Eco hotels with pool in San Francisco: top picks verified by sustainability credentials

Three hotels on this list hold LEED certifications: 1 Hotel San Francisco (LEED Gold), Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero (LEED, building-level), and The St. Regis San Francisco (LEED Silver). You can verify each certification through the US Green Building Council's public project database at usgbc.org by searching the property address.

The indoor pools at Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero, The St. Regis San Francisco, InterContinental San Francisco by IHG, and San Francisco Marriott Marquis Union Square are available year-round. The rooftop pool at 1 Hotel San Francisco operates seasonally, typically from late spring through early fall, due to San Francisco's coastal fog and wind patterns.

Tier 1 hotels hold a recognized third-party certification, such as LEED or IHG Green Engage, verified through an independent audit or registry. Tier 2 hotels have published specific, measurable sustainability results at the property level but have not obtained a formal third-party certification. Both tiers require real, verifiable data. Hotels with only a brand sustainability philosophy or a general commitment statement did not qualify for either tier.

IHG Green Engage functions as a property-level measurement and tracking system, not a brand philosophy. Each participating hotel logs energy, water, and waste data through an online platform and is assigned a Green Engage level from 1 to 4 based on documented actions and measurable results. It is not an independent third-party audit like LEED, which is why IHG Green Engage hotels appear at Tier 1 on this list rather than above LEED-certified properties.

For LEED certifications, search the property address in the USGBC's public project database at usgbc.org. For IHG Green Engage, check IHG's sustainability reporting page. For Marriott Serve 360, Marriott publishes an annual global sustainability report with portfolio-level data. San Francisco also requires large commercial buildings to disclose annual energy use under the city's Existing Commercial Buildings Energy Performance Ordinance, and those scores are publicly available through the city's data portal.

The five hotels on this list skew toward four-star and five-star properties because verified sustainability credentials and operational pools together narrow the field considerably in San Francisco. The InterContinental San Francisco by IHG and the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Union Square are four-star properties and generally carry lower nightly rates than the five-star options, though all five sit in the premium segment of the San Francisco market.