Good Hotel in San Francisco is a proper city hotel quite deserving of its name. Located in a charmingly seedy area of town, it is linked with the hotel across the street where you can make use of the pool or gym, or dine in its burger restaurant. SoMa, as the neighborhood is called for its location South of Market Street, can be a rough side of town, complete with vagrants and other unique individuals that make people-watching there a veritable adventure. The Good Hotel embraces this inner-city vibe, and is designed with attention to enriching the environment and local community.

Everything about the look and feel of this hotel is infused with concepts of sustainability and social responsibility. From reclaimed building materials to bicycles that are free for guests to use, the experience at this hotel is one of strong communication with regards to a “good” approach to living. No guest comes away without a stronger sense of having been a responsible traveler.

In the room, you could see what efforts were made toward resource savings. There was the typical towel and linen program, granting the guest a choice regarding the frequency with which their linens are changed and washed. There were recycle bins prominently placed with conspicuous messages of environmental awareness. And in the bathroom, the shower amenities were available in bulk dispensers that nullify the need for all that extra plastic and packaging.

In addition to efforts of efficiency in its operations and use of resources, the Good Hotel has the edge of being housed in an historical building. Over 100 years old, the hotel was built after the great earthquake of 1906. When the hotel was renovated and became the Good Hotel in 2008, it was retrofitted with recycled materials to pay homage to its historical significance, to provide a hip and conscientious atmosphere, and of course to reduce the environmental impact of its renovation.

The Good Hotel claims to be the first hotel with a conscience (facetiously, one would hope), and unlike most other hotels I’d ever experienced, it really does deliver a guest experience that is unmistakably themed in the vein of conscientious travel, responsibility and sustainability. With programs of philanthropy and volunteerism, and commitments to eco-friendly operations, the guest experience here is notably different from that at your average hotel. Not only its commitments, but its communication of these commitments, involve the guest in a way that is quite uncommon. Furthermore, the efficiency with which the hotel is managed provides for a another perk that any guest would love: affordability. In my quest of researching “what’s different” about hotels with strong sustainability strategies, the Good Hotel takes the cake as the most different thus far – but different in a good way.