re: San Francisco hotel recommendations

We stayed at the Sheraton near the wharf for $120 a night once. It's a quick walk or a quick Uber to everywhere you will need to go. Lots of conference rooms so it's geared towards business travelers. Rooms seem to fluctuate a good bit.

The Fairmont is also a very nice place to stay. be sure to grab drinks at the Tonga Room there, even if you do not stay there. It's closer to Chinatown than the Wharf. IIRC, the streetcar museum is close by. We really enjoyed seeing that museum. You get up close to the inner workings of the actual street car line engineering.