I should have known that things were not as they seem, when I signed up for a Redicard and couldn’t change my email address on their site.
We had two rooms booked for a night at the end of a long day’s traveling into SeaTac. Thirteen days prior to our stay, the front staff were friendly. The location couldn’t be much closer to SeaTac airport. We parked our vehicle in the last space available and a call was made for the shuttle to pick us up. When one in our group asked if they could use the restroom and were told that if they did, the shuttle would leave without them.
We had a quick ride to the airport.
Upon our return to Seattle, after waiting at least 30 minutes, the shuttle picked us up. It should be noted that the shuttle also delivers guest to and from the Holiday Inn. So, things can be slow and the shuttle can be full.
We were again greeted by a friendly receptionist. She was very busy and it took quite a while to finally get our room key.
Two things to note: even though some sources (including Tripadvisor) suggest that breakfast is included, it isn’t. Also, this is a very pet friendly establishment. This could be good or bad, depending on your situation (ie allergies). To be fair, the first of these points is not mentioned on the Red Roof website website, the second is. So buyer be ware. So, to reiterate, there is no breakfast, there are pets (quiet ones and others).
Our room (330) was at the end of a long musty/smokey smelling hallway. The elevator that gets you to the third floor, could have used a bit of maintenance. Say your prayers before using it.
Amazingly, the rooms were as shown on the website. In actuality, when we entered room 330, we realized that it needed to be drastically updated. The blue carpet needed to be ripped out or at least vigorously cleaned (probably from hi pet use, maybe it was a smoking room prior).
Room 330 had 2 uncomfortable (well one was) queen beds with a floating night stand between them. There was a clock radio that received no stations and a phone that had no instructions on it (ie how to call front desk, make a wake up call, local calls, etc), resting on the stand. There was no night stand on the outside of either beds.
On the Red Roof website it states that the amenities include a Mini-Refrigerator but in other locations states that the King room offers refrigerator. Room 330 did not have one. It is not mentioned (on the Red Roof website) that queen rooms have one. In fact the website doesn’t mention anything about these rooms. 330 does however, have a safe.
I should state here that there is information at the redroof.com site. As well there is a redroof-seattle-airport.com website.
Room 330 had no facial issue. This is very rare in motels of any rating. It is also essential to those who might have allergies to pets and/or tobacco smoke. Did I mention that the room also had a musty somewhat smokey smell?
There was a basic writing desk connected to a three drawer desk with a TV that got basic channels, on it. There was however, no writing material (which meant that I am now doing this by memory and photos that I took). There was also no local information or establishment info. I noticed that the wifi worked reasonably well (which I used to reread Tripadvisor comments).
The view out the window is of a ragity day care yard.
The bathroom configuration was good. It had a sink on the outside and the toilet and tub/shower on the other side of a door which had no privacy lock. The shower came out of the wall at about six foot one in height but dropped almost 4 inches at the head. Good start terrible ending. The pressure was good but the spray was erratic. The toilet paper was somewhat better than La Quinta Inn Bend
(please see review at <url> This is damning with faint praise, especially when it had to be used in case of a sneeze or two (or three).
I usually read most comments on places to stay, in Tripadvisor. I cull the extremely good and bad ones and pay attention to the rest. I was sure from all the comments that this was the place to be, after fourteen hours of travel. I am still amazed at all the positive comments. As mentioned, I actually went back and reread some. My conclusion was that they must have stayed somewhere else and mistook it for the Red Roof Inn Seattle Airport.
The negative comments such as: “Very hard beds”, “outside is a lot nicer looking than the inside”, “walls were paper thin”, “smell of smoke and B.O”, “staff was not mean but not real happy”, “One elevator was broken, the other, accessed from the parking lot was just creepy”, etc. all rang true.
I have stayed in a few worse places (I don’t write about every place that I stay). As with them, I will not return.
Sung Park (or another manager) can comment on this but I will not be reading their rebuttal. I appreciate the time that is put in by establishments to comment on remarks from writers to Tripadvisor. This is usually a nice touch. I have however, read many of these and they always seem to state something like we are sorry that your stay did not meet your expectations. We always try our best to keep our establishment clean and functioning to the highest standards possible. I will bring your concerns to the people involved…
It is time for less talk and more action at the Red Roof.
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