Good Hotel

Class: Budget

Style: Hip

Rooms: 117

That’s “good” as a noun, not an adjective. San Francisco’s Good Hotel is less about being a good hotel—it certainly is that, in its unassuming way—and more about doing good.

It’s the ideal location for this sort of thing. It’s literally in the shadow of the city’s new federal building, which is a marvel of green engineering—an inspiration, surely, for the Good Hotel’s extensive environmental efforts. And the neighborhood, which is a slight sticking point for some first-time San Francisco visitors, puts you immediately in mind of philanthropy; here, south of Market (and rather on the “wrong” side of Sixth), you’re surrounded, quite frankly, by streets full of people who could stand to have a bit of good done to them.

The Good, if we can call it that, goes about its goodness in two distinct ways. First, practically everything inside it is recycled, re-used, or re-purposed in some way, from the beds, made of reclaimed waste wood, to the lobby furnishings, made from retired skateboards. Less visible is the fact that everything in the place is low-energy and restricted-flow — sink water is used to flush the toilets, for example.

Second, it offers guests a bit of agency in their do-gooding. Hybrid cars park free, charitable donations are included in the bill, and the hotel’s “philanthropy concierge” (yes, you read that right) can line up coveted last-minute volunteering opportunities.

In a way it’s a nutshell version of San Francisco itself: not overly luxurious, but stylish and photogenic, and exceedingly concerned with doing the right thing. Oh, and with some good, if idiosyncratic, food: in place of the traditional hotel restaurant, you’ll find Good Pizza, which is exactly what it sounds like.