Arrest made in Aust tourist's US death

San Francisco homicide police have made an arrest in the beating death of Australian tourist Matthew Bate.

Mr Bate, 33, was holidaying in the US and in the early hours of Friday was involved in a verbal altercation that became physical outside San Francisco's Da Vinci Villa Hotel, police said.

Mr Bate suffered injuries in the incident and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Police initially detained two people and on Saturday announced one suspect had been arrested.

"One arrest has been made in the homicide case," San Francisco Police Department officer Giselle Talkoff told AAP.

Officer Talkoff declined to provide further details.

Mr Bate, originally from Ocean Grove in Victoria, had recently been living in Darwin and working for SGS Australia as an analytical chemist.

Mr Bate's devastated parents and sister are flying to the US.

"He had such a warm and kind soul and was a wonderful son, brother, uncle, and friend," his family said in a statement.