All US presidents have slept here

The Fairmont San Francisco Hotel exterior-PETER MUIRURI

US: No it is not the White House, it is the mother of all Fairmont hotels, started by two girls 113 years ago. A fortnight ago, I stepped into one of the world’s oldest hotels, the Fairmont San Francisco, situated in the picturesque Nob Hill in the heart of the city. Tired from a 19-hour journey from Nairobi, it was all too easy to lock myself in my room and doze off.

Resisting the plea to take it easy by the hotel’s Communication Director Melissa Farrar, I just had to dig in and uncover the story of a hotel that has accommodated every president of the United States since William Howard Taft who ruled from 1909 to 1913.