BW El Rancho Inn - an hotel near the San Francisco airport

We began our first stay in the American West in San Francisco. Booking a hotel wasn’t easy at first, as prices quickly soared for standard services.

For 2 nights, we chose an inexpensive hotel close to the airport: the Best Western El Rancho Inn. Here’s a description of this establishment, and our feedback with its pros and cons.

Where is the El Rancho Inn in San Francsico located?

Address

The Rancho, which you’ll find under the sweet name “SFO Airport Hotel, El Rancho Inn, BW Signature Collection” on Google and booking sites, is located at the following address:

100 El Camino Real, Millbrae, CA 94030, United States

The motel is located in Millbrae, not San Francisco. But the two are close together, and El Rancho is very close to the airport.

How to get around?

You can reach San Francisco’s airport and the El Rancho Inn hotel in about 10 minutes by car. That’s what we did, taking an Uber.

You can also opt for a trip on the metro, but you’ll need to plan to take 2 lines and walk for a few minutes. This is not necessarily the preferred option with suitcases and just after a long plane journey.

For the rest of your journeys within San Francisco, you also have a choice of public transport (subway, cable car, bus), depending on your destination, or car (rental, Uber, Lyft…). To give you an idea, it takes 30 to 40 minutes by car to reach the famous Pier 39, or Pier 33 to visit Alcatraz.

What does the BW El Rancho Inn in San Francisco have to offer?

hotel rancho san francisco — The hotel’s location is quiet, and the palm trees already give it a vacation feel…

The establishment has over 200 rooms spread over several single-storey buildings. Quietly located, the accommodation overlooks the palm-fringed parking lot rather than the road.

The rooms

The El Rancho Inn hotel offers a wide choice of room types. Among the various options, the following differ:

Standard or Suite rooms, equipped to a greater or lesser extent for on-site dining (refrigerator only, kettle, microwave, kitchenette…).
1 bed, 2 beds or 1 bed + 1 sofa bed
Queen-Size or King-Size bed
Accessible to people with reduced mobility

For our part, we stayed in a room with a Queen-Size bed, which was the least expensive. It’s large and comfortable, perfect for a gentle recovery from jet lag.

Services

Although the Rancho is advertised as a motel, the services offered have little to envy a classic, more expensive hotel.

Here are some of its features:

Breakfast included
Outdoor swimming pool
Sports hall
Free airport shuttles

Early check-in is from 3:00 p.m., late checkout from 12:00 p.m.

Amenities

The Best Western El Rancho hotel is conveniently located on Millbrae’s main thoroughfare. Several shops, fast food outlets and restaurants are within a 10-minute walk.

We did 2-3 grocery shopping trips to Trader Joe’s and had our first meal at Paris Baguette.

How much does a night at San Francisco’s El Rancho Inn cost?

At the time (in 2018), we paid $235 per night with charges included. Compared with all the other hotels in the area, this was not expensive. In fact, that’s what had motivated us not to sleep in San Francisco itself.

To prepare this article, I looked at the prices on offer now. For the month of October (the same period as us), the average rate is €160 per night! By way of comparison, I’ve seen that other hotels in the area have prices starting at €200.

Of course, the cost of a night varies depending on the time of year you plan your trip. In 2022, it seems to range from $90 in winter to $220.

Our review of the El Rancho Inn hotel in San Francisco

As you’ve probably gathered by now, we have a positive opinion of this hotel, especially in the context of San Francisco, where even a decent room is expensive.

The Rancho met our expectations, which were a fair price, a comfortable bed and peace and quiet.