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JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square
San Francisco, California, United States · JW Marriott · Accessible Luxury
John Portman's glass-elevator atrium still marks JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square, a tower at 515 Mason one block west of the square that was named for Civil War Union rallies. The conference house holds 344 rooms, AAA rates it Four Diamond, Powell Street BART is about seven minutes on foot, and the St. Francis sits across the plaza as the older neighbor.
- 344 rooms
- Opened 1987
- Neighborhood: Union Square
- Rooms from 360 sq ft (33 m²)
- Architect: John Portman & Associates
About JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square
- John Portman glass-elevator atrium on the Union Square skyline.
- One block west of Union Square at 515 Mason Street; Powell Street BART about seven minutes on foot.
- AAA Four Diamond. The St. Francis opened on the square's western edge in 1904.
History
Union Square has served as the social and commercial heart of San Francisco for well over a century. The square itself was laid out in the 1850s and named for the pro-Union rallies held there in the years before the Civil War. By the turn of the twentieth century it was surrounded by the city's finest hotels — the St. Francis opened on its western edge in 1904 — and the retail establishments that made it the center of San Francisco shopping for generations. The neighborhood's character: dense, walkable, bounded by theaters, hotels, department stores, and galleries, has persisted through the earthquake of 1906, the social upheavals of the 1960s, and the technology booms that repeatedly reshaped the city.
The JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square occupies a building at 500 Post Street that was developed as a hotel property and opened in 2006, positioning the brand in the heart of a neighborhood whose traditional role as San Francisco's hospitality epicenter made it a natural address for a luxury conference hotel. The surrounding streets offer Union Square's high-end retail within a short walk, and the Powell Street BART station — seven minutes on foot — connects the property directly to the East Bay, the Caltrain corridor, and San Francisco International Airport.
The 344-room property holds AAA Four Diamond status and was designed with conference business as a primary audience: a conference center with 17 meeting rooms and a business center, butler service for premium guests, and rooms equipped with Bose stereo systems and flat-screen televisions reflect the caliber of corporate traveler the hotel targets. Club-level rooms access a lounge serving complimentary breakfast and drinks, providing the executive amenities that distinguish a conference hotel from a standard luxury property. The adjacent restaurants, high-end retail of Union Square, and proximity to Oracle Park — two miles to the southeast, where the San Francisco Giants play — offer leisure options in every direction.
Within the crowded Union Square hotel market — which includes some of the grandest addresses in American hospitality — the JW Marriott holds a position calibrated toward the sophisticated business traveler who values the central location, the meeting infrastructure, and the understated JW brand identity over the historic prestige of the neighborhood's older grand hotels.
The setting
At 515 Mason Street, one block west of Union Square, the JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square places guests three minutes on foot from the city's flagship luxury shopping plaza — home to Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and the boutiques of Maiden Lane. Designed by John Portman and opened in 1987, the tower's glass-elevator atrium is a signature element of the Union Square skyline. SFMOMA is fourteen minutes on foot, and the Powell Street cable-car terminus at the hotel's edge connects guests to Chinatown, North Beach, and Fisherman's Wharf, cementing Union Square's enduring primacy as San Francisco's most storied hospitality address.
Restaurants and bars
- Level III Restaurant — Restaurant · American
Amenities
- Fitness center
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Recommended (2026)
- AAA Four Diamond (2025)
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