I commute to SF on a weekly basis and stay in a hotel because it's cheaper than an apartment. And my bed gets made every day.
Edit: $65/day including tax * 13 days/month ~= $850. Allowing for holidays, vacation and occasional work from home. It's decent, better than Motel 6, more like Best Western. I got a good rate because I negotiated it years ago. It's outside SF itself, but I use Bart.
Really? How much is the hotel? If it's $100/night, which I don't think gets you a very good hotel, and you stay 20 nights a month, that's already $2000.
There are some extended stay hotels that are cheaper. I'm not sure about SF but I know around where I live you can get a studio/kitchen/living space for $700 a month.
But then again you can live in a fancy apartment downtown in the heart of things for around $1.2k a month.
The SF situation is completely different. Padmapper shows studios ranging from 1400-1900 depending on your distance from the financial district, and areas really close (SOMA) have few openings, mostly 1-2 bedrooms in towers (3000+ easy).
Living outside the city isn't too bad, south of SF you can find 1 bedrooms for ~1200 if you don't mind a 30+ minute commute (traffic/train), or Oakland there's plenty of 1br/studios for ~1000, but you deal with higher crime and a social stigma that you live in Oakland.
Edit: $65/day including tax * 13 days/month ~= $850. Allowing for holidays, vacation and occasional work from home. It's decent, better than Motel 6, more like Best Western. I got a good rate because I negotiated it years ago. It's outside SF itself, but I use Bart.