The Parker Guest House is a wonderful place to stay. The staff are friendly and helpful, the house and rooms are wonderful, and the breakfast and happy hour are a great way to meet other fellow travelers. The location is very close to public transportation and many restaurants are within walking distance! I can't wait to visit them again!

My family were doing a PCH roadtrip in late May 2007. My sister, her partner & my parents were driving down from OR. My husband & I were flying into SF from overseas a day before they all met us to continue our journey down the coast. I wanted to find a home away from home place with a lovely ambience, nice outside spaces & great rooms for all of us. I chose the Parker Guest House based upon the numerous glowing recommendations. We arrived early in the afternoon totally jetlagged from our 14 hour flight & were pleasantly greeted by Eduardo.

I had booked all of the rooms - ours for 2 nights (20 & 21 May), the rest of my family for 1 night (21 May). As I went to pay the final bill, I noticed that one room was missing... I had my confirmation e-mail with our room for 2 nights & the other 2 rooms for 1 night each. So, I was a bit concerned. Eduardo told me he'd touch base with Bill (who was back east for a conference) to sort things out but not to worry. Bill called & left me a message profusely apologizing for the mess-up & said that they would sort it out somehow. He was also great because he said he truly appreciated that I hadn't gotten mad at his staff about the mistake. (I didn't get upset at all because I figured that it would get resolved somehow - whether it meant my husband & I camped on my parents' bedroom floor or whatever!) Eduardo then told me later in the evening that they had booked & paid for a room at a motel type place - the only place that had availability locally as it was the weekend of the Bay to Breakers I wasn't surprised there wasn't much left - for the extra room we needed. He also said that my family (even those who now didn't have a room at the Parker) were still welcome to come for drinks, use the amenities and come for breakfast at the Parker. Although I was still highly disappointed & a bit stressed that my family weren't all staying at the same place, I was very appreciative of the Parker Guest House making the effort to rectify the situation in what way they could - the Parker, as expected, was entirely booked out as were all of the other local B&Bs in the Castro. The motel place was absolutely ghastly (I don't even remember what it was called) & my sister said she didn't want to shower there. So, mistakes do happen, even at the best of places, but at least at the Parker they did as much as they could to help.

My husband & I were staying in a Standard Queen in the new building (not the main house) on the street side. We liked our room, the bathroom was a bit cozy with the door opening really close to the shower. But it was fitted out immaculately, so that made up for it. The room was sparkling clean & impeccable. We did hear the trams in the AM but we actually found that a nice noise, not an upsetting or jarring one. I'm a very light sleeper & would prefer to hear trams in the AM vs. excessively loud music late at night, so I think it depends on what kind of person/sleeper one is.

My parents were staying in the Deluxe Queen in the main house. They are both retired, but are really into antiques so they enjoyed the main building and its contents very much - I knew they would.

My husband & I went to drinks both nights in the evening. We had a great time socialising with the other guests & were out in the garden talking far after the drinks time was officially over. In addition our 1st night, another guest was from the UK & didn't have any dinner plans, so he joined us for dinner. The 2nd night we also had a great time having wine with the other guests in the garden, my parents really enjoyed it too!

Breakfast was fantastic food & again, a great opportunity for socialising if one so chooses.

In sum, we found that the best things about the Parker were the great service & lovely environment. But I think it is most important to mention that the other guests also contributed to making our stay a great one. So, in spite of the mess-up with one of our rooms we would definitely stay there again.

By the way, if the mistake regarding our rooms had not transpired, I would have given the Parker an Excellent rating instead of an Above Average one.

I stayed at the Parker the last few days of 2007 and first few of 2008. I had an excellent time and Bill and Bob (the owners/hosts) made it a perfect stay. The room was excellent, right off the kitchen and, since I'm an early riser, perfect for that break-of-dawn cup of coffee, and the bed was super soft. I loved it! Location can't be beat. Steamroom and happy hour were above and beyond the call of duty and I met a host of new friends at the evening social. Do yourself a favor...stay here!

We booked into the Parker Guest House with only 2 days notice and selected a queen size room with ensuite for a 6 day stay. I asked for one of the rooms not at the front (based on feedback from this web site re: the noise from trolly cars) and received a lovely room downstairs at the back. The whole feel of this place was very warm and cosy, sort of like staying in your own home. The bed was great and the bathroom was really impressive, with a shower that could fit at least 5 people...if you needed that! We were there in January and really appreciated the fire that was going in the living room when we arrived back from an exhausting day of shopping. Unfortunately a big storm hit for 2 days while we there, but the lovely cosiness of our room made the stay inside very bearable. Breakfasts were continental but very high sugar, low fibre, so bring your own cereal if you're fussy. Pastries were nice and all breakfast foods were constantly topped up. There is no DVD player in the room, which would be a nice touch if you were in the mood to watch a movie, and there was no cable on demand, which is pretty standard these days in the states. My only gripe is that we checked in late at night and our orientation was pretty vague by the attendant. As a result, we didn't know that there were drinks for the guests every night until about the 3rd night we were there. It seemed pretty quiet, probably because we were there in low season. I highly recommend this guesthouse to anyone and would definitely stay here again when I am next in San Francisco.