Trendy, yes, but with something lacking...
I stayed in the Clift for a couple of nights on a business trip. The hotel is well located in the city, being around 40 minutes from the airport and not much more than a 30 minute taxi ride to the extremes of everywhere else.
The hotel is not well signposted on the street, so it does give a nice impression of being a 'cool' place. When I arrived the bar was absolutely buzzing. I thought it would take ages to get a beer, but the staff were friendly and efficient and within a couple on minutes I was drinking a cool Anchor Steam, which was well deserved after my 16 hours of flying. The check in was swift and baggage brought to the room very promptly.
The room itself was a resonable size and I had in inside room given to me, which I guess would be quiter than a room facing Geary Street, which is quite busy with traffic.
The room itself is quite trendy looking, but it's really a facade of new paint over old fixtures and fitting, same applied to the bathroom. Nothing wrong with it, it's just this is a hotel that has been repainted, rather than fully renovated.