We booked at the Seattle Renaissance for a weekend trip after having great experiences at other Renaissance Properties in the past and having read mostly positive feedback on TripAdvisor.
The trouble started the moment we arrived. To my utter astonishment, not one of the four valet parking attendants on staff knew how to operate a manual transmission. Maybe I'm a progressive thinker, but I would have thought that knowing how to drive a car would be a basic prerequisite for being a valet attendant. After parking the car myself, we found the lobby to be PACKED with people and the lineup for the front desk literally had dozens of people in it. It was obvious that it would take close to an hour to even reach the check-in desk.
I have Marriott Elite status as a frequent Marriott guest, so after trying to get the concierge's attention for several minutes, I was finally able to ask him if they have a dedicated Elite check-in line as they do at many properties, to which he replied, "no, we got rid of that." Frustrated, we left and went to the W instead, where we had a great stay.
Apart from our bad experience, the decor of the hotel appeared tired and dated. I realize that that it wouldn't be completely fair to blame the hotel for the timing of our arrival and the crowd in the lobby, but the combination of the incompetent valet parkers and the hotel staff's poor handling of the situation in the lobby will guarantee that I definitely won't book at the Seattle Renaissance again!
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