms and suites are decorated in tones of ivory, gray and lavender and feature English sycamore sleigh beds dressed in sumptuous 400-thread-count Italian percale bedding and elegant floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Bathroom amenities include exclusive Philippe Stark fixtures.

The Clift’s ultra-chic restaurant, Asia de Cuba, serves a delectable fusion of Asian and Latino cuisine. Dramatic 25-foot-high ceilings, blood-red velvet-draped walls and etched-glass tabletops create a rich, urban ambience in which to savor ostrich steak with shiitake mushroom guiso while checking out S.F.’s celebrities.