My husband, new baby and I stayed here 10 years ago and loved this artsy, elegant hotel. We were delighted to have the opportunity to return, now with our five children. Perhaps my sentimental expectations were too high, but we were profoundly disappointed.
We had a an executive suite connecting to a double/double ($700 plus per night pre-tax) PLUS another double/double for our nanny (ANOTHER $320ish per night pre-tax) The service was terrible, with one little thing snowballing into the next and here they are:
First, the hotel is on a busy downtown street with no pull-off area to unload a vehicle, I had to run inside to track down the valet during Seattle rush hour while my hubby and remaining family got honked at while idling in front of the hotel. Once in our rooms, the valet didn't bother to ask which bag went where -- just unloaded them all in the living room area. (i redirected). I asked abour our crib. He didn't know if there were cribs. He didn't know if the hotel had mini fridges available either . He said he would ask. He never did, so I tracked down the cribs. I was told by the front desk there were no mini fridges (i doubt this is true).
We had two bath towels in each bathroom for a family of 7. I did get more 45 minutes after my request.
The rooms have floor to ceiling windows. They are elegant and attractive. They are not practical. There is no closet or chest of drawers in the exec. suite bedroom (it's in the living area). The bed -- while comfortable -- takes up most of the room. There is only very limited counter space in the bathroom. It is an older tub shower.
The worst was our second floor location directly above busy First Street. The first night (a Sat.) was unbearable. We couldn't sleep but the front desk said it would be better the second night (a Sun) as there had been a parade and festival downtown on Sat. The front desk manager said she'd look around for other available rooms, but never bothered to call back. Despite mostly great reviews on TA, the most frequent negative was the noise which most reviewers assigned to passing garbage trucks. I was told via email in advance of our trip that our room requirements left the hotel with no choice but 2nd floor (lowest floor) rooms for us. But I was also told the garbage trucks had been rescheduled and this was no longer a hotel problem. Nonetheless, at 3 or 4 a.m. both nights we heard something that sounded like a garbage truck! I did not get out of bed to verify. On day 2, I asked for fans which helped drown out the noise on night two.
As we essentially had a 2-bedroom suite, there were three different TVs. All used different operating systems (lodgenet, etc.) so what was available on one was not necessarily available on the other. The maintenance man, originally summoned to fix the broken AC in one room, confirmed the other TVs weren't broken. He did not know why they were on different systems.
On Sunday morning at 8:30, I went to the lobby for some of the highly-touted iced coffee. It is promoted everywhere as being offered until 10 a.m. on the weekends, including on a sign on the table where the coffee is served. The pitcher was empty. I asked at the front desk and was told there wasn't any more. I said you can't run out of iced coffee unless you've run out of coffee, which is impossible in Seattle. She insisted they were, so I asked to see the manager on duty. After a punitive 10-minute wait, the m.o.d. came out and said it meant they would have to brew more then ice it down (yes! this is the complex recipe for iced coffee). She said it could take several minutes. I told her we'd be in the hotel restaurant. About 20 minutes later, she did bring it to me. We also had 4 $20 restaurant vouchers for b'fast as part of our package. I asked if we could use them for room service instead to spare the other guests the agony of dining next to our boisterous clan of 8. We were told no, which is how we ended up in the restaurant served by a cheerless waitress who brought GLASSES of ice water to everyone , including our one year old and two year olds in high chairs. When we asked her to take them away so the kids didn't knock them over, she knocked one over herself, getting the table and two people wet. No apology, but at least she gave herself an 18 percent tip for our "convenience."
The hotel's listed amenities include turndown service at night and a newspaper in the morning. We received neither. When I mentioned this at check out, the woman behind the desk said "you have to request those." How would one know to do this?
The only "break" i caught was when I ran out of milk for our baby after 6 p.m. which is when Seattle rolls up the carpet for the night. The Bookstore Bar bartender had mercy on me and filled up my 4oz sippy cup gratis. BTW, it is a beautiful, cozy, warm and charming bar. If I were traveling with my spouse only, we definitely would have had a drink or two there.
On the plus side, the hotel is convenient to Pike's Place. It does have a great bar. The beds are comfy. As I learned from other TA reviewers, you do get a $10 minibar credit and free wifi if you join kimpton in touch, which we did. You can check facebook for a password that will get you another perk. In July, it was "flip flops" which got us either two glasses of wine or a movie. No time for either but our tots enjoyed two half hour episodes of "Dora the Explorer," which otherwise would have cost us $2.99 each (seriously).
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