Deciding on a last minute solo trip to San Francisco next month. It will be four nights. Below are some issues I need help with.

Where to stay – SF or Oakland… I’m budgeting $200 a night. That doesn’t get me much in SF. The reviews on Tripadvisor for places in that range are not very good. If I stay in Oakland, I’ll get a much better place. My concern is I’ll be using BART to get everywhere so I’d likely have to walk from the Oakland hotel to the BART station. The Oakland hotels I’m considering are all along the water. I believe the area is called the Embarcadero. Anyone familiar with this area? Would I be at risk walking to the BART station? Should I just take a lesser place in SF?

Air Condition – Some of the reviews I read on the SF hotels stated there was no air conditioning. Is this an issue? I had read that September is the warmest time of year there. The hotel ranked #9 in SF on Tripadvisor actually has a rate close to my budget but it does not have ac. All the other top ranked hotels are way out of my budget.

Thanks for the help.