By Jeannette Huang

A HOTEL OFFERS a home away from home, and when it's a small, independently owned place, chances are its idiosyncrasies and character make things even homier. In light of the recent hotel labor dispute, it's good to remember that slices of local hospitality are sandwiched betwixt the downtown skyscrapers. Let us gaze, for a moment, on the small establishments where management and owners know every staff member by name.

Follow the billowing Union Jack up to Mason and Geary Streets, and you'll find a spot of merrie olde Englande in the King George Hotel (334 Mason, S.F. 415-781-5050, www.kinggeorge.com). In its Windsor Tearoom, where visitors partake of authentic crumpets and Devonshire cream, you'll meet food server Albert Davies, a tiny, rosy-cheeked 66-year-old who hails from British Columbia, Canada, and still peppers his speech with "golly" and "bless you." "I've been with the hotel 13 years, and I have absolutely no complaints," he says. "There's no baloney about Kimberly Higgins, the general manager. She's a good sort. Once, when a houseman in the breakfast shift didn't show, she stepped in and bussed tables, served food, everything. At big hotels, I expect they would have closed the section."

"It's more hands-on in a small hotel," says Pascale Rebattet, front office manager at the 30-room Inn at Union Square (440 Post, S.F. 415-397-3510, www.unionsquare.com), sister hotel of the King George. "Everybody multitasks when needed. We pull together, like working in a family. In fact, I feel like the hotel is my home where I'm always having house guests!" Asked if he's enjoyed his 17 years of employment at the inn, houseman and maintenance worker Virgilio Juan exclaims, "Oh my god, every day."

Over at the Handlery Union Square Hotel (351 Geary, S.F. 415-781-7800, www.handlery.com), owned and run by the Handlery family since 1928, switchboard operator Jeanette Morales greets callers in her husky torch-singer voice. "I like and respect my boss, Jon Handlery, in every way," she says. "I've been here 20 years now, and I tell ya, the only way I'm quittin' is when I'm retired or carried outta here in a straitjacket!" About a third of the staff have worked here for more than 10 years, including front desk clerk Ron Hunt, who proudly says, "I've been here since Jan. 20, 1969. I like it here. I feel like I'm treated as an individual."

There's also family history at the Chancellor Hotel on Union Square (433 Powell, S.F. 415-362-2004, www.chancellorhotel.com), owned and operated by the grandchildren of founder Isador Rosenberg. "My sister and sister-in-law work here," human resource manager Mary Perez-Osorno says. "Among the staff, we have siblings, cousins, and a husband and wife who's worked here 25 years and still eat lunch together!" Reservations office coordinator Lily Taylor, who's been with the hotel 37 years, adds, "There's a lot more relatives among the housekeeping department. It's one big network."

The hotel itself is a slice of local history. It was the tallest building in town when it opened in 1914, and it was considered the safest; with the 1906 earthquake in the minds of many, the Chancellor was billed as "virtually fire-proof" and constructed to exceed safety codes.

More history abounds in the old-world Cornell Hotel de France (715 Bush, S.F. 415-421-3154, www.cornellhotel.com), which began life as a run-down boardinghouse, where Frenchman Claude Lambert first stayed in 1966. Lambert eventually bought the place and turned it into its present incarnation as a 50-room French country-style hotel. Today, Lambert runs the Cornell with his staff of 18 – all ethnic Chinese who don't speak much English or French. And Lambert doesn't know any Mandarin ("If I'd known that one day I would be surrounded by Chinese workers, I would've tried to learn Chinese in France!"). They communicate via Joan Zhou, his trilingual office manager. "Everyone's been here for years," Zhou says. "The newest staff member joined six or seven years ago." Waiter Christine Li, who – like fellow workers Joanna Phung, Chen Yanxia, and Zhou Yueyong – has worked here more than a decade, says, "It's comfortable working here. The manager is really good to us."

"After 9/11, business was terribly slow," Lambert remembers. "But I kept everybody. All these years, the staff helped me build up my business. Now it's my turn to help them. So I spent my savings. I kept them even when there was no work."