Budget Recommendations to Short-Term Travelers to San Francisco

SFWanderlust Team October 19, 2018

We are back

So in the last post we spoke food and dining etiquettes and common practices. Before that it was all about different neighborhoods in San Francisco. I thought it’d be a good idea to share with you some good ways to save money on your trip and a few tips on how to make a budget. For this particular post, I will be focusing on short-term travelers, more specifically those that are here for two or three days.

Plan ahead of time

The first tip applies to most trips and that is to plan ahead of time; months ahead if possible. When we cram planning details at the last minute, we tend to make rush and impulse decisions because we lack time. Therefore, we are likely going to miss good deals. This is especially true when it comes to reserving accommodations and car rentals.

Here are some reasonable typical figures that I see on a regular basis for 1 person staying in San Francisco for 3 days:

Accommodation: $60 x 3 = $180

Transporation: $50 (public transit + Uber)

Pay as you go phone bill: $20

Food: $50 (if you do your own shopping) or $100 if you want a mixture of your own shopping and local restaurants

Health insurance: $50 (don’t skip this one unless your current domestic/international plans cover it). This is one of those pieces of mind that will help you enjoy your trip to the highest level.

Entrance fees to museums, islands, landmarks, etc.: $70

Total: $500

Moving around in a car

If you decide to rent a car, which I would only recommend if you want to travel to other cities hours outside of San Francisco, I’d add another $150 for the 3 days. This would cover your rental fees and insurance). You might also have to pay for parking depending on where you go and parking in SF is a nightmare so avoid it at all cost. So overall, please have a budget of about $500 if you don’t plan to rent a car and $700 if you do.

Finding accommodation in SF

Let me cover accommodation in full detail here. I’ve seen folks paying $500 a night at an ordinary hotel. This is the price they got when they booked a week in advance. I also know of folks that got rooms for as low as $70 a night. Rooms at these prices are booked months in advance. Of course, sometimes planning ahead isn’t an option because your schedule might suddenly open up and you want to travel to San Francisco. In that case I’d recommend the following options:

1. Leverage your connections: Find out who you know that live in the city or nearby that you could stay with them for the nights you’re there. Send them a message in advance, or best if you could let them know at the time of your planning. If they can’t for any reason, in my experience, they’ll send you to a friend of theirs. That’s even better as you build connections.

2. Take advantage of AirBnb. This one is straightforward. Just look on their website to see who’s hosting. Look up the neighborhood and reviews and see what fits your budget and preferences.

3. Go with motels or lower end hotels. Look into places like Motel 6 or anything that has Inn at the end of its name, such as Holiday Inn. These are lower tier accommodations but still offer you a decent place with shower and often times continental breakfast included. Prices for these are generally lower than $100 a night. I’ve seen as low as $50 per 2-bed rooms.

If they don’t have what you’re looking for on their website, it’s never a bad idea to give them a call and ask. Most of these places don’t have the most up-to-date or high-tech tools to manage their reservation so don’t always take what you see on the internet as is.

There’s more

4. Craigslist is another great option, but you need to be very careful with who you’re dealing with. Craigslist is a place where people meet within their community to buy, sell, get jobs, make relationships, etc. and most of this is done through their advertising. Most people/ads are legit here. Another positive is that you often get a much better deal as there’s no service fee involved and people just want to buy or get rid of things quickly. The negative side is that if you don’t have experience, you could get into a serious scam and lose money or even get robbed. My rules are:

Only engage with those you’ve spoken with over phone. If they don’t want to reveal their phone number, most likely it’s a scam.
When you get people on the phone, make sure all your questions are answered. If you feel any bit of hesitation from the other side, ask for clarification or else it’s a red flag.
Always try to verify the person as much as possible. Most of the time, the phone number you get is a cell number, look it up on Google to see if a profile of someone shows up. I know that might sound creepy, but safety is number one priority.
Once agreed upon terms and conditions and pricing, have everything in writing so that in case you get into a dispute, evidence is available on hand.

5. Lastly, there are places that generate coupons for you including Retailmenot or Groupon, typically in a form of a short code that you’d enter at checkout. Sometimes it’s 10 percent off or 50 percent off. Other times it might not apply at all so it’s a trial and error thing.

Check out our earlier posts

I hope the above cost breakdown and recommendations have been helpful to you. Please see our previous posts to learn about places in San Francisco that are worth checking out and the kinds of food the city has to offer. Thank you.

Reach out to me for any more Budget Recommendations!

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