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Travel and hotel
info
San Francisco
and Northern California is one of the top travel destinations in the world!!
Take a few days off to see the sights!!!
Hotel Tips
Airline Tips
Typical weather in July!!
Getting around after you get there
Nearby vacation/tourist activities
Saturday Night Stayover tips
Note on public transportation: the long
awaited (30+ years) BART (light rail) extension to the San Francisco Airport (SFO)
opened June 22, 2003. There is a shuttle to the conference center from the San
Bruno Station. For more information, go
to www.bart.org
Conference location:
South San Francisco Conference Center
225 South Airport Bl.
Phone: 650-877-8787
www.ssfconf.com
The conference facility is located 3 miles north of the San Francisco
Airport in
South San Francisco, CA. For maps and directions, go to www.ssfconf.com/location.htm or call (650) 877-5220
Hotel
Tips
The Conference Center does not have hotel rooms.
Adjacent hotels
NOTE: The hotel market is slow due to the slowdown in business travel. Hotels
near the conference center are particularly affected, as it is a business
location. There are some very good buys on the weekends.
Three hotels are located very close to the conference facility, and were
inspected by us. Two are next
door (Holiday Inn and Ramada Inn) and one is across the street (Sheraton Limited
Suites). All the three hotel restaurants serve three meal times a day, with
prices under $10 for lunch and under $20 for dinner.
For information on an adjacent hotel, click a
link below. Note: the two links are to a hospitality management site providing
more information than the Web sites of the hotel chains.
To check the best prices on the hotels, go
to www.google.com and type in the name of
the hotel.
- Ramada Inn San Francisco Airport North.
- needs renovation. Not recommended.
- Holiday Inn San Francisco Airport North
- Room block at $69 through 7/10/03. Call 650-873-3550 and ask
for the Real Estate Communication Resources special rate. If the room block
is sold out or you register after the cutoff date, go to the web site and
check for "Internet Specials." Next door to the
conference center. Recently remodeled. 800-465-4329. There is an on-site restaurant and a bar. www.holiday-inn.com
- Four Points Sheraton Airport - Room
block at $99 through 6/30/03. Call 650-588-4683 and ask for the Real
Estate Communication Resources special rate. If the room block is sold out
or you register after the cutoff date, go to the web site and check for
"Internet Specials." Two years old and more
"upscale" than the Holiday Inn. Across a 4 lane street from the
hotel - use traffic light. Internet-only rates from $99 and up. 800-325-3535
www.fourpointssfo.com Next to the freeway but very little noise in the rooms - well
insulated. On-site small restaurant and bar. Has regular rooms and "loft" suites
with 2 levels and a wet bar.
Hotel shopping tips
- The conference center
is at
225 South Airport Bl. Other hotels are on the same long street. Those in
the 100 to 300 blocks are within walking distance.
- Try these methods, which can produce widely
varying rates on the same hotel!
Nearby hotels
- Embassy Suites, South San Francisco - about
1/2 mile north - $109 weekday rates. www.embassysuites.com
- 1 block away - Motel 6, flat rate,
$75.99 per night. Recently renovated. No restaurant. www.motel6.com
(no airport shuttle)
- 1 block away - Travelodge, 326 S Airport Blvd, South San
Francisco, CA 94080, (650-583-9600)
Airline tips
The conference facility is only 3 miles north of the San Francisco Airport (SFO).
You can reach nearby hotels by using their shuttle services. On the minus side, SFO has a poor on-time flight record, primarily due to fog and traffic
overload, so don't plan on arriving on the last flight the day before the
conference!
You can also fly to the Oakland International Airport
or the San Jose
Airport, which have much better on-time records, and sometimes cheaper flights.
You can get to the conference center by taking BART from the Oakland airport to
SFO, then take a hotel shuttle. Getting to the conference center from the San Jose
airport can be a hassle due to traffic congestion, particularly during
commute hours. The best way is to use a private
shuttle service, costing about $30 each way, which can take up to an hour or
more, one way, depending on traffic. If you are planning staying a few extra days,
renting a car at the airport is another option.
Typical weather in July
- Temperatures are typically cool in
July along the coast (from San Francisco to Monterey and Big Sur) due to ocean fog, with
temperatures typically in the high 50s and low 60s. Be sure to bring
a sweater or light jacket!! Click
here for a 5-day forecast.
- Away from the costal
areas, temperatures are typically dry and hot in the daytime and much cooler
in the evening. If you're going north to the Wine Country (Napa, Sonoma,
etc.) plan for very hot weather - over 90 degrees.
Restaurants
There are not many places to eat within walking
distance of the conference center. Nearby restaurants include:
- McDonald's - a few blocks south
- Holiday Inn restaurant (food is okay and
convenient)
- Sheraton across the street (food is more
"upscale" than the Holiday Inn with similar prices)
- KFC - a few blocks south
- Hungry Hunter - a few blocks north - chain
steak house
- IHOP - a few blocks south
The downtown area of South San Francisco is
across the freeway to the west. You can drive or take a cab.
- Bertolucci's is popular with locals - good
Italian food
- Kinkaid's Steak House is also popular with
locals
The City of San Francisco, about 10 miles north,
has nationally top rated restaurants in all price ranges. Just a BART ride away.
Getting around after you get there
The Conference center is located in an area north
of the San Francisco Airport (SFO) that has changed from vacant land/industrial uses
to hotels and light industrial. The Conference center used to be a photo
processing lab, although it is quite different now!
The BART (light rail) extension to SFO is
expected to be open in late June. This is the best way to get to downtown San
Francisco (10 miles north). Take your hotel shuttle to the airport, then take
BART. You can also drive or take a taxi.
There are not many "vacation spots"
near the Conference center, but hundreds of places to go and see are within a
half hour to 2 hour drive, from Monterey/Carmel 2 hours south to Napa Valley
wineries 2 hours north. Downtown San Francisco is about 10 miles north, and Pacific
Ocean beaches are about 3 miles west.
- Most nearby hotels have shuttles to get you to and from the San Francisco International Airport.
- Public transportation
is very limited at the Conference Center.
- If you want to do some sightseeing or go to a
recommended restaurant, renting a car is probably the best way to go. The
conference center is adjacent to a major freeway. You can have a rental car
dropped off at your hotel by Enterprise, rent one at the airport when your
plane gets in, or take a hotel shuttle to the airport to pick up a car
later.
Saturday
Night Stayover tips
Public transportation is very limited
near the conference center. There are many, many great places to visit within 20
miles of the center, so here are a few tips for getting around.
If you don't want to rent a car, an easy way to get around on Saturday is to take the hotel shuttle back to the airport,
take BART (expected to be open in late June) or take the Airporter
bus or a shuttle van to downtown San Francisco, then return on the Aiporter and get the hotel shuttle back to your hotel.
If you're renting a car, shop around. You can do an airport dropoff and
pickup, or use Enterprise and have a car delivered to your hotel on Friday or
Saturday and use the hotel shuttle to get to and from the airport. Check out www.expedia.com
and www.travelocity.com for the airport and
www.enterprise.com for your hotel .
Nearby vacation/tourist
activities
Getting informed about appraisal technology is great, but don't miss your
opportunity have some fun before and/or after the Conference!!
The San Francisco Bay Area
has many places to visit, for all ages, and is one of the top tourist
destinations for visitors all over the world.
The Pacific Ocean
is only
a few miles to the west of the Conference Center.
There are many museums in the Bay Area. Some good ones in San Francisco for
children (and adults) are the Exploratorium and Steinhart Aquarium. World class
dining is available in San Francisco (and other cities such as Berkeley)
Fun places to go are too numerous to list on this page. Here are a few links:
- The San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle eGuide
is a good place for movies, music, theatre, art, and restaurants in the Bay
Area.
- San Francisco
information - Convention and Visitors
Bureau
- California
Guidebook - a good place to get oriented and decide where you want to
go
- Use your favorite
search engine to look for information
- Get a book about what
you want to visit at your library, local book store, or www.amazon.com
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