We are Seattle residents, so it was interesting researching and booking a hotel in our own city. Our daughter's 9th birthday was 09.13.08 and we promised to take her and two girlfriends to see "Shrek the Musical" at the 5th Avenue Theater, and decided we'd make a fun night out of it by booking a nearby hotel as well.
We settled on the Monaco based on its proximity to the theater, price, and Trip Adviser reviews, and couldn't have had a more rewarding experience.
The play started at 2:00 PM, so the day before, I called and requested an early check-in of 1:00. I was told there was no guarantee, which is industry standard, so we left our house headed for the Monaco with no real expectation of being able to check in to the room early. To my utter amazement, we arrived and were checked in and on our way up to the room in about 90 seconds. Big points there. While checking in, I asked the front desk staff to send three of the child-sized animal print robes and a few goldfish up to the room while we were at the play as a fun surprise for the girls.
When we arrived at the room, it was clean, spacious, and very nicely furnished and decorated. I almost always take pictures for TA reviews, but we had so much on our plates that day, it just didn't happen.
After the play, we returned to the robes and goldfish as promised, and the girls were ecstatic. The little touches that the hotel provides really personalize the hotel experience and make it feel so much more homey, as opposed to many of the sterile hotel experiences I've had in the past.
We didn't spend long in the room before heading down to Sazerac (the hotel's restaurant) for dinner. In the mean time, my husband sneaked my daughter's birthday cake out of our car and left it with the front desk staff with instructions that we would like to order it from room service so that we could keep it a surprise from our daughter. No problem.
Dinner was wonderful, and our wonderful (and patient!) waiter overheard it was a birthday, and surprised the girls with a chocolate lava cake for dessert. They were thrilled.
When we finally headed to the room for any length of time that day, we were surprised to find three gift-packs for the girls, courtesy of the hotel, along with a nice card for the birthday girl letting her know that whenever she was ready, they had some cookies and milk for her - she simply needed to call room service. Another wonderful touch.
Eventually we ordered our cake from room service and it was delivered along with candles provided by the hotel. The girls loved that. :)
I can honestly say that the hotel was dead quiet that night - I actually wondered if our floor was empty. The beds were quite comfortable (although my husband took some issue with the pillows. All things considered, I think we'll give it a pass!) and we slept well.
The next morning we headed back downstairs for breakfast and it was quite good. I have a few suggestions for the restaurants Bloody Mary bar - Sazerac, call me! :)
Checkout was smooth, and when we left, everyone was incredibly happy with our experience.
As a humorous side-note, my daughter and her friends stayed up so late the night of her birthday, that she was exhausted when we got back to our house. At bedtime that night, she burst into tears, lamenting that the "best day of her life was over". She also asked if we could go back to the Monaco next year.
Thank you so much Hotel Monaco for making our experience so incredibly enjoyable, and for making my daughter feel so special. Well done.
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