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Ever slept inside a cherry blossom forest? This San Francisco hotel offers a suite you have to see.

The “suite in bloom” at the Westin St. Francis is decadently beautiful.

Erika Mailman
Written by
Erika Mailman
San Francisco and USA contributor
Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika Mailman
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Springtime in San Francisco’s Union Square means you’ll see flowers everywhere as part of the plaza’s annual “in bloom” celebration. It’s an upbeat, joyful time—and while the neighboring Westin St. Francis decorates its lobby with flowers to the degree that it’s worth stepping into for an Instagrammable moment, this year the venerated hotel rolled out something even more intense. It’s an over-the-top, extravagant beyond belief, frothy confection of a springtime suite.

Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanThe lobby decorated for spring.

The “Suite in Bloom” is billed as a “luxurious floral escape,” and that captures it exactly.

It’s a dream come true for anyone who ever wanted to retreat to the woods and live with nature’s bountiful color—but without, you know, the actual nature part. The two-bedroom suite is utterly bedecked in “cherry blossoms” and holds three life-sized “trees” (all faux foliage in this case). Ivy twines everywhere, and even the bathroom shower is festooned. I visited with my daughter and her friend, and we all fangirled over the idea that we had always wanted a tree in our childhood bedrooms. We also loved the discreet machine that periodically emitted a floral fragrance into the suite. We walked back and forth between the rooms in a daze. We had never seen a hotel space that was so devoted to fantasy, to surprising and pleasing the guests.

Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanEven the shower has flowers!
Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanThe friends investigate the fragrance dispensing machine.

Each room in the suite has a French bistro set to enjoy a glass of rosé in front of an incredible skyline view out the window (the suite’s on the ninth floor). The photos you see here are the main bedroom, and the second bedroom has a Murphy bed, two trees and a sitting room with a sofa. This is the first year the Westin St. Francis has decorated the suite, and it’s only available until July 31 (the lowest rate we could find for the remainder of the run is $894). If you can’t get in this year, it will be offered again next spring.

So how did this incredible suite even get decorated? A team of 20 people helmed by Flowers by Edgar worked all day to set it up. These workers lovingly orchestrated the transformation of a hotel suite into an orchard you’d expect to see a fawn walking around in. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of individually placed flowers poked into the “frog” of a false wall.

That night, I lay in bed looking at how each individual flower was embedded in the wall. Although the room’s terribly romantic, I was actually glad my husband wasn’t there because I think he might’ve felt a bit of claustrophobia at the amount of pink involved… and like me, he would be tripping on the ivy at the base of the tree.

Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanThe tree looks so real.

Our group checked in, swooned, took about a million photos, then went to the hotel’s beautiful wood-paneled Westin Club Lounge for some snacks. Once upon a time, the Westin St. Francis washed coins for its guests, and you can see the machine that performed that duty in the small St. Francis Museum. It wasn’t that long ago that women wore white gloves, and coins could soil them if not cleaned.

Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanThe Westin Club Lounge
Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanThe St. Francis Museum with the coin washing machine.

We went back to the room for more photos, and then headed out on foot to see the enormous R(Evolution) statue in front of the Ferry Building. Returning in the evening, the three of us ate a great informal meal at the lobby’s Cafe Rito (shrimp scampi, skirt steak and chicken alfredo).

The hotel itself is worthy of a story. It survived San Francisco’s two biggest earthquakes (1906 and 1989) and sits right on the cable car line. If you watched the movie Babylon, this is also the hotel where, during a wild party in 1921, actress Virginia Rappe was assaulted and actor Fatty Arbuckle was charged with her murder. I was told which room it happened in and crept outside it that night to marvel at the darkness of history. It’s just a room now. Anyone can stay without knowing what happened there.

Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanRoom 1219 has a violent history.

Another astonishing part of the hotel is the fact that a delicate staircase goes all the way up the original 12-story building. It’s terrifying-slash-exciting to walk past enormous windows to the exterior while on a winding staircase. The hotel is honestly a blast to explore at night, with wooden hallways, impressive elevator banks and historical photographs everywhere.

Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanThis staircase winds up for 12 stories right up against windows to the outside.
Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanWooden hallways in the Westin St. Francis

Don’t leave without taking a ride on the exterior glass elevator. It goes up to the 32nd-floor Tower Salon—part of a more recent addition—where you can get a cocktail at night or a breakfast buffet in the morning. The views up there are supreme at night.

The next morning, we rose well-rested… but reluctant to leave the room. For breakfast, we got housemade pastries at Cafe Rito and brought them back to the room to eat because we honestly just wanted to savor every last minute in that magical space. It was San Francisco at its finest: history, creativity, spectacle.

Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanA bouquet on the bistro table
Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanA selfie in the mirror.
Westin St. Francis
Photograph: Erika MailmanA hug in the suite before we have to leave.

RECOMMENDED: Thinking about other great places to stay in the city? Try this hotel in the Presidio, this one at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge or this one with the world’s largest hotel lobby.

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