Chic, modern hotels are nothing new but when you add sustainable elements and high-class design, modern turns into marvel. San Francisco’s Hotel Zetta, opened in the summer of 2013, is one such architectural wonder, thanks to Dawson Design Associates.
Situated in SOMA, known for its high-tech design firms and museum-laden streets, Hotel Zetta boasts 116 rooms and suites, all of an ample size for relaxation. Down comforters and imported linens envelope the beds. Mosiac tiles cover the walls of the walk-in shower, filled with Neil George bath products. Guests can work at expansive butcher block desks with free WIFI, smart TVs and G-LINK docking stations.
The hotel offers activities not found in traditional hotels. The lobby has Macs for personal use. The Zetta also has a 1500-square-foot adult playroom with space-age chairs, a red English phone booth (for drink and food orders), a vintage Rochester pool table, shuffleboard, board games and game consoles. The highlight of the playroom is the giant, 30-foot Plinko game wall, complete with soccer balls, that you have to see to believe—and that you sometimes have to wait to try.
Like other Viceroy properties, the Zetta has a proactive water- and energy-saving plan that includes active recycling, energy-efficient lighting and the use of biodegradable and eco-friendly products. Dawson Design used a lot of reclaimed wood and lumber in the interiors. Antique doors have been turned into wall paneling. Then there’s the Lusive Décor lobby chandeliers made from recycled eyeglasses.
With all that the Zetta offers, you’d never want to leave the hotel. But you should. The SOMA area is home to many world-class museums such as SFMOMA, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and The Cartoon Art Museum, and the hotel is a stone’s throw away from Union Square and the Civic Center.
