San Francisco Hotel Charges an Extra $30 per Hour If You Spend Too Much Time Eating Breakfast

The 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is being held this week in San Francisco.

With the Federal Reserve pumping money into the system through money spigots located on Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the money men have plenty of cash to spend and prices at the high price hotels in San Francisco are reflecting that.

Breakfast at the Fairmont Hotel, on top of Nob Hill, isn't cheap to begin with: Eggs Benedict with home fries will set you back $26, and sourdough French toast is $24. But if you're visiting the hotel's Laurel Court Restaurant and Bar this week, you'll have to spend a $50-per-person minimum on breakfast in addition to an 18 percent “service charge” — and if you stay longer than 90 minutes, you'll be charged an extra $30 per hour, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Over at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, the San Francisco Business Times reports space in the lobby is going for $300 for a three-hour time slot.

Notes the Business Times:

It wasn't always this way. During the Great Recession, when Wall Street sought refuge away from high-risk life sciences investments, there were no charges for sitting in a hotel lobby. But when venture capital money returned and companies delivered $100 million initial public offerings, rents started increasing for labs and offices as well as hotel rooms and meeting spaces during JPM Week.

Thank you, Federal Reserve.

-RW