Preparing the Fairmont hotel in SF ahead of a presidential visit

It was actually the second visit each this year for the president and veep, though they had previously not stayed at the property at the same time. So how does the hotel prepare for a presidential stay? The hotel’s general manager, Markus Treppenhauer, told SFGATE that the most important thing is to make the nine-story Edwardian hotel feel like home.

“The more we can make it feel like home for them, the more successful we will be,” he said.

Compared with past visits, the hotel probably felt much more like the actual White House last week. That’s because other guests weren’t allowed to stay in the Fairmont while Biden and Harris were there, so the only other people lodging in the hotel between Tuesday and Friday were law enforcement officials and presidential staffers, Treppenhauer said.

Typically, when other guests are present, Treppenhauer said the hotel will take steps to increase security while Biden and Harris are moving about outside their rooms. Those measures include halting elevators, locking the front doors and shutting down the hotel’s valet service, all for roughly 30 minutes. The lack of other guests this time around afforded Biden and Harris some latitude to move freely throughout the property; Treppenhauer said Biden took a trip to the hotel’s gym, something he had never done before.

“Because there was nobody else in the building, they probably felt like it was secure enough for him to go,” Treppenhauer said. “It was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us.”

The hotel, which boasts 606 rooms, is divided between two buildings: the main building and the tower. Treppenhauer said Biden and Harris each had a building to themselves, but would not disclose who stayed where.

The entire complex was surrounded by one of three security perimeters set up around the city for APEC, which included a vehicle checkpoint. Treppenhauer said most of the 400 or so employees who were present for the presidential stay chose to come to work through the pedestrian checkpoint at nearby Huntington Park, which was enclosed by the perimeter. Treppenhauer said all employees undergo a background check prior to being employed, and said the hotel submitted that information to the Secret Service ahead of APEC.

Treppenhauer said he and his staff had more time than usual to prepare for Biden and Harris’ arrival because the hotel was notified they would be staying on-site for APEC sometime in the spring. In the past, Treppenhauer said, the hotel has received as little as a week’s notice ahead of a presidential visit. As far as cleaning goes, Treppenhauer said the staff didn’t do anything out of the ordinary apart from installing black curtains to cover some windows, which Treppenhauer said was a way to reduce “lines of sight” from the outside.

The hotel includes two restaurants: Laurel Court and the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar. The latter was closed Wednesday and Thursday last week, but Treppenhauer said Laurel Court was home to a few informal meetings before attendees left to attend APEC events. In addition to those two restaurants, the hotel is home to the Cirque Bar and offers a curated in-room dining menu, but Treppenhauer said Biden and Harris were allowed to order whatever they wanted.

Treppenhauer would not disclose what specific dishes Biden and Harris ordered, but said Biden seemed to have a preference for “comfort food.”

“He’s through-and-through blue collar, and it’s almost like he eats that way, right?” Treppenhauer said. “It’s not anything fancy or complicated. He likes good food. He likes it straightforward.”

Harris, meanwhile, sprung for more “health-conscious, low-carb” food, Treppenhauer said. All dishes were prepared under supervision, and were delivered to Biden and Harris by a member of their staff rather than by a hotel employee, Treppenhauer said.

In all, Treppenhauer said he felt the hotel was successful in providing the experience it set out to achieve. He said Biden even posed for a group photo with several hotel employees before he left Friday.

“It was such a privilege,” Treppenhauer said. “I would also say it doesn’t matter where you stand politically. It was just such a privilege for us to provide them a place that feels like home, that they feel familiar with.”