Compared with other Four Seasons properties this hotel is disappointing. It has a beautiful and relaxing lobby, and very nice rooms, but other than that I was disappointed.
It's in a noisy part of downtown Seattle; while you have a view of the water, the view is over some industrial buildings and an always-busy and very noisy expressway (the Alaska Way Viaduct). It is convenient to Pike Place Market, but I have hard a time imaging that the clientele that can afford this hotel is going to make more than 1 trip to the market.
The really annoying thing about this hotel -- and the primary reason for my poor review -- is their terrible policy toward charging for wireless Internet service. Upon signing in and paying for an $11-day-per-day rate (crazy in and of itself), they prompt you to pay an additional $4 for "premium" service. If you don't pay the $4 upgrade, you get mediocre service -- not fast enough to watch simple Flash animation, for example. So Internet service equivalent to what you get in a Holiday Inn Express for *free* will cost you $15 a day.
I've read in the paper that the owners of this hotel are in deep financial trouble and have refused to pay the company that built the hotel. I can only assume that they're trying to make up the difference by charging $15 for Internet service.
One more thing - Fran's Chocalates (in the lobby) are great.
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