InterContinental Hotel San Francisco 888 Howard Street • San Francisco • California 94103

The chic InterContinental San Francisco has pulled off the nearly impossible: It charms like a boutique hotel, while providing all of the amenities and luxuries you expect from an internationally renowned brand. Towering over the burgeoning South of Market district, this 32-story gem with its gleaming blue-glass façade makes a streamlined, very modern statement. However, the interior spaces have an unexpected warmth, featuring details that evoke a sense of place…an essence of San Francisco, even as it joins the ranks of InterContinental hotels sprinkled across the globe in Paris, Tokyo, Nairobi, and Tahiti and, like them, expertly melds world-class service, impeccable facilities, and gourmet cuisine. With all of its assets, this InterContinental is a superb choice for local couples looking to get married in The City, as well as those planning a sophisticated destination wedding.

The hotel offers an array of event spaces on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors that can accommodate nearly any size or type of wedding imaginable. The Grand Ballroom on floor 3 works best for very large parties: Guests dine at elegantly dressed rounds encircling a generous dance floor, while the bride and groom often sit at a long table in front of floor-to-ceiling windows at one end of the room. The city views beyond add to the expansive feeling, as do the 20-foot-high ceilings. Florists regularly fashion tall, dramatic centerpieces to play up the verticality of the Ballroom, which opens onto a foyer that’s perfect for cocktails.

More intimate events are held on the third floor. Up on 5, the InterContinental Ballroom is a smaller version of the Grand Ballroom. Like its counterpart, a wall of windows supplies abundant light and a San Francisco vista. Here, too, the neutral décor allows receptions to shine when set up with copious florals and crisp linens. Breakout rooms on all three floors are excellent for smaller celebrations of any kind; natural light and city views make them distinctive.

The InterContinental San Francisco has been designed throughout with guests’ comfort in mind. Abstract fine art on the walls, soothing color schemes and modern furniture create an atmosphere of calm and ease. Each floor is limited to 22 guest rooms and one natural light-filled hallway instead of the usual maze of corridors you find in a large hotel. The rooms themselves are outfitted with extra outlets, an iPod docking station, flat screen TVs and WiFi, plus spectacular vistas. And then there’s the skylit indoor lap pool…. Who wouldn’t be happy staying here?

Opened in 2008, the InterContinental is the proverbial new kid on the block in San Francisco, and it’s actually the newest high-rise hotel downtown. But it joins the ranks of InterContinental hotels sprinkled across the globe in Paris, Tokyo, Nairobi, and Tahiti and, like them, expertly melds world-class service, impeccable facilities, and gourmet cuisine.