This weekend was the San Francisco Giants home opener. The neighborhood was teeming with orange and black and alive with tons of excitement. Not only were the Giants opening the season at home against their biggest rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the 2016 season, being an even year, gives all Giants fans the sense of entitlement of another World Series Championship.
The bars and restaurants around AT&T Park were jammed with fans and so my friend and I went in and out of each until we found one that had a couple of seats available. As would be expected we were elbow to elbow with the Giants faithful and we ended up having a delightful conversation with a couple of fans who have been through many seasons with their team. “We never thought we’d see it, but it was worth the wait” was how they described being there for the 2010 World Series Championship. And the 2012 and 2014 World Series victories made that 56 year wait even sweeter.
And then the conversation turned to Hotel VIA, San Francisco’s new boutique hotel. All of the Giants fans, like all visitors to San Francisco’s South Beach neighborhood, have been watching the hotel go from a hole in the ground shortly after the Giants won the 2014 World Series, through construction during the 2015 season, and now the 12 story work in progress as the 2016 season opens. And all are eager to see Hotel VIA open sometime during this even year in time for a World Series celebration party in South Beach.
We are working diligently to bring a unique hotel experience to our unique City. And while we’d hoped to be open by mid-season, it will definitely be more like the end of this 2016 season when we finally open the doors to South Beach’s boutique hotel gem, Hotel VIA.
But to all Giants fans, and to all travelers to San Francisco, we will confidently tell you the same thing that the Giants fans in the bar on Saturday said about the 2010 World Series…It will be worth the wait!