JILL WEINLEIN

After graduating from UCLA, JIll traveled the world looking for unique destinations. She’s been writing about her travels for almost 30 years in various publications.

She writes a weekly restaurant review for the Beverly Press and Park LaBrea News. It’s inserted into the Los Angeles Times every Thursday and delivered to subscribers from Hancock Park to Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills to the Wilshire Corridor.

Get your Kicks™ at The Ritz Carlton San Francisco

BY JILL WEINLEIN

While staying overnight at The Ritz Carlton, San Francisco, I kept humming the lyrics ‘Get your kicks, at The Ritz’ from the song ‘Puttin’ On The Ritz” by songwriter Irving Berlin, Located in the prestigious upper class Nob Hill neighborhood, guests can now indulge in the new Respite Concierge program.

Nob Hill has always been known as the hill where people ‘dressed up like a million dollar trooper, tryin’ hard to look like Gary Cooper (super duper)’ especially after 1909, when the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company commissioned the stately building to be built for their Pacific Coast headquarters. This “Temple of Commerce” features 17 stately Ionic columns and a prominent portico with doormen awaiting guests arrival.

The hotel oozes timeless stability, authority and wealth, so in 1984, this exquisite building was named a San Francisco City landmark and placed on the list of Architecturally Significant Structures.

At the Ritz Carlton reception desk, there is a large glass jar filled with fortune cookies. It’s a treat-within-a-treat that originated in San Francisco in 1914. Guests are welcome to take a cookie, crack it open and read their fortune, before retiring into one of the 336 modern guest rooms and suites.

     The decor throughout the hotel is serene with deep blues and shades of gray inspired by the nearby bay and fog that lingers until the afternoon. Comfortable king and queen size beds offer 400-thread count sheets and 100% combed cotton linens.

Guests who reserve a new Ritz Carlton Respite Concierge program can partake in one or more distinctive categories: retail, recreation and relaxation. It’s a partnership with coveted local businesses to enhance guests’ visits. Special rates for hotel guests include a personalized shopping excursions, beauty treatments, private sailing excursions and one-on-one fitness sessions. All are available and can be reserved in advance through the hotel’s dedicated Respite Concierge team.

The “Retail Respite” package includes Club Level accommodations – a hotel within a hotel experience up on the 8th floor. Guests are invited to relax and dine in the comfortable lounge for a complimentary savory breakfast, healthy lunch, afternoon tea, California wines, craft beers, spirits, a light dinner and dessert.

Those seeking to get ‘dressed up like a million-dollar trooper’ will appreciate the “Retail Respite” with a special trip to Saks Fifth Avenue. Sip champagne and use a $100 store gift card, as a personal stylist helps you find unique pieces to upgrade your wardrobe.

Guests seeking a “Recreation Respite” will enjoy sailing in the iconic bay for a 90-minute San Francisco Sailing Company adventure. Skim along the water to the Golden Gate Bridge, sail around Alcatraz Island and past the Historic Ferry Building as the captain and his first mate offer guests a glass of wine, beer or non-alcohol beverage, while soaking up the sights and sounds of this fresh sea air experience.

For guests looking to elevate their cardio, One-on-One Fitness program starts at the hotel with a top-rated San Francisco’s trainer from The City is Our Gym. Receive a personalized workout while exploring the sidewalks, parks, stairs and scenic sights of the city with your one-on-one motivating trainer.

Guests eager to relax and “dance to the rhythm, nice and easy”, can reserve a session with Qigong and Tai Chi master Rebecca Grossbard. She leads classes with guests to achieve inner balance and harmony.

Spa time can be enjoyed at the nearby Nordstrom Spa for an anti-aging facial, healing massage or luxurious body wrap.

Outdoor “Silent Disco” yoga is offered in the courtyard on the weekends in the morning, with the hotel providing yoga mats, headphones, towels, waters and hand sanitizer.

Guests seeking to “Get your kicks, at the ritz, dine and wine, but not till nine”can splurge and enjoy a meal in the Lobby Lounge for a craft cocktail, seafood, and elevated menu items. Be sure to indulge and enjoy the best pancakes in the city at at the hotel’ Parallel 37 restaurant.

If your blue and you don’t know where to go to, Why don’t you go where fashion sits, and make a reservation at the JCB Tasting Lounge in the lobby for a one-of-a-kind wine tasting experience. Decorated by legendary and flamboyant winemaker Jean-Charles Boisset, wine flights are poured among mirrors, soft velvet and leopard skin prints. Try on one or more of his sparkling jewelry to feel as if you are really “puttin’ on the ritz.”

Next door, the one-of-a-kind perfumery Krigler, has a perfume made just for Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy, and Princess Kate. There are only a handful of these multi-sensory boutiques throughout the world offering perfumes with a number and a story. The founder’s great grandson Ben, continues to invent relevant perfumes and colognes for today’s royalty, celebrities and Krigler fans.

The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco is ideally situated just steps from the iconic Chinatown neighborhood and next to the California Street Cable Car for easy access to other neighborhoods down the hill. Special rates begin at $549. To book a Respite Concierge stay, please contact the hotel’s concierge desk at (415)773-6189. Go to http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/california/san-francisco.

Stay well,

Jill Weinlein