Not being British, the idea of ​​a snack is as much novelty as it is comfort or food. So it follows that the winter break is a particularly good time to ignore Ted Lasso’s rejection of tea as “garbage water” and splurge on an elegant afternoon tradition. Bay Area hotels have started announcing their dates, prices and menus – which vary widely – and opening their reservation calendars. Traditionally a late afternoon or early evening meal accompanied by tea, the Americanized version of this business may not meet the Queen’s exacting standards, but it is awfully fun.

The Fairmont San Francisco is perhaps the most traditional of the bunch, having hosted its annual seasonal event in the hotel’s grand Laurel Court since 1907. The Fairmont Holiday Tea – which runs from November 26, 2021 to January 2, 2022 – is served “with all the polished silver, fine china and Victorian accessories” and requires reservations for seats twice daily. The menu, which includes “homemade scones, tea sandwiches on artisan bread, delicious fruit pastries and French sweets” and “required side dishes” (lemon curd, Devonshire cream and fruit compote) for a price mind-blowing $ 149 per adult and $ 89 per child 12 and under.

North of Sonoma, the Healdsburg Hotel offers holiday tea ($ 55 for adults, $ 25 for children under 12) on Saturdays and Sundays from December 4 to 19. (plus wine or classic cocktails for an extra $ 14) amidst live piano and festive decorations. This would make a great day trip when paired with a trip to ‘Snoopy’s Home Ice’ (aka Redwood Empire Ice Arena) and the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa.

Budget Comfort Inn Becomes San Francisco’s First Zero Carbon Hotel

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference underway in Glasgow, there is a lot of talk this week about the serious threat of carbon in the atmosphere. While it’s doubtful that anyone who thinks a hotel in San Francisco can solve the problem, the Comfort Inn by the Bay, part of the budget Choice Hotels chain, is challenging upscale boutique hotels that claim be green while having a massive carbon footprint.

“We believe we are the first hotel in San Francisco to be zero carbon and one of the first if not the first in the country,” owner Brian Bainum said in an email to SFGATE.

The Russian Hill hotel, which has a few hundred rooms or more, has partnered with Chicago-based carbon offsetting organization Tradewater to offset “100% of our hotel’s emissions – including daily employee travel, utility / energy purchases and consumption ”. Bainum said. Guests are encouraged to use Tradewater’s “Travel Carbon Calculator” to voluntarily offset the carbon costs of their own travel and help the hotel meet its “net zero” goals.

Large hotel openings around the bay

The Bay Area has just received three new luxury hotels, including the first Four Seasons in Napa Valley, which opened on November 1 on the north side of Calistoga. Aside from its jaw-dropping room rates (starting at $ 1,200, $ 2,500 for a suite), the new 85-room hotel is notable for being the only resort in the valley located on a working winery. , Elusa Winery. While decor is described as “farmhouse style,” there’s nothing modest about the Four Seasons Napa Valley, which has brought in a Michelin-starred chef to run its restaurant, Truss, which aspires to serve up caviar with every meal.

It all sounds awfully sophisticated indeed, but perhaps the most appealing thing about the hotel is what it doesn’t: forcing guests to roam the traffic-cluttered valley in search of food tastings. and wines. “Usually when you come to Napa you stay in a hotel, but whatever you do you have to be in a car,” hotel general manager Mehdi Eftekari told Robb Report. “Here, everything is encompassing.

Nearby, in another corner of wine country, the Stavrand Russian River Valley opened in October on an orchard near Guerneville, which was once the Applewood Inn. The 6-acre property has fruit trees – plum, apricots, figs, quinces, apples and pears – planted in the 1920s and is surrounded by redwoods. With just 21 rooms, owner Emily Glick, who was previously the longtime manager of the Kimpton Buchanan hotel in San Francisco, describes the hotel and its staff as “small but mighty.”

Last year, when the pandemic closed the Buchanan (which remains closed), Glick raised money from friends and family to purchase the late Applewood and renovate the property’s historic Mediterranean Renaissance structures. Rooms start at a surprisingly reasonable price – by Bay Area standards – $ 235 per night.

Located on the peninsula in Palo Alto, the 35-year-old Garden Court Hotel has had a makeover and is now the “Spanish-inspired” Hotel el Prado. The hotel’s former incarnation as a place “known as much for hosting visiting dignitaries as it is for opening its doors to local nonprofits and community organizations” was hailed in a story from Palo Alto Weekly, which called its closure (ahem, “rebranding”) the end of an era. But the hotel’s renovation was not a total transformation. Much of the 62-room hotel remains unchanged although its interior design becomes more explicitly a reference to a ‘majestic Spanish house’ with neutral hues accented by ‘the flor do toxo of the Spanish hills’ and’ rich forest greens. black, stone blues, touches of terracotta orange. The tapas bar on the second floor of the hotel is ‘coming soon’. Rooms start at $ 329.